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Monfarville Reserve
In St Marys, a new playspace at Monfarville Reserve is giving the local community a destination built for exploration, connection and play. Anchored by a themed adventure unit and supported by a precinct-wide upgrade from Penrith City Council, the reserve now offers something rare: a playground with a story, set within a community investment that extends well beyond the play equipment itself.
Project Overview
- Budget (Equipment Only)
- $70,000 – $80,000
- Date Built
- 2026
A Playspace With Its Own Identity
Monfarville Reserve has long been known as a cricket and baseball precinct, a place families visit for sport, not necessarily for play. The brief for the new playspace wasn’t to bolt on generic equipment beside the ovals; it was to give the reserve a play destination distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Gumnut Ridge, from Moduplay’s Adventure range, does exactly that. Built around the theme of the Aussie Bush are two native bird characters, a cockatoo and a magpie, the unit gives children a story to play through rather than just a structure to climb. A tin roof and bush detailing carry that identity through to the finish, moving the unit beyond theming-as-decoration into something that reads as considered and site-specific, not off-the-shelf.
Layering Challenge Without Losing Simplicity
Good play design rarely relies on a single hero piece. Gumnut Ridge anchors the space with climbing, sliding, a bucket pulley and integrated puzzle elements, but it’s the surrounding equipment that gives the playspace its range.
A double bay swing set offers three swing types: a standard seat for independent play, a toddler swing for the youngest visitors, and a nest seat that supports shared, social swinging. A trampoline set and balancing beams add movement-based challenge that doesn’t compete with the climbing structure; it complements it.
The result is a playspace where a toddler, a primary-aged sibling and a parent can all find something to do without anyone outgrowing the space too quickly.
Designed Around How Families Actually Use the Space
A playground is only as good as the site around it, and Monfarville Reserve’s layout reflects an understanding of how caregivers actually behave once they arrive. Seating has been positioned with clear sightlines to the play equipment from multiple angles, meaning parents and carers aren’t forced to choose between comfort and supervision.
Practical additions extend the site’s usefulness well past a quick play stop. A water bubbler, a shaded table and chair setting, and generous surrounding grass mean the reserve now functions as a genuine gathering point. Suited as much to a birthday party or a mothers’ group catch-up as it is to a post-training pit stop for the cricket and baseball clubs next door.
Play as Part of a Bigger Investment
The playspace sits within a wider, precinct-wide upgrade to Monfarville Reserve, jointly funded by the NSW Government and Penrith City Council. Alongside the new play equipment, the reserve has gained a new amenities building with additional storage, accessible toilets and changerooms, and a canteen, as well as an upgraded cricket practice facility.
New landscaping, tree planting and accessible pathways tie the site together, connecting the playspace to the sporting facilities it sits beside. Rather than treating play as an isolated addition, the project reflects a whole-of-precinct view: a reserve that serves sport, accessibility and everyday community life in the same footprint.
