Tony Ireland Park

• River red gums reflecting in a short section of the Wollundry Lagoon
• Majestic river she-oaks vie with river red gums to reach the sky
• Soft she-oak leaves make a whistling sound in the breeze
• A sheltered path leads who-knows-where

Highlights

Tony Ireland Park is a gem hiding in central Wagga Wagga.  It's a newer park, opened in 1989 and named for Archdeacon Anthony Ireland, a colourful Friar Tuck figure who reached out to the community and helped establish the Forrest Centre.

Before the city was built, the Wollundry Lagoon was connected to the Murrumbidgee River.  The Tony Ireland section fills from pipes from the Civic Centre section and empties through a large pipe under Tarcutta Street into the river.

The park then is the closest we see to the place where Dame Mary Gilmore described how the Wiradjuri people built a barrier after high water to keep fish in the Wallundry Lagoon.

River red gums and she-oaks provide grandeur and with shrubs, a screen from the busy streets surrounding the park.  There a shaded walks and nestling hollows, quiet water, birds and flowers.

Location

Tony Ireland Park is on the north side of Tompson Street between Tarcutta Street to the east and O'Reilly Street on the west.