Activating a much-loved local garden to help plan for its future through community stories

Greater Sydney Parklands, NSW

September in Wistaria Gardens activation

In July 2022, Wistaria Gardens and Glengarriff House became part of Parramatta Park, coming under the care of Parramatta Park Trust which is overseen by Greater Sydney Parklands (GSP). GSP is committed to restoring Wistaria Gardens and Glengarriff House to their former glory, and with respect to their cultural heritage.

GSP engaged Cred Consulting to design and deliver pop-up engagement activities in Wistaria Gardens as part of ‘September in Wistaria,’ which invited people back into the gardens to celebrate spring and to share their stories about this special place to help plan for its future.

The ‘September in Wistaria’ activation included live music, snacks and beverages, and a children’s arts and craft activity to allow young people to have their say on the future of the beloved local gardens. (Image source: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands).

Services
  • Engagement
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How we did it

‘September in Wistaria’ was held over two weekends in September 2022, with Park staff and Cred engagement experts on-site to hear from the local community. The activation included live music, snacks and beverages, and a children’s arts and craft activity designed by Cred.

The pop-up delivered by Cred aimed to:

  • communicate to the community that the Gardens and House are now in the care of Greater Sydney Parklands
  • demonstrate GSP’s commitment to maintaining the gardens while expanding and improving access to public open space, including community use of the space, and
  • hear from the community about what they love about the gardens, their stories and memories of the garden and what is meaningful to them about the garden.

The activations were promoted via a flyer that was delivered to neighbouring residents, online via the Parramatta Park webpage and social media accounts. A social media promotional toolkit was also developed and provided to local groups to help promote the activations through their own channels.

Cred designed visually engaging information and activity boards as well as children’s activity sheets.

The activity boards aimed to collect people’s stories and sentiments about the gardens and understand what sort of activities and events they would like to see take place going forward. For some of the visitors to ‘September in Wistaria’ it was their first time visiting the Gardens, but for many this is a place that holds fond family memories for generations.

Consultant Kristy Pelekis (third from right) is passionate about engaging with young people. (Image source: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands).

The outcome

Community members were invited to the gardens to celebrate spring and share their stories about this special place. (Image source: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands).

Staff spoke to approximately 100 people over the two weekends, and 160 children completed the colouring activity. There were multiple return visitors over the two weekends, particularly children and their families that enjoyed the arts and crafts activity.

Overall, people expressed they were appreciative of the activation and grateful for Parramatta Park staff to be in the Gardens listening to the community, and told us they would like to see similar activations like ‘September in Wistaria’, with music, food and activities for children more regularly.

Photos, anecdotes and thoughts on the gardens’ future from community members were collected during the activation. This will inform the development of a Conservation Management Plan and Plan of Management for Wistaria Gardens and Glegariff House, which is scheduled to be developed in consultation with the community in 2023.

The Wistaria Gardens are very special to our family – it is like a secret garden. A haven of beauty in the City of Parramatta.”

– Pop-up attendee

Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.
Image: Matthew Duchesne for Greater Sydney Parklands.