By Callum Ludwig
After being awarded the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia’s Engineering Excellence Award for its construction and design, the Warburton Water World’s development and opening have set a high standard for what public recreational facilities can bring to a community.
The Warburton Water World idea came about as a replacement for the Warburton Pool which closed in the summer of 2009-10 as drought struck the area.
Manager of Recreation Projects and Parks at Yarra Ranges Council Phil Murton said the Council and Warburton community began discussing the recreation precinct in 2014.
“We’d seen some waterplay facilities getting delivered in other areas, and from there conducted more extensive community consultation over 2016 and 2017,” he said.
“The plans were brought to life with construction starting in 2019 and the first stage opening in September 2020.”
The community consultation involved a number of workshops for residents to attend before updated plans and 3D images were presented to the community.
Mr Murton said it has become one of the biggest water play parks in Melbourne.
“Certainly, in both size and scale, the designers did a terrific job in incorporating the water park and the play space. It allows for when kids and families are enjoying this place, to move from one area to another,” he said.
“Warburton is a great place to visit from Melbourne, with the river running through it, I think it has been down to a combination of its location and the type of park that has been able to be created. It benefited from the lockdown restrictions as well, when travel to regional Victoria wasn’t allowed.”
Smaller waterplay spaces exist in Seville and Lilydale but are not as expansive as Warburton Water World.
Mr Murton said it is great to develop something that is so popular among members of the community.
“We’ve delivered a really important asset that we know the Upper Yarra and Warburton communities love, enjoy and experience all the time. It’s also bringing a lot of visitors to the area as well, which helps the line of the ice cream shop, it’s pretty busy as a result of that,” he said.
“It really has been so well received and it encourages us to look at what our next options might be, such as a range of trail projects and our PlayPlace plan, upgrading play places around the Yarra Ranges. It has shown us that there is a real market and a need for these kinds of assets for the community, and people will love them and use them.”
Mayor of Yarra Ranges Council Jim Child said the award recognises the strong journey the project has been.
“It’s been a long journey since the pool was closed, which was very precious to the community. It had to be closed because the infrastructure was failing it,” he said.
“It was a large 50m metre pool installed after the success Australia had in the pools in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, but it was past its use-by date and had serious maintenance issues.”
As well as being a water park, the facility has exercise equipment, a playground, barbecues and access to the Yarra River to help it be a year-round attraction despite Warburton’s cold weather.
Mayor Child said community consultation was an important part of the project and helped retain the history of the old pool.
“The old pool formed original starting blocks and as the opening plaque of the pool has been retained, so people with a history of the place can go back and reminisce about the site,” he said.
“The part that I really liked about the project was how we engage with the end-users, the kids. Students at Millwarra and Warburton primary schools contributed to the design of the place and named it.”
The project was funded by a number of Government and local contributors, with the Federal Government providing $1.7 million for the project through the Regional Growth Fund, the Warburton Advancement League putting forward $20,000 for a train engine with junior slide and the Warburton Sports Centre Committee donating $120,000 towards the playspace equipment. Council contributed the remaining $2.8 million towards the project.
“Without those contributions from the local bodies in the federal government, we wouldn’t have been able to put that facility on the ground,” Mayor Child said.
“We are getting more people to come to this facility at all times of the year and the people we get travelling a long distance to come and visit the site even surprised us. It took a long time, but the outcome has been worth the wait.”
