Building Green Square’s new parks

What we’re doing

Open and green spaces are vital for people’s health and mental wellbeing.

The 6,200sqm Drying Green will provide a central green space for residents, workers and visitors in the Green Square town centre.

A new public swimming pool will be set in Gunyama Park. There will be a landscaped recreation area with picnic and play areas, boardwalks and all-weather sports field.

We've built a new sports stadium in Alexandria to give locals more facilities for competition and practice. It’s located 700m from Green Square train station and next to the Bourke Road cycleway. The Perry Park Recreation Centre consists of 2 indoor and 2 outdoor courts for sports such as netball, basketball and futsal.

We are designing parks of all sizes in and around Green Square for passive recreation, adult fitness and active play.

We’re catering to young people by building multi-purpose spaces featuring climbing walls and courts for hire while older residents will enjoy walking paths, gardens and reflective spaces.

We have named these new parks after Green Square’s rich past.

Mulgu Park

Mulgu means black swan in the Sydney Aboriginal language. Black swans were common in the Waterloo wetlands. Mulgu Park was part of the Upper Dam where the Rose Valley wool wash operated. By 1908 the swamp and dams were filled and levelled for the Victoria Park racecourse.

Drawing on Waterloo’s market garden history, we are planting fruit trees and passionfruit climbers. We’re creating a community garden filled with lilly pilly trees and finger limes.

Mulgu Park is imagined as a local backyard for residents featuring communal tables, seating and barbecues.

Dyuralya Square

Dyuralya Square extends the network of parks across the Green Square area. It's the civic heart of the Lachlan precinct.

The 2,000sqm area is a relaxing community meeting place with flexible spaces for small events, markets and performances.

The area was once filled with freshwater creeks and swamps, a valuable hunting ground for local Aboriginal people. The square’s name is derived from the Sydney Aboriginal language word for the brolga, a species of crane that once thrived in the wetlands.

The first colonial industries were established south of Dyuralya Square on the banks of Waterloo Swamp. We've chosen materials associated with the site’s heritage, such as recycled bricks, to create a sense of place.

The Rope Walk Park

In 1865, Archibald Forsyth established the Australian Rope Works on the corner of Bourke and Lachlan streets. It was Sydney’s first rope and cordage manufactory and for over 100 years was a principal industry of the colony.

A ropewalk is a long low building or walkway where rope is twisted into lengths. The linear shape of The Rope Walk Park reflects Forsyth’s original ropewalk.

The park is made up of 3 landscaped sections along Sam Sing Street between Thread Lane and O’Dea Avenue.

The park section between Dunkerley Place and O’Dea Avenue is under construction and expected to open in early 2020.

Wulaba Park

Wulaba means rock wallaby in the Sydney Aboriginal language. Wallabies were a regular sight around Waterloo before development.

Wulaba Park offers apartment dwellers access to a garden experience. A play island for children will be interwoven into the park. It will include natural play features like rocks and plants. A plaza will provide picnic spots, chess tables and table tennis under the trees.

We commissioned artist Nuha Saad to produce a unique artwork integrated into the park’s play equipment.

Matron Ruby Grant Park

This park sits between the former nurses’ quarters and pathology building in our new community and cultural precinct. 

It is a green space for friends and family to gather, picnic and play. 

We worked with Sprout Landscape Architecture in collaboration with CAB Consulting to reinstate native plants from the former Waterloo swamp, including eastern suburbs banksia scrub.

Next to the park is an outdoor recreation space for all ages. Designed by JMD Design, it includes a playground for toddlers with climbing equipment, a basketball court and a table tennis table.

The park has elegant outdoor furniture and a sculpted dune formation in the main lawn that creates space for live performances.

Stormwater is harvested from the surrounding roofs and paved surfaces.

This park won the Civic Landscape Award for Excellence at the 2018 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects NSW Awards.

It is named after Miss Ruby Jane Grant, who was Matron of Royal South Sydney Hospital for 20 years from 1928 to 1947. She provided leadership for generations of nurses and was an early activist in improving working practices and conditions for nurses. She was also president of the NSW Nurses’ Association from 1933 to 1937. 

The Royal South Sydney Hospital opened in 1913. The Sydney Morning Herald described it as “a fine block of hospital buildings equipped in the most modern style”.

It played an important role in nurse training. It adapted and grew to cope with changing populations and medical practice. It closed in 2003.