Ruby's park plans
Published on 25 September 2023
When then-eight-year-old Maslin Beach resident Ruby Cooper-Milbank learnt her local playground was going to be replaced, she became upset.
In 2021, the City of Onkaparinga identified the playground and other infrastructure at Jasmine Park, which were beginning to show their age, as needing an upgrade.
But for Ruby—who’d been coming to the park throughout her childhood for many a play, birthday party and family get-together—the fact her local playground would soon be ripped-out was a shock.
“We read in a newsletter or something about putting your ideas forward [for the upgrade], and Ruby was upset at it being demolished,” recalls Ruby’s mum, Hannah, about the council’s community engagement about the park upgrade.
“So I said, well, why don’t you come up with some ideas? And she really got into it, got excited and started thinking of ideas.”
Ruby and Hannah wrote to the council in November 2021. The correspondence outlined Ruby’s ideas for the upgrade and her rationale. She even included a hand-drawn map and handwritten letter.
Ruby wanted the council to make sure the upgrade catered for older children because she felt Maslin Beach’s other playground, Frank Hilton Reserve, was aimed more at younger kids.
Ruby asked the council to consider including items such as monkey bars and climbing walls, while also retaining existing elements such as the basketball court and the footy goals, which had been installed by a local resident.
Chief among her requests, however, was an ice cream truck.
“I did really want an ice cream truck,” Ruby, now aged 10, laughs when Onkaparinga Now meets her and Hannah at the upgraded park.
“They often have an ice cream truck at the Jubilee Park playground in Port Noarlunga, so I thought they should hire one here.”
While council couldn’t include a real-life ice cream truck to be stationed at the new reserve, it did install the next best thing—ice cream truck play equipment and an inverted ice cream cone climbing wall.
“When I saw it being built, I thought that’s hilarious,” says Ruby.
“It makes me so happy seeing the little kids pretending they’re the ice cream people.”
Other elements of the upgraded reserve that contain Ruby’s fingerprints include the monkey bar trail, a second climbing wall, resurfaced basketball court, upgraded footy goals, two slides (one big, one small) and swings (including an accessible swing).
The upgrade also includes a pull-up/chin-up station, a new path for scooters/bikes, new seats, upgraded shelter with picnic setting, drinking fountain with tap and dog bowl, tree planting and irrigation upgrade for the grassy kickabout area.
“It was really cool, I loved it,” says Ruby of discovering her ideas had been implemented.
“I did talk about the rock climbing walls and the bars and things because I think the older kids would want to go on them.
“It was a really good idea how they did the ice cream cone as the rock wall [and] I’m very happy we still have goals and the basketball ring because my dad and I like to use that.
“It has made a lot of people come here as well… especially the ice cream truck, everyone’s been getting into that!”
“We didn’t really expect that it [Ruby’s feedback] would come through,” adds Hannah.
“It was really nice to see she’d been listened to and she had a voice because it does make a difference to kids.
“We drive past every day, and after school there’s so many people. When we drove past before the upgrade there’d be no one in here, and now it’s become really popular again. It’s nice for the community to see that.”
Jasmine Park is one of 240 playgrounds within the City of Onkaparinga. They range from ‘local family parks’ (designed to provide a small play area within easy walking distance), through to iconic ‘regional family parks’ like Jubilee Park and Morphett Vale’s Wilfred Taylor Reserve—designed for full-day play and big crowds, with additional infrastructure such as toilets, public art, lighting and shade structures.
There are a range of other park and reserve upgrades underway or planned soon across Onkaparinga, including in Hackham West, Happy Valley, Morphett Vale, Noarlunga Downs, O’Halloran Hill, Onkaparinga Heights, Port Noarlunga/South, Reynella/East and Woodcroft.
To keep updated about future park and reserve upgrades so you can provide feedback like Ruby, you can select the topics and locations that matter to you in your Your Say Onkaparinga profile.
You’ll then be notified by email about any new projects that match your interests.
Pictured
Ruby and mum Hannah at the upgraded Jasmine Avenue park and Ruby's letter and map to the council.