24/09/2026
🚀 A playground should be more than a slide and a set of swings.
We loved this recent ABC story looking back at the iconic rocket playgrounds that once featured in communities across Australia.
What makes the story particularly special is the role of Australian makers and fabricators in our playground history.
In the 1960s, an Australian engineer brought rocket playground plans back from the US. Local fabricators then took the idea and made it their own. Dick West, an Australian small business owner and fabricator, went on to build 36 of the famous steel rockets.
For generations of Australian children, these weren't simply pieces of play equipment they were destinations, landmarks and places where memories were made.
And that's something worth remembering when we talk about playground design today.
A playground shouldn't just be a checklist of equipment. It can be a place with personality.
Of course, playgrounds have evolved enormously. Today's designs need to consider safety, accessibility, inclusivity, Australian Standards, risk and the needs of a much broader range of users. The introduction of national playground standards in 1997 was a significant milestone in that evolution.
But meeting standards doesn't mean we have to lose the sense of wonder.
In fact, we think that's one of the most important parts of good playground design.
Australia has a wonderful history of creating imaginative, locally made play spaces. As an industry, we should continue to build on that legacy, creating playgrounds that are safe and accessible, but also memorable, meaningful and genuinely special.
Playgrounds are part of Australian childhood history. Let's make the next chapter a great one.
A fascinating watch from ABC News 👇
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-22/what-happened-to-the-rocket-ships-in-our-playgrounds-/107182892
Sarah Ferguson presents Australia's premier daily current affairs program, delivering agenda-setting public affairs journalism and interviews that hold the powerful to account. Plus political analysis from Laura Tingle.
