At the western rise of Beaconsfield Street in Highgate Hill 4101 the bitumen ends at a vehicle barrier and a lone handsome fig tree. Then Itʼs a short sharp grassy downhill to the end of Derby Street above the old gully. Houses and a walking path flank the crunchy green-brown rectangle of Beaconsfield Reserve. Until mid-2023 nothing could grow on this rocky mown-over site until a team effort added green life to the denuded hillside.
We’d like to call it Beaconsfield Park but itʼs a place in limbo on official records. Local residents sought funding from The Gabba Ward in 2022 to plant a community garden which then merged with a federal grant requested by Community Plus and John Mongard Landscape Architect with Kurilpa Futures. And so it became The Queenʼs Platinum Jubilee project.
The projectʼs brief was for planting local and native trees as well as garden beds with shrubs and ground cover. Plaques to acknowledge the grant and the significance of planting choices, a celebratory event including Welcome to Country and invitation of our elected representatives at 3 government levels would ‘openʼ the site when tools were down.
Residents, members of Kurilpa Futures, Community Plus, John, our 3 representatives and their staffers gathered over time at planning meets, took on tasks and then came in fabulous June weather to plant, set up and celebrate on Sunday 25th June 2023. Cliff from KF played music for the work gang. The big holes had been prepared days beforehand so the plants and plaques could be done and watered, hands scrubbed and tools downed in time for Aunty Dawnʼs Welcome to Country followed by speakers and morning tea. It was a terrific day. A frog pond with frogs was added, and sometime in the future Gabba Ward might wrangle a public water tap and money gifted by a local family may become a seat for all to take pleasure in nature. This is a peaceful place for everyone to sit and play, with sunset views over what remains of the old gully, and soon enough some added shade and beauty and new perches and places for wildlife
Locals and KF members water the reserve on a weekly roster, as well as weeding, maintenance and frog care. The plants and trees are doing their best but need a human hand for now. It is a harsh sloping place but given time and nurturing the new green growth will be a perfect fit for the spot where once it was the gullyʼs wooded upper reaches. Only time will know.
KURILPA FUTURES 