Lovegrove Park, Googong

Googong’s first All Abilities playground might look like just another playground but thanks to careful design it caters to a multitude of children, regardless of their ability, with specially designed equipment that ensure no child would be excluded from the playground.  Specialised Stainless Steel equipment helped us to make up the truly inclusive side of this playground.  The Inclusive Orbit has been designed so that children in wheelchairs can spin and have fun with their peers with a wheelchair bay included, and the Team Swing seat allows for multiple users to swing together.  Another multi user piece is the aero tilt which promotes upper body strength in children and encourages a number of children to interact and play together.

Landscape Manager for Googong, Matthew Frawley said “Kids in wheelchairs have things that their wheelchairs can come up to and then they climb into.  Or kids that don’t have the ability to walk without assistance, maybe there’s rocks at the right height for them to sit on, or things that they can hold on to.  That sort of thing helps all kids access the equipment, not just kids with disabilities”.

Googong Project Director, Malcolm Leslie said the design of Lovegrove Park highlights the township’s commitment to social inclusion within the Googong Community, and to encourage community involvement in the construction of the playground, students from the Anglican School left their mark by colourfully painting the totems that mark the fenceline of the playspace.