Something extraordinary landed in Kedron’s Bradbury Park in June 2023. Looming into view as you pass Lutwyche Cemetery, it’s a vast, black, jagged structure of towers, rope bridges, and one twisting, multicoloured slide.
Opening just in time for the school holidays, the park’s new Playspace is drawing hundreds of kids a day, along with their disbelieving parents.
Bradbury Park in Kedron, Brisbane.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
“The architects came at it from two different angles,” explains Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.
“First of all, to make something truly unique, to give the best possible play experience for kids. And [secondly] something that provides an Australian bushland feel … The large structure is clad in burnt timber to give the impression of the Australian bush after a bushfire.”
Forget squeaky swings and callus-inducing monkey bars: today’s playgrounds are a Wonka-esque world of flying foxes, skywalks, tube slides and mouse wheels.
Schrinner says that investment in playgrounds and green space is important for a city growing three times faster than Sydney and double the rate of Melbourne.
Playgrounds aren’t competing with other outdoor activities like in the past.
“They’re competing with technology and screen time. And so we’ve had to up the ante in terms of getting kids interested and providing new and challenging experiences. And that’s one of the things that the Bradbury Park playground really does.”
Offering free family entertainment in tough times, these new or improved playgrounds have inspired a trend for “playground tourism”, with parents swapping tips on social media.
As for Bradbury Park, it gets the tick of approval from the lord mayor’s own four children.
“They were there on the first day. And they spent the entire school holidays begging us to go back.”
Brisbane’s best new playgrounds for kids
Bradbury Park, Kedron
Like something out of Game of Thrones, Bradbury Park’s new Playscape takes the form of a deconstructed fort in burnt-black timber, steel, rope and coloured glass.
Bradbury Park in Kedron.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
To ride the tube slide down to earth, kids have to clamber up ladders and across rope grids. Narrow plank bridges challenge the sense of balance, and to reach some of the highest perches requires something like mountaineering skills. Expect to see this thing featured on architectural awards lists. If the crowds get too much, try the park’s nature play space or new scooter track instead.
91 Kitchener Road, Kedron
Frew Park, Milton
The playground that adjoins the Roy Emerson Tennis Centre in Milton takes inspiration from the tennis grandstand that used to be here.
Frew Park in Milton.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
Fashioned from concrete, it invites kids to climb their way up an incline over scramble nets and crawl through passages to reach the entrance to a steep tube slide. If they keep going they’ll get into the three storey-high Commentary Box, a cage that overlooks the park from on high. There’s also a slide that can easily fit six kids side-by-side and has stomach-wobbling undulations like a fairground cascade. Bribery may be required to drag kids away from this one.
Frew Street, Milton
Calamvale District Park
Skywalks are big news in the world of playgrounds. Several metres high, these rope-and-steel structures consist of cabins joined by fully enclosed rope bridges.
Calamvale District Park. Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
Climb your way through and your reward is reaching the opening of the spectacular tube slide. An impressive skywalk is the jewel in the crown of Calamvale District Park, which also boasts a lengthy flying fox, a flat spinner like a record player, and a rock-climbing ribbon. With bike paths, barbecues and bench seating all nestled within a gorgeous melaleuca grove, it’s no wonder Calamvale District Park is one of Brisbane’s most popular parks.
Formby Street, Calamvale 4116.
Riverside Green Playground, South Bank
Hear that squealing coming from just north of Streets Beach? That’s the Mouse Wheel.
Riverside Green Playground, South Bank.Credit: KARA HAMILTON
Exactly what it sounds like, this barrel-shaped vertical spinner requires kids to keep moving or risk falling flat – not an easy proposition when 10 kiddos can cram into it at once. There’s no shortage of great family things to do at South Bank, but don’t be surprised if your small humans keep you at Riverside Green for eons. Other highlights include a pink-and-yellow skywalk with two tube slides, rock-climbing ledge, swings and a Supernova wheel.
South Bank Parklands, South Brisbane.
Hercules Street Park, Hamilton
After a $10 million transformation, the former site of a Caltex petrol station by Kingsford Smith Drive now fuels creative play and community fitness.
Hercules Street Park, Hamilton.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
Yellow shipping containers have been repurposed into futuristic exploration areas, with cargo ropes and a tube slide, plus a huge, squishy hill made of wet-pour rubber pierced by two steel tube tunnels. In warm weather, littlies can run down the avenue of water sprinklers. Hercules Street Park is part of the mammoth Northshore Hamilton urban renewal project that will also house the Olympic and Paralympic village – come 2032, keep an eye out for athletes making use of the jogging track.
18 Hercules Street, Hamilton.
Colmslie Beach Reserve, Murarrie
Reopening in mid-2023 after a six-month upgrade, Colmslie is a local favourite as much for its shady tree coverage as its flying fox, scooter track and colourful marine-themed sculptures.
Colmslie Beach Reserve, Murarrie.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
Local artist David White has designed new octopus, crab and submarine characters to join his original fish and squid effigies, and new landscaping and seating have been added. The scooter track has been revitalised to feature a functioning repair station with real tools. The reserve is a popular birthday party setting with several cabanas and barbecues, and stairs lead down to a short riverside boardwalk for games of hide and seek among the mangroves.
152 Colmslie Road, Murarrie.
Ken Fletcher Park, Tennyson
Remember the old Tennyson Power Station that used to loom over the bend in the river now occupied by apartments and the Queensland Tennis Centre? Ken Fletcher Park does.
Ken Fletcher Park, Tennyson.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
This creative playground has been designed as a tribute to the vanished coal-fired plant, with climbing ropes mimicking electrical wiring, large “smoke stacks”, and pretend control panels. Actual steel girders from the old power station are repurposed as bridges. While kids explore the ropes, sandpit and swings, parents can examine brick remnants of the former building and browse plaques explaining its history. Nearby cafes mean they’ll never be short of a flat white.
167 King Arthur Terrace, Tennyson.
The Mill Petrie Waterpark and Playground, Petrie
The Mill in question was the Amcor Petrie Paper Mill, closed in 2013 and now the site of the UniSC Moreton Bay.
The Mill Petrie Waterpark and Playground.Credit: Brisbane Times / Nick Dent
The area also boasts a massive, colourful waterpark with “crab” fountains and one of those large tipping buckets designed to douse delirious children – along with the odd unsuspecting adult. Locals come in their droves for respite in the warmer weather, but there is plenty to amuse kids in the cooler months, too. Elegantly landscaped with blocks of sandstone, the playground has a flying fox, several slides, an amphitheatre and the usual barbecue cabanas.
1 Moreton Parade, Petrie.
Did we get it right? Did we forget something? Let us know at nick.dent@brisbanetimes.com.au.
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