Kingston Park is a ‘uniquely Kingborough’ playspace which sits at the heart of Kingston and is the result of a comprehensive process spanning from 2018-2021 including everything from master planning to consultation through to design, documentation and project management. Kingston Park stands as the first stage in a broader master plan and, on all accounts, is a huge success!

The success of this park is owed to the collaboration on all levels of design and execution from local and interstate artists and designers through to the consultation and ongoing support of Kingborough Council and the broader community. From the outlay of this project, Playstreet collaborated with Aboriginal educators and consultants in order to meaningfully interpret Aboriginal history within the playground. This culminated in the design of nine distinct age-appropriate play spaces, quietly representing each of Tasmania’s nine Aboriginal Nations, each with its own animal motif. The play spaces are interwoven with carefully-selected planting palettes featuring edible and medicinal plants, as well as those used for weaving and art in Aboriginal culture.

Linkages between each space have been designed as a universally-accessible continuous trail with planting and relationships to amenities (such as barbeque shelters) conducive to teaching and learning activities, such as bush-tucker walks or weaving exercises. Signage and interpretation panels were developed using artwork representing each play space, designed by local Tasmanian artist Allan Mansell.

It took an army to get Kingston Park to where it is today and, on any given day, a whole army of children can be found enjoying and fiercely loving the results!