Central Park, Armidale, is one of my favourites. Age-old trees dapple the spacious lawns, the War Memorial at the very centre of this uncluttered, special, peaceful place. Settle yourself down on a park bench, relax.
Look over your shoulder at the Horbury Hunt designed Anglican cathedral, St. Peters, itself restrained, dignified. Inside, the comforting silent darkness is only minimally disturbed by angels and old memories peeking in the modest windows.
Over your other shoulder, look across Dangar Street at St Mary and Joseph Catholic cathedral, rather forbidding, but blessed by the grace of your view through the park’s trees. This park is a refuge. From the traffic, the tatty, the rush, tear and bustle.
And Uralla? Blessed are we, not so much by grace but by space. Let me count the ways. No, not ways. . . spaces. Well, a few of them . . ,
THE GLEN In the 1970s a little Victorian era brick cottage sat forlornly on a small hillock there, once home to the Adams family. (No, not that one!) Somehow it became Council property known as “Adams’ Land”. When the cottage was demolished in 1980, Council thoughtfully delivered a few palettes of bricks to McCrossin’s Mill, aware that the restoration of “that old wreck” was underway. The name “The Glen” was adopted, appropriate and rather catchy.
Renowned local sculptor, Carl Merton, and foundryman Charlie Rudd, created the mystical, esoteric “Constellations of the South” installation of sculptures, a Uralla Arts Council project. (Go read the plaques and wonder at the genius of the plan, as I did. (And still do.) But that project came down to earth, “grounded” shall we say? For twenty years!
“The Glen” is popular with travellers, to picnic, walk the dog, stay (illegally) overnight, and for other recreational activities, I’m told.
Currently, “The Glen” is undergoing a major makeover. “Constellations” is to be completed, and new walking tracks, parking lot, barbecues, and so on, added.
The poor old Information shelter, probably to be renamed “Data Dissemination Facility” (or similar) is to be refurbished. Toilets (“bathrooms”!) are located at the nearby Rotary Park, so no need for any in “The Glen”.
ROTARY PARK A most popular “pit-stop”, with a memorial to local identities, husband and wife, Dr Eric and Dr Betty Batt, and great citizens.
Uralla Rotary Club wanted to relocate the “RV Dump Ezy” to this park, but the Council Officer said, “Not feasible”, so that was that! Some years ago, the Council had installed the Dump Ezy at Thunderbolt’s Grave, Uralla’s most visited site. (That’s rather like installing a toilet next to your TV in the lounge room for when you have visitors, very convenient!) This park’s rejuvenation is now complete.
FULLER PARK Named to honour Council employee, Arthur Fuller, who made himself responsible for lovely plantings in town, but especially in Alma Park, and the little green triangle at the southern end of town opposite the petrol stations. Both parks were winners in the 1970s Sydney Morning Herald Garden Awards, thanks largely to Mr Fuller.
When Annie and I settled in Uralla in 1973, Fuller Park had an evocative locally made picnic shelter, trees, neat lawn and flower beds and “down the back” a brightly painted old traction engine for kids to play on and to break their arms. (Sold for safety and for scrap in 1980.)
More recently the redundant Street Store, beautifully crafted by Greg McLenahan to complement the new awning at what is now “Subway”, was plonked on Fuller Park on a Mayoral whim as a “Shelter”, for someone or from something. He didn’t specify.
More recently, a Uralla Council Officer engaged in a one-off consultation with the public, Councillors, and a Fuller family representative to guide the refurbishment of the park . . . a couple more shelters to replicate the existing 1960s original, a new bus shelter, exotic trees. All agreed. Then, all ignored. The lovely original picnic shelter demolished. New “heritage-style” bus shelters plonked willy-nilly .
Two little picnic shelters (made in Rockhampton, I believe) plucked from a catalogue and plonked in their new home. Very minimal roof; one rainy day I saw a traveller eat his lunch with his umbrella held in the other hand to keep the drips off his salami sandwich!
PORTER PARK Named for Noel and Julie Porter, who double-handedly created this place from the swampy wasteland known as “Ozzie’s Cow Paddock”, (Ozzie Miller had his Jersey cow tethered there . .) See a previous issue of this newsletter for the full story, or read about it in “McCrossin’s Mill . . . . Many Hands…And Me“.
ALMA PARK “Stop and relax at Our Award Winning Alma Park”, the wordy highway sign boasts. (Awards? Thanks Mr Fuller!) It was briefly our first cemetery, apparently, when five Cornish miners were buried there, victims of the collapse of a mine shaft at the Rocky River gold fields.
It was proclaimed Alma Park on 3 August, 1893, when Uralla’s schoolchildren assembled to plant one hundred trees, the first by Alma O’Connor, daughter of the Mayor, “a case of arboreal nepotism”, it’s termed mischievously in our Heritage Walk booklet. In the 1970s there remained a decidedly unhygenic toilet block. There was a cacophony of rattles and squeaks and shrieks from the rundown playground equipment. Nothing else for the kids, except to roll down hills skittering autumn leaves, and to lure reluctant and canny yabbies triumphantly from the creek.
Shade from the now proudly splendid trees (thank you, Alma and friends) catered for pleasant picnics. The elegantly understated Great War Memorial Gates (relocated to Alma Park from the original site in Hampden Park) established a special mood at their very own corner, a place sacred for respect and contemplative reflection on Uralla’s dreadful sacrifice.
Shade from the now proudly splendid trees (thank you, Alma and friends) catered for pleasant picnics. The elegantly understated Great War Memorial Gates (relocated to Alma Park from the original site in Hampden Park) established a special mood at their very own corner, a place sacred for respect and contemplative reflection on Uralla’s dreadful sacrifice.
Idyllic in its own small-town way, was our Alma Park. But that couldn’t last, oh no! With good intentions, but narrowed and blurred by blinkered vision, people plonked stuff there. (Not just there.) In 1982 some pebble-coated concrete planter pots arrived, hastily relocated from a disastrous main-street “beautification program”, a whole line of them. They reappeared everywhere . . . Alma Park, Fuller Park, Kingstown, Bundarra . . . plonk, plonk, plonk!
A ”Jardeniere Guard” formation of them still stands sentinal at the Tennis Courts. A spare CVC lamp post from the Council Depot appeared beside The Memorial Gates, themselves adorned with more plaques. New memorials were installed along Queen Street, for the Vietnam War and Korean War.
Years before, a much-needed new toilet block replaced the old, but in a novel alignment, back to front! And then came the Playground! The humble Award plaques to honour Mr Fuller’s dedication were now dwarfed, shouted down.
Alma Park was evolving into something other than “a Park” because, sadly, Council has never drawn up a Management Plan.
“FIBONACCI PARK” This corner was home to the Roxy Cinema until the movies were obliterated by TV. McRae’s Hardware became well-established there.,
McRae’s folded in about 1979, and by 1985 the building housed a higgledy-piggledy second-hand shop, which burnt to the ground in a very unmysterious fire in 1987.
That site now vacant, The Fibonacci Park notion was born, the birth unannounced! Uralla’s Post Code 2,3,5,8. How would anyone not make the connection with the famous Fibonacci Number Series; “FIBONACCI PARK” This corner was home to the Roxy Cinema until the movies were obliterated by TV. McRae’s Hardware became well-established there.,
McRae’s folded in about 1979, and by 1985 the building housed a higgledy-piggledy second-hand shop, which burnt to the ground in a very unmysterious fire in 1987.
That site now vacant, The Fibonacci Park notion was born, the birth unannounced! Uralla’s Post Code 2,3,5,8. How would anyone not make the connection with the famous Fibonacci Number Series; 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55, 89 . . . . not see the unique opportunity for Uralla, the sheer magic of that?!
Only a few people did. (“Visionaries”.)
Council parked a despondent palm tree there, en route to somewhere, so “Pineapple Park” joined the local lexicon.
The Creative Village Committee (CVC), invited the community to suggest names. (Yes, “Roxy” cropped up.) My suggestion “Fibonacci Park” was airily dismissed. ( I’d made an error in the addition of two of the larger numbers. My mistake, probably tired.)
“Pioneer Park” was chosen by the Council, proposed by one of the Councillors who enjoyed caravanning and had seen a host of Pioneer Parks across this sunburnt-brained country. A small band of fervent Fibonacci fans then had to ward off other proposals for this potentially priceless corner site.
A huge new library was designed, but Council agreed to put it elsewhere, so that’s why it’s occupying a large chunk of Porter Park, the car-park taking another greedy bite out of the Porter’s feast. (Some visitors told me they thought it was a new KFC without the signage yet. True.)
So, Pioneer Park remained pinioned, until . . . the NSW State Government threw some money around the regions to demonstrate that they weren’t entirely city-centric (and concerned only with the sale and/or destruction of Heritage buildings), but wanted all our children to “Exercise in PLAYGROUNDS”. “Aha!” thought our Council Officers, “We know the ideal spot!”
At a most animated public meeting in the Council Chambers, these officers’ plot was shot down in flames, when it was explained explicitly, that all that “Plastic junk” was inappropriate in our heritage-rich CBD.
Well, the proposal was knocked on the head, and it’s a wonder the Council Officers didn’t get the same treatment! The Playground went to Alma Park.
Then another attempt to stymie Fibonacci! A consultancy conjured up from distant parts where “dope” is not just an insubstantial person, but a substance as well, suggested putting a stainless-steel Fibonacci “beacon” at “The Constellations” site or instead up at Fuller Park, Full o’ Junk (NOPE!!).
However, the unique, Fibonacci Park is now under way, to be “something other than a park”.
