New ecotherapy park opens in Romsey
27/10/2022The innovative community-led Romsey Ecotherapy Park is now open for locals and visitors to enjoy, boosting wellbeing and encouraging more visitors to town thanks to Victorian Government support.
The community-driven project created up to 12 jobs during construction and is expected to create flow-on opportunities for local businesses through increased visitation to the area.
The free public park has been developed in a former schoolyard with artworks and other elements designed to engage all the senses to promote health and wellbeing.
The park is the result of more than a decade of work driven by Romsey Ecotherapy Park Inc., a local group who banded together with the idea to develop a park to give locals an opportunity to gather, play and experience art and culture all in one place.
The group contributed funding to the project through fundraising activities and also contributed to the park’s design. The park incorporates themed areas targeting different types of activities for all ages and abilities.
An arts and culture area within the park will host music, performance and community events to encourage more visitors to stop and stay in the Macedon Ranges.
Featured art throughout the park includes sound sculptures by Anton Hassell who created Melbourne’s Federation Bells, a kinetic wind sculpture and a carved wooden Storytelling Chair.
Sensory and nature-focused elements include water features, garden beds, a climbing forest for older children and sheoak plantings creating a rambling nature trail for all ages.
The project’s construction was supported through a $615,000 grant from the Regional Infrastructure Fund while $718,000 was provided as an election commitment in 2018.
The Government also invested $200,000 to deliver the park’s Climbing Forest through Pick My Project.
Support for the park is a key part of our record investment of more than $36 billion in rural and regional Victoria since 2015.