Five women who formed the Rotary Park Committee were honoured at the Australia Day ceremony on Wednesday when the group was named Campaspe Shire’s Community Group of the Year.
The committee was formed by five women of varying ages: Eliza Watson, Heather Darbyshire, Jeanne Aitken, Naomi Riordan and Rebekah Hocking.
The Wirima Playspace, now almost complete, is on the corner of Moore St and the Northern Hwy in Rochester and features all natural equipment and sensory experiences for children.
The committee members have worked with the Rochester community and the Campaspe Shire Council to initiate, plan and complete the development of Wirima over the past four years.
They also worked with the local First Nations community and families of children with additional needs to provide a respectful place for all, and in consultation with the community, schools, the kindergarten and early childhood services, they developed a dream of what could be.
The final vision the group landed on was for a place without manufactured plastic playground equipment, but instead one with logs, rocks, sand and places for families to stop for a while, relax and play, and a place for the wider community to meet in a calm sensory environment.
The team members faced a steep learning curve, and now have new skills, including writing design briefs, interviewing landscape architects and negotiating the constraints of such a project.
They developed skills as a group to research, resource and to be as sustainable as possible.
They also supported Rochester Rotary Club and the community in the revitalisation of the historic windmill so that it could remain in the park.
The group received funding through the Murray-Darling Basin Grants program, and received assistance from the Rochester Business Network and Campaspe Shire Council to complete the project.
Each member of the committee used their individual skills to come together to achieve their collective dream of a special place for Rochester and for Campaspe Shire families long into the future.
Committee chairperson Ms Darbyshire said the committee was thrilled to receive the Community Group of the Year award.
“We had a dream for a nature-based playspace in Rochester and over the past four years our small committee has worked alongside the shire to make this a reality,” she said.
“We have made wonderful lifelong friendships whilst planning and developing this special playspace.
“The recognition of the hundreds or perhaps even thousands of volunteer hours involved is very heart-warming.”