Blackalls Park

We’ll admit it: our idea of a wild Saturday is staking out a picnic table by the lake and watching toddlers declare war on the nest swing. Back in the day local guides crowned Blackalls Park Playground as the roomy, lakeside spot where kids could run their legs off — it was listed for its big shelter available for hire, BBQ facilities, and, yes, older toilets. Cosy.

Morning in our postcode means folding out a esky under that large shelter (the one the write-ups mentioned), shepherding children between the dual swings, the nest swing, the music poles, the seesaw, the slide and the climbing tower, and pretending the picnic table with the faded varnish is a designer setting. Lake Mac Family Life used to put us on the map alongside Speers Point and Rathmines in the “go-with-the-kids” roundup, so we wear that suburban sibling rivalry with pride.

There’s no scandal sheet here — the coverage is mostly mum-blog practicality. MumsPages used to be the directory for “everything a mum needs” around Blackalls Park, listing local businesses and service providers and even psychologists, counsellors and life coaches for when the nest swing finally wins. Newy With Kids used to tuck our suburb into its childcare-by-suburb guide and reminded readers to check Starting Blocks for ratings, which is about as thrilling as community discourse gets.

Who would hate living here? If you only move for industrial-chic cafés, immaculate new toilets or an Instagrammable streetscape, you’ll groan at the “older toilets” note in the guides and probably start a manifesto. Ditto anyone who thinks “spacious playground” must come with valet parking.

Who would love it? Families who want honest, lakeside parkland, mums and dads doing the rotation between BBQ and slide, folk who enjoy being mentioned in sensible directories and being neighbours to Speers Point and Rathmines on the family map. We’re low-drama, well-documented by mums’ blogs, and unashamedly proud of our dual swings. Come for the space, stay for the nest swing, bring realistic expectations about public loos.