Halliday Park, Mitcham

Splash parks in Melbourne, Australia

Budding young water engineers can head to Halliday Park in Mitcham to try the hand pump and the two operational mini sluice gates, which you can use to control the flow of the water. As a hydrologist and a dad I was very excited by the opportunity to teach my kids how to release water from a dam for downstream users. After a very short time, they were already teaching me with plenty of instructions such as "This is how you do it dad, like this." Above: The water pump, stream and sluice gates (Order this image)

The hand pump at the upstream end of the water feature is operated by rotating the circular disk anti-clockwise. It takes a reasonable degree of force, so will need to be operated by an adult or older child. From there the water splashes down onto the spongey playground surface and winds along a shallow channel to the first sluice gate.

The gates are easily operated by pre-schoolers by pulling up and then twisting to lock them in an open position. Then simply twist again to unlock and drop the gate once more. The gates are quite light, but be careful to warn your child about jamming their fingers underneath the gates. After release from the first dam, the water winds around to a second sluice gate and from there down into a small drain about the size of a shower drain. Kids can sit in the water anywhere along the 10 metre stream. Above: The barbecue facilities at Halliday park (Order this image)

The park playground was rebuilt in 2014 and has a number of great features for kids of all ages. For babies and toddlers there is a mini trampoline built into the spongey floor of the playground that is a reasonably safe environment to practice some bouncing. For older kids there are two flying foxes and a large swinging cradle. For the adults there are four barbecues right next to the playground, so you can cook lunch while you watch your kids play. There is also a hammock if one parent wants a nap while the other parent watches the kids. The only danger I found when I visited on a windy day in March was a hazard from above. At first I thought the sky was falling in, then I looked around accusingly to see which teenager was throwing things, but it turned out to be just some acorns falling from the tall, shady oak trees that are integrated into the playground.

There is a car park that you can access from Mitcham Road, however expect that to fill on weekends (when the nearby bowls are on) and at school home time when parents are picking up their kids from the adjacent primary school. Alternatively you can park in the surrounding streets. The playground is roughly in the middle of the park. Before you head out, make sure to read the water safety information and check with the managing authority for any current change of conditions. The marker indicates the location of the water feature at the park. If the map is not zoomed in locally, as can occur with some browsers, simply click or tap on "View Larger Map" below.
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