Coogee Media

History of Grant Reserve
My childhood memories from the 1950s are that the reserve was a treeless undeveloped area and for a while was used as landfill for municipal waste. The south western corner of the park was a high bank of sandy soils which local kids would use to ski down sitting on pieces of cardboard. On the nights of "Empire Days" (no longer celebrated), local children built large bon-fires made out of mounds of scavenged wood. As the air was filled with the sounds, sights and smells of millions of small fireworks, the flames of the fires consumed large parts of anything that lived in the park.

In the era after the Second World War, the park featured a number of round retro style picnic shelters built of cement blocks (they are still in place on the north end at Dunningham Reserve) and brick bar-b-ques, powered by wood scraps left in a hopper by council workers and volunteers. It was also home to one of the large, black, 1843-era cannons mounted on sandstone blocks which was later relocated to the war memorial at Anzac Parade, Malabar.

One of our correspondents, Michael, remembers a a large, fenced off hole in the early 1960s. Inside the fenced area was a small dark brick building, possibly an entrance to a drainage system. It was well-fenced off, likely to keep kids out of it. It may have had something to do with water or sewerage drainage works. The area was later filled in and levelled off.

The children's playground consisted of pieces of dated, and I suspect dangerous, steel play equipment. The most impressive parts of the playground were the monumental sandstone entrance gate posts holding the sign saying "Stan Windon ". The playground was named after Stanley James "Stan" Windon (1884 - 1951), a founding member and the Secretary of the Coogee Life Saving Club from 1909 to 1934.

The whole park was pretty much leveled in 1986/7 to create the landscaping that is in place today.

1987 Modernisation Project
By the mid 1980s the state of the park was such that locals were agitating for improvements. From 1987 onwards Randwick Council, with assistance from the State Government, undertook major redevelopment of the Coogee beachfront and adjacent parklands. The way Grant Reserve looks today, like an unspoilt idyllic park, dates from the work from that period.

Grant Reserve was named after Edward Charles Ogilvie "Ted" Grant (c1885 to 1940), a Coogee community activist during the 1920s and 1930s. He was a founder of the Coogee Progress Association and President of the Randwick-Coogee Advancement League - organisations that lobbied for Coogee civic improvements. He was an Alderman, representing East Ward, on Randwick Council from 1929 to 1931. See Note 1

Grant Reserve, 1987 - Workmen have just arrived to begin refurbishment

Two historic and spectacular and iconic ocean pools are located adjacent to the park: McIver's Ladies Baths (women only) and Wylie's Baths. Modern public toilets are located close to the entrance to McIver's Baths. A striking visual element of the park is a small wooden, domed rotunda in the centre of the park overlooking the grassed oval. This was built following the redevelopment of the Coogee beachfront from 1987 and was designed as a matching motif for the dome of the Coogee Aquarium on the other, northern, side of the beach.

Magnificant Children's Playground
On the northern end of the reserve is a large children's playground: the remodeled Stan Windon Memorial Playground. The playground is designed to resemble an abstract ship moored to a jetty. There are pylons, decks, moorings, climbing ropes, nuatical bells kids can jump on, and a 7.5 metre high space net representing the ship's mast. This area is shaded by huge Moreton Bay figs and Norfolk Island pines. The play area, which is highly rated by children's recreation groups, is extremely popular with local residents and visitors and crowded with children of all ages throughout daylight hours.

Grant Reserve Coogee Rotunda, 2018

Popular Picnic Area
The park has a series of interesting recreational spaces separated by banks of mass plantings. There are three tiers of native and indigenous planting: Norfolk Island pines for scale and shade, banksias and melaleucas for screening and coastal heath species for accent and mass planting. The native flora attracts a wide variety of birds.

Village Green
The southern area of the reserve has been developed as a meeting place with the feel of a village green that can be used for unstructured recreation. BBQs, seating and covered areas make it a very popular meeting and picnicking place all year round. The large open grassed oval is ideal for kite flying, ball games, picnicking, exercise, jogging, and children's play. With the area heavily populated with smaller apartments, Grant Reserve is like an extra living-room where locals can entertain family and friends, year round, in one of the most beautiful parts of the Coogee.

Reserve Facing Danger of Development
Over the past couple of years, there have been persistent rumours of plans by private interests to put forward proposals to "upgrade" facilities in the Reserve. Some rumours involve installing one or more cafes or restaurants in or on the boundary of the reserve. Concrete proposals have not surfaced yet, however, we recently noticed an October story in the The Sydney Morning Herald which referred to a "...permanent Coogee sound shell proposed by choir maestro Stuart Davis ..." in what the article refers to as "...Coogee's under utilised Grant Reserve ..."

Aerial view of Grant Reserve Coogee, 1970s

Stan Windon Memorial Playground, 1970s

References

Farrelly, Elizabeth, ' Dust to dust: projects look to resurrect joy of shared music', Sydney Morning Herald) Sat October 2, 2021,

Note No. 1: Edward Charles Ogilvie "Ted" Grant died on the 25th April 1940 aged only 55. After a funeral service at St Nicholas Anglican Church Coogee, he was buried at Randwick General Cemetery in the Anglican Section GG, Plot 8. His address at the time was given as 310 Rainbow Street, Coogee. His wife Bertha Jane Grant nee Watson (c1885 to 1952) , usually referred to in the press as "Mrs E. C. Grant" was on the committee of the McIver's Women's Baths. They were married in 1911, and had two children Nancye and Frank. She was buried in the adjoining plot no. 9.

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