Lillian Fowler Reserve

Lillian Fowler was New South Wales' first female magistrate, first female Mayor (she was Mayor of Newtown) and first female MLA, so it's just as well this little park named after her is so lovely!

The playground equipment is shaded by huge established fig trees. The central climbing equipment has three slides, stairs, ladders and a cubby house underneath. There are swings, a see saw and a taller circular slide for the older kids.

This park is fairly flat and lots of people bring their dogs through here to walk them on the oval of the High School, so children who love animals will be well entertained. The park also back onto the asphalt basketball court of the adjacent Newtown Primary School, so kids can play ball games or watch the local unicycle hockey team (you read it right!) practice on Sunday afternoons.

The park is fenced but there are no gates, so children can run through the access gaps if they are so inclined. The streets around here are fairly quiet (and all one way which makes navigation nigh on impossible) so it's not too dangerous.

I love this park because it's so quiet and friendly, the equipment is safe and interesting and there are excellent shaded seats for breastfeeding or just relaxing. It can be pretty busy immediately before and after the local primary school hours, but aside from that it's usually not busy. And celebrity spotting kids note: we once saw Murray from the Wiggles here (although our son didn't recognise him sans skivvy).