Taylor Park-The beautiful green oasis in the middle of our town celebrated its 100th birthday on Saturday24th February, and the hardworking caretakers of the park -The Friends of Taylor Park held a picnic in the park to mark this special occasion.

The Torquay Rotary Club was invited to set up a display of our activities and a number of Rotarians were involved on the day.

Maggie Isom was asked to MC the day, and Rhonda Anchen helped with the Rotary stand as well as activities for the children with the Torquay Community House display.

 

Robyn O’Loughlin looked after the Rotary display and explained the PNG project to a number of people.

Bruce Turner was the roadie and page Turner for Erika and the Surfside singers and Gail Chrisfield and Gerard Hogan & Brenda were involved in the Choir.

The day began with a wonderful smoking ceremony by Wadawurrung woman Corina Eckles and then Councillor Rose Hodge,OAM , Honorary member of Rotary Club of Torquay spoke on the history of the park and shared some special memories of her own  -

The earliest inhabitants of the land were the Wadawurrung tribe of the Kulin nation. Then in 1858 Gilbert mapped out a township called Puebla also known as Spring Creek. Today this is Torquay, and the original subdivision is bounded by Bell Street, Anderson Street, The Esplanade, and the Surf Coast Highway.

When the government wanted to survey and further subdivide and sell the land we know today as Taylor Park, John William Taylor offered them other solutions.

His vision was to ensure the town always had some open space.

Taylor Park is a legacy from Torquay’s past, well before the popular land sales of 1886. It is one of a few parcels of land in Torquay that has never been subdivided into smaller allotments for public sale. Thanks go to the Torquay Improvement Association and the Friends of Taylor Park for ensuring this special space stays as the only green space in the town of Torquay.