07/10/2026
20 Years of ECS | Flashback #5 – 2020
At the end of 2019, we were heading into the new year excited about what was ahead.
We had successfully tendered for what was, at the time, our biggest and most ambitious single project to date. Purtle Park All Abilities Adventure Playground at Mulwala.
Federation Council and the Purtle Park Progress Committee were brimming with enthusiasm, and there was plenty of anticipation within the Mulwala community about creating a new destination playspace on the foreshore.
We worked closely with the Project committee to refine the design to suit the available budget, started ordering playground equipment from Europe, and got stuck into the demolition of the existing playground and closing up the existing boat ramp. Everything was happening.
And then COVID arrived.
Like everyone else, we initially had absolutely no idea what that was going to mean.
We were incredibly fortunate that much of our work could continue. Landscapes still needed maintaining, construction projects were already underway and, as an outdoor workforce, we were able to adapt reasonably well to distancing and the constantly changing site requirements.
And in a strange stroke of good fortune for a business that regularly worked on both sides of the border, our biggest project happened to be in NSW. When the border checkpoints arrived, we were able to largely avoid the daily permit shuffle and keep the project moving.
Most importantly, we had enough work to keep our team working and maintain their hours, something we certainly didn’t take for granted at the time.
There were some unexpected positives to building a community park during lockdown too.
With everyone suddenly taking their daily “wellbeing walks”, we had plenty of great chats through the construction fence with locals who regularly wandered past to check on progress. It became very clear just how much interest there was in what was taking shape behind that fence.
And a special mention must go to Possum and Helen Purtle, who went out of their way to make our team feel welcome throughout the build. Although, if we’re being completely truthful, we suspect the homemade sausage rolls turning up for smoko may have had something to do with just how welcome the boys felt! 😂
The bigger COVID challenge became getting things.
Supply chains were disrupted, materials became harder to source and plants were suddenly in very short supply. Apparently, when half the population was stuck at home, everyone decided it was time to do the garden.
So the planting design had to become a little flexible. But sometimes a problem creates an opportunity.
A beautiful, very old Queensland Bottle Tree needed a new home, while three established Date Palms that would otherwise have been lost were salvaged from a site in Thurgoona.
Instead of going to waste, all four made the journey to a new life on the Mulwala foreshore and became some impressive additions to the landscape.
Meanwhile, the construction program became something of a moving target.
The team reshuffled and reworked the schedule numerous times as different challenges arose, finding other areas to keep progressing while we waited for materials and equipment.
And occasionally discovering a few surprises along the way…
“What pelican sculptures? Nobody mentioned pelican sculptures…? HOW big!!?” 😂
Somehow, we just kept working around whatever came next.
The European playground equipment eventually took almost nine months to arrive, but despite the delays, shortages, design adjustments and general uncertainty of 2020, the project kept moving.
And Purtle Park was finished, just in time for ANOTHER blazing-hot December playground opening! ☀️🥵 Apparently, we were starting a tradition.
But after the year everyone had endured, people were simply happy to be out of their houses and back together in a park. And nobody seemed particularly worried about the heat.
In fact, standing beside Lake Mulwala on a blazing December day, the idea of creating a beach entry into a safe paddling and swimming zone suddenly sounded like a GREAT idea for the next stage of works☀️🏖️
And so, apparently, we weren’t quite finished with Purtle Park yet.
For ECS, the project became about much more than simply being our biggest build to date. It was delivered through one of the strangest periods we had ever worked through, with supply shortages, border closures, changing rules and a construction program that sometimes seemed to need rewriting by the week.
Not quite the 2020 we had imagined but certainly one we wouldn’t forget.
And as it turned out, COVID wasn’t quite finished with us yet either😷
Our next big job was Victorian based, and Dictator Dan didn’t see restrictions the same way as NSW did.
