Nurragingy Reserve
Yesterday Nick drove us to the Nurragingy Reserve in Knox Road, Doonside. This is an amazing 63 hectare bushland reserve which has several main attractions. Prior to the 1970's, the land was part of the Cumberland Timber Forest, but it was then purchased by the New South Wales State Government with the intention of turning it into a green belt for rapidly expanding Western Sydney. A portion of this land was to be used as a recreational area.
The name Nurragingy commemorates one of the two men of the Dharug tribe who recived the first land grant to Aboriginal people from Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1819. The other title holder was Colebee, whose name has been given to the Centre within the Reserve.
We walked to the Chang Lai Yuan Chinese garden which is styled with elements from both the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty and includes a Gateway, Seven Arch Stone Bridge, a Light Mountain Pavilion and a Waterfall Gazebo.
A Pai Lou (Gateway) is the first and most prominent building feature in the garden. This
Pai Lou has classical
Chinese design character with an even number of columns creating a main centre passage and two side passages. The roof features glazed tiles on upturned corner eaves, a design popular in the 14th century
Ming Dynasty.
A stone bridge and water is an essential feature in traditional garden designs. The bridge forms a link between the different sections of the landscape. The parapets are constructed in stone with carvings done by Master Stonemasons from China based on the style of the Imperial Court.
A
Pavilion in the
Chang Lai Yuan Chinese Garden. The timber elements of all buildings were constructed in
China and shipped here in containers. They were reassembled by
Chinese carpenters and hand painted by
Chinese artisans.
The native fern
Azolla growing on the surface of the Lake. It floats in a pink mass on top of the water. It changes from green to pink in the sun.
A little grove of
Boab trees growing in the
Africa section. These trees also grow in the Northern regions of
Western Australia and in the
Northern Territory of Australia. They are easily recognised by the swollen base of their trunks giving the tree a bottle like appearance.
We also walked through areas devoted to Mediterranean plants, New Zealand plants and also plants from the Americas.
We enjoyed our visit to
Nurragingy Reserve and look forward to another visit soon when we shall seek out the
Aboriginal Heritage Section of the garden and other features we were not able to fit in on our visit yesterday.
Acknowledgments
1. Wikipedia
2. landscapesolutions.com.au
3. various signage displayed in the garden.
