You tend to think of national parks existing on the borders of regional NSW, but there's a national park that sits in between the urban centres of Marrickville, Mascot and Rockdale, and now the protected area is growing. Wolli Creek National Park has had an additional 4.7 hectares added to the protected “green ribbon” area in the past 12 months.
The protected area is now 45 hectares of parkland – and people can walk all the way from Bexley North to Earlwood, and Earlwood to Wolli Creek.
This comes after the NSW Government, during its election campaign, promised to dedicate $13 million to completing the park. The national park – which borders the suburb of Wolli Creek – has been a site of government attention for decades, with the Carr state government first promising to complete the park back in 1998. After a series of delays, almost five hectares of land have been acquired by the current government and added to the park – providing more protected natural space for Sydneysiders to enjoy, and native animals to call home.
The patch of land runs towards Sydney Airport, and is reportedly home to 460 plant and animal species. As well as protecting native species (including a colony of rare grey-headed flying-foxes) the protected parkland will play an important role in providing recreational space within one of the most densely populated parts of NSW.
“With more people continuing to move into this area, this won’t just open up even more open space for them to enjoy, it will also protect this parkland for future generations,” says NSW Premier Chris Minns.
The additional 4.7 hectares of land was acquired in stages over the past 12 months, with 2.6 hectares being acquired from the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, and the final 2.1 hectares acquired by the Office of Strategic Lands.
Though the 4.7 hectares don’t reflect the full completion of the park, it’s been described by Peter Stevens, vice-president of the Wolli Creek preservation society, as “a big step towards completion”.
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