A push to make Wakefield Gardens park behind the Ainslie Shops more of a connecting-community space is gaining momentum.
About 40 locals came together for an evening meeting at Edgars last Friday to discuss revitalising the old community building and surrounding park at the back of the Ainslie Shops.
Local independent MLA Thomas Emerson organised the forum in response to a number of community groups calling on the ACT Government to give them permission and support to use and develop the area as a welcoming, community meeting space.
The ACT Government has pressed snooze on this site for over 20 years, and this community asset has progressively deteriorated over that time. This exemplar of Garden City design is showing a lack of investment and is looking pretty sad.
The once important 91A Wakefield Avenue community building in the gardens which was built in 1951, has lain empty and disused since 2005. And a recent fire means it will be demolished sooner than planned.
This has created an opening for locals to get involved in a community-led design process to revitalise the whole gardens area as a space for community connection.
So far, ideas to revitalise the park include a staged development to create a community garden, urban farm and nature playground and to re-purpose the old community building as a multi-use community hub.
A neglected asset: the disused 91A Wakefield Gardens community building, before it was fire damaged in August. © The Canberra Times.
An aerial view of Wakefield Gardens behind the Ainslie Shops, with the 91A community building site marked by dotted lines in the eastern corner.
At last Friday’s forum, local Aboriginal community worker Nat Brown, of the Auntie Time group, said the Ainslie area had been a powerful meeting site for ancestors in the past.
She said the park is being used by her community these days ‘to tutor young people and for cultural practises’ and that ‘the ancestors would be welcoming’ current moves for more community connection in the space.
Thomas Emmerson told the forum ‘third spaces’ like Wakefield Gardens are important for social cohesion and strong communities. He pointed to the epidemic of loneliness in the community and said a lack of places for the meetings and connection is part of the problem.
Others spoke along the same lines. Charlie Bloomer, who created a Peace Garden to support young people in nearby Foveaux Street, said a revitalised Wakefield Gardens could be ‘a healing and human- scale green space for people to come together, quiet reflection and nature play’.
Fiona Buining of Ainslie Urban Farm said the park could also be a space for community food cultivation and somewhere locals could learn about growing food and gardening.
The ACT Government will be consulting on the use of the old 91A Wakefield Avenue community building site in September and October.
A petition signed by more than 600 people has already been lodged with the Legislative Assembly. Led by local resident Amy Blain, it calls on the government to fund and plan a community hub at the 91A site; consult with local community on how to use the site; and set a date for the reactivation of the site.
Amy told the Friday forum residents were craving ‘more connection and shared experiences’ and were excited by what the 91A community centre building ‘had been and what it could become’.
Sign up with the Ainslie Residents Association to get more updates on this and other local stories. 22 September to 7 November community consultation period;
Read our story on the Government consultation or visit the ACT Government webpage on the consultation which is open now until 7 November.
Visit the webpage on this project on the Thomas Emmerson MLA website.
, is also supporting community involvement in the redevelopment of this site and the surrounding gardens.
You can join the Ainslie Residents Association mailing list to get updates on how to respond to the government’s or to get involved in other ways.
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