The council-owned Woodford Reserve at the back of the National Trust property, Woodford Academy, needs an injection of funds to keep going.
So say the Woodford Academy volunteers of the reserve, which has a multi-layered history and traces of historically significant features, including a colonial graveyard, still evident today.
Elizabeth Burgess, the deputy chair of the Woodford Academy Management Committee, said the significant historical site was the original stockyards and where the early road gangs camped from 1831, when the building was an inn. The reserve had been maintained by the dedication of volunteers mowing the lawns and trying to remove the worst of the weeds.
“It was originally the orchards and stockyards for the inn in the 1830’s and in the early 1900’s the Academy’s playgrounds. The schoolboys’ initials, many of whom served in the first world war, can be found engraved in the rocks,” Ms Burgess said. The 160-year-old China Pear tree on the site remains on the local significant tree register, she added.
Fifteen years ago, Blue Mountains Council adopted a Plan of Management for the site but no funds were allocated to it. Now the group has appealed to council to include the reserve in the next four year budget slated to be approved this month.
Ms Burgess said the much loved reserve was an important part of the open space in Woodford, especially as other park areas – Academy Park and Memorial Park – were removed or reduced when the highway was widened in 2012-2013.
“We’re asking council for a modest investment to ensure this site has some future proofing that it doesn’t degrade further.” They would like to see the 40 or more poplars and the other catalogue of weeds removed and regular maintenance as well as a heritage interpretation plan and signage.
“With no funds allocated to maintain the site and no programmed regular maintenance, council may be failing to fulfill their statutory obligations to appropriately manage this local heritage asset,” she added.
Ward 2 Cr Romola Hollywood said she welcomed their application.
"With the highway upgrade complete, the Woodford Academy's program well established and a 2014 Council resolution to consider the Woodford Reserve as part of the Parks Review (being finalised this year as the Open Space Strategy), it is timely to consider how council can resource maintenance and implementation of the 2002 Woodford Reserve masterplan,” Cr Hollywood said.
