Harry McGuigan Park

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic Value: The place has aesthetic value as an attractive urban park
characterised by its undulating sand dunes and remnant bush
vegetation, and contributes to the townscape of Kwinana.

Historic Value: The place is associated with Harry McGuigan, its namesake,
who was the Commissioner of Kwinana from 1953-1961 and
who administered the local government affairs of Medina and its
environs.

Scientific Value: The place is valued by the community as a long-standing public
open space and recreational reserve.

Research value: the place is valued by the community as a long-standing public open space and recreational reserve.

Level of significance: Considerable

Physical Description

Harry McGuigan Reserve is located to the north of the Medina Shopping Centre and oppoiste the Salvation Army and is bounded by Medina Avenue to the west, Hoyle Rpad to the north, Wheelock Road to the south and housing to the east.
The place comprises a large public reserve demontrating a slightly undultating topgraphy incorporating a gentle rise to the centre before dropping off towards the east and west. The reserve comprises open parkland interspersed with clusters of remnant bushland including mature tuarts, sheoaks, Christmas bushes, banksias and blackboys.
Playground equipment is positioned at various locations throughout the park,
within purpose-built sand pits. A series of winding concrete paths extends through the parkland, connecting the roadway footpaths to the main play areas.

History

On the 18th December 1953, the Western Australian Government passed the Kwinana Road District Act, severing the requisite land for industry and housing from the Rockingham Shire and placing the entire responsibility for the satellite town of Medina and its environs under the direction of one man, Commissioner Harry Lester McGuigan. In his capacity as Commissioner, Harry McGuigan was employed to administer the local government affairs for the first five years, with the Minister for Local Government having the authority to extend the commissioners tem of office to seven years.
Commissioner McGuigan found himself to be in a challenging situation, on the one hand he was to be the mediator between a huge international petroleum company and the Western Australian Government, while on the other hand he was confronted with the social problems of a new community made up of men and women of different professions, trades and nationalities, transplanted into what was then a new and remote location. The success with which McGuigan carried out his task, until being replaced by the constitutionally elected Road Board in 1961, made him a well-respected local identity and an obvious choice for honouring with the naming of a local bushland reserve.
When Medina was designed, 16% of the town site was retained and set aside as natural bush reserves, creating an aesthetically pleasant area in an otherwise urban centre. These reserves, which also include Ridley Green and Oakley Hollow have come to characterise the area.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.