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Category: Lake

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Wallsend Brickworks Park

Rehabilitated area with retaining walls made to look like industrial building rooves

Wallsend Brickworks Park

Wallsend Brickworks Park is a public park in Wallsend, Newcastle Australia, located at the site of a historic brickmaking operation which ran from 1891 to 1977. Featuring a playground, picnic shelters, barbecues, a pond with birdlife, and remnants of the brickworks’ machinery, it’s a great family destination.

The park is also part of the Jesmond Bushland, which offers nature trails for walking, cycling and mountain biking. The bushland is home to some native species such as powerful owls, flying foxes and squirrel gliders. The park is a great place to enjoy history, nature and fun with family and friends.

Brickworks History

Operating from 1891 to 1977 the Wallsend Brickworks used steam-powered machinery to make bricks. At its peak, the operation had orders of 400,000 bricks a week.

The brickworks produced a variety of bricks, including firebricks, pressed bricks and common bricks. Local buildings, such as the Wallsend Hospital and the Wallsend Post Office used some of the bricks.

Due to competition from other brick manufacturers and environmental concerns, the brickworks closed in 1977. Abandoned for many years, it became an environmental eyesore until the council decided to redevelop it as a park in 2002. The resulting public space provides play areas and walking tracks and an environmental wetland while paying homage to its industrial past.

How to Get There

We parked on Iranda Grove where car parking spots are available.

Throughout the grassed rehabilitated areas, concrete retaining walls have been constructed to resemble industrial buildings’ roofs. Several concrete structures remain as a reminder of the site’s heritage. The old clay quarry has been made safe and now forms a lake and habitat for local wildlife.

Entrance and main pathway through Brickworks Park
Entrance and main pathway through Brickworks Park
The old quarry face. Hidden behind trees
The old quarry face. Hidden behind trees
The old quarry is now a wetland Brickworks Park
The old quarry is now a wetland
Walking track through the Brickworks Park
Walking track through the park
Some of the few industrial remains
Some of the few industrial remains
Rehabilitated area with retaining walls made to look like industrial building rooves
Rehabilitated area with retaining walls made to look like industrial building rooves

The park also features artworks made from recycled bricks, including some of the original Wallsend bricks. One of the artworks is a sculpture named Kullas Incubator, which represents the regeneration of life and nature at the site.

Sculpture made from recovered broken bricks Brickworks Park
Sculpture made from recovered broken bricks

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To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

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Swansea Boardwalk New South Wales

Mangroves near the Swansea Boardwalk

Swansea Boardwalk

Only opened in late 2022, the new 230m long Swansea Boardwalk is a great way to experience Lake Macquarie and the mangrove forest. Located near Swansea New South Wales it is easily accessible with a newly upgraded carpark. Access onto the boardwalk is wheelchair friendly, with the boardwalk being flat its entire length.

The Boardwalk

At only 230m, this is a very short walk, however the views are amazing. Being able to walk through the mangroves and not getting you feet wet and muddy is great. You are able to see into mud flats at low tide and see into the forest.

As you walk the views over the lake are great. At the end of the walk, you can see over the Lake to Wangi Wangi and the old decommissioned power station. A small dirt track continues from this point along the Swansea Channel for those who want to extend their walk.

The boardwalk
The Swansea Boardwalk passing through mangroves
The Boardwalk passing through mangroves
View across Lake Macquarie from the Swansea Boardwalk
View across Lake Macquarie from the boardwalk
Mangroves near the Swansea Boardwalk
Mangroves near the boardwalk
Mangroves and Lake Macquarie from the Swansea Boardwalk
Mangroves and Lake Macquarie from the boardwalk
Wangi Power Station Across Lake Macquarie
Wangi Power Station Across Lake Macquarie
Wangi Power Station Across Lake Macquarie
Wangi Power Station Across Lake Macquarie
Shore of Lake Macquarie
Shore of Lake Macquarie
Shore of Lake Macquarie
Shore of Lake Macquarie
End of the boardwalk
End of the boardwalk
Continuation of the track along the shore of Lake Macquarie Swansea Boardwalk
Continuation of the track along the shore of Lake Macquarie

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

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Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk

Sedges, melaleuca trees and lilies Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk

Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk

The Urunga Wetlands and Boardwalk are the result of a ten million dollar project to rehabilitate an old mining processing plant. The result is a beautifully restored wetland and the containment of the tailings and their heavy metal content.

History of the Site

In 1969, Broken Hill Antimony Pty Ltd established an antimony processing plant on the site. Located at Hillside Drive, Urunga the processing plant extracted the heavy metal antimony from its ore, stibnite. After the ore was delivered to the site, it was crushed, and the antimony removed using complex chemical reagents and equipment.

Although the processing produced an estimated 400 tonnes of product, it generated 16,000 tonnes of waste. These waste tailings were rich in heavy metals including antimony, arsenic, lead and reagent residues of cyanide and cresylic acid. Poor management of the tailings resulted a spreading plume of waste contamination the surrounding wetlands.

Although sold to a private owner after closure in 1974, no clean-up or remediation work occurred.

A combination of soluble leachate and insoluble sediments impacted the wetland causing largescale die back of the swamp paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and damage to the habitat of the wetland for birds, plants and fish.

The Rehabilitation Process

The Environmental Protection Authority declared this a remediation site in in 2002 because of long-standing concerns by the community, environmentalists and Bellingen Shire Council. With the owner unable to fund the remediation work ownership of the site transferred to the NSW Government as Crown land. In 2011 a remediation order was placed on the site.

Around four hectares of land needed excavation. A total of 36,400 tonnes of contaminated soils and sediments required removal. Stockpiled and then treated with chemicals to stabilise it, the waste now sits in an engineered containment cell constructed on-site. Remediation resulted in a total of 224 tonnes of antimony, arsenic, lead and mercury removed from the environment.

Only a grassy mound now indicates where the containment cell is located, but beneath that surface is an engineered structure with 15 different layers.

The Site Today

If you were unaware of the site’s history, you might think the area had not required rehabilitation because it looks so amazing. The initial walk winds through replanted forest before reaching the wetlands. At this point a 150m boardwalk crosses the water, allowing you great views of the melaleuca forest on the far shore. Along the way, sedges, lilies and other wetland plants line the shores.

On the far side of the boardwalk the track continues completing a loop to the carpark. Along the 450m of walking track, information boards show the layout of the area, provide you the history of the site and show what wildlife you may see.

How to Get There

A carpark on Hillside Drive, Urunga has plenty of room. However, there are no facilities here apart from rubbish bins, so bring your own food and refreshments.

Swimming and Canoeing

Visitors should stay on the paths to avoid disturbing wildlife and allow the vegetation to establish. Although the water appears clean, traces of heavy metals are still present, so swimming and boating are not permitted.

What Did We Think?

We enjoyed the walk and were amazed how well the rehabilitation turned out. This was a great place to visit while we were in Urunga.

Start of the Track
Start of the Track
Information board Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk
Information board
A view of the wetlands from the walking track
A view of the wetlands from the walking track
A section of the Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk
A section of the wetlands
Melaleuca tree on the edge of the Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk
Melaleuca tree on the edge of the swamp
Sedges, melaleuca trees and lilies Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk
Sedges, melaleuca trees and lilies
The boardwalk over the swamp
The boardwalk over the swamp
Small island Urunga Wetlands Boardwalk
Small island surrounded by lilies
View of the melaleuca forest across the wetlands
View of the melaleuca forest across the wetlands

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To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.