Reserve bounded by Cedar St/Laver Grove, Mayfield, Tasmania

I have not been able to find out anything at all about the estate surrounding this IR but I am going to suggest it is a subdivision of land owned by/surrounding an 1863 house currently known as The Cedars but, according to a plaque on its gate, once known as Pinkie House. Homes surrounding the reserve look to be early 1960s. The pictures say as much as I could say, but better. It was a nice day (3 Dec 2025)

Entrance opposite 'The Cedars'. Find it here.

From inside the reserve, looking toward the front gate of The Cedars (I would have got a closer picture but there was someone doing garden maintenance there and I didn't wish to intrude). 

Unnamed reserve bounded by Jasmine Ct, Lila Dr, Nanette Ct, Prospect, Tas

Yesterday I posted about a reserve close to this one - probably less than a ten-minute walk, depending how long you wait to cross Westbury Road. It is similar in shape to Ingamells Reserve but in all other ways radically different. It's possible that Ingamells is too rocky to be properly maintained (i.e. mown to within an inch of its life) unlike this one, which is featureless, but I have to ask what on earth this space is ever used for - if anything - and whether it is valued at all by local residents (of course the only evidence I have that Ingamells is valued is that it has a worn walking path through it). 

Entrance/exit to Jasmine Ct

As above clearly some local homes look into the space. 

This is the entrance/exit into Nanette Ct. 

The location of the reserve is to be seen here although as per the Ingamells Reserve it is not actually shown on this map. 

Ingamells Reserve, Prospect, Tas

It's been 2 and a half years since I last posted on this site, and in between the last post and this one our book Community Green has been published, including a lot of material from this blog. You'd think the book would finally scratch the itch but no, and a few Launceston examples from this week have cried out to be recorded.

Launceston has a lot of IRs, for reasons not thoroughly obvious to me, although its general hilliness might go some way to explaining - leads to (1) topographically-sensitive road patterns (2) space in residential areas unsuitable for building. I have yet to find any outright overt discussion by Launceston parks or governance people expressing a particular preference in this regard. But there clearly is one and I would say of the many, many cities around the world I have visited looking at IRs, per capita Launceston wins. 

Here are some images from the Ingamells Reserve which can be viewed here though I note the map this links to actually doesn't show the reserve at all! It is a bushland reserve with what look to me like some pretty decisive desire lines from one end to the other, though if they're on a map, maybe they were actually designated as such by original designers - don't know. 

Signposted entrance at Summer Rise.

As you can see the house above definitely 'uses' the space as something to look into passively. I noted this building does not have any gateway access into the reserve, however. So it's look but don't touch. 

Pedestrian way into Pamela Court. 

Entrance to Ingamells St which as you can see from the map is rather absurdly three streets. So this is Ingamells St near the intersection with Ingamells St - !  

Looking south-east from the southern end of the reserve. 

There's another, unnamed, reserve very close to this one which is very different. I will post about that tomorrow. Tomorrow! Not in two-and-a-half years. 

Helenwood Grove Park, Newnham, Tasmania

I'm finally getting around to posting my images from Launceston, February this year. I hope you weren't holding your breath. 

Here you can find a 1970 image from the Tasmanian Town and Country Planning Commission. I don't know whether this is a map or a plan (i.e. was the space planned in 1970?). 

The first four pictures here are of my visit to this space on 9 February 2002.* 

The last two above are the laneway between the reserve and Franmaree Road. There is another lane, between the reserve and Helenwood Grove, which apparently I didn't photograph in 2002 (perhaps I didn't know it was there...!). Below are the images from February 2020, starting with the Helenwood Grove lane. All I can really say is that the trees are bigger and the playground equipment (from memory - not sure why I didn't photograph this properly?! has been updated.

 This is the laneway to Franmaree Road.

Last year, Cypress Hill, the Californian hiphop group which has sold 20 million records since formation in 1988, finally received its star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I wonder if its members are aware of the resilient and omnipresent grass roots tribute paid to it on this wall in Helenwood Grove Park.  It has served as acknowledgment of the popularity of the group (and, you'd have to assume, its ongoing advocacy of marijuana use) for decades now. 

The space is viewable here.

* My photos from 2002 are labelled 'Helenwood Gve, Alanvale'; Newnham is a portion of Alanvale. It's possible the internal reserve itself had no name at this time; it is presently known as 'Helenwood Grove Park' by the City of Launceston.

Bluegum Park, Youngtown, Tasmania

I visited Bluegum Park on the 9 February 2002.

The three pictures I have to hand show a diverse landscape.

Here it is in my Launceston Atlas (1979). Interesting array of street names, I can't imagine what links those eight, though I suppose more likely Jubilee and Brooklyn roads are earlier roads and the tree-named roads came later. Just call me Sherlock.

It's on google map here.