Cassilis Recreation Reserve

Looking out from the gate at the Cassilis Recreation Reserve

This is the five acres 3 roods and sixteen perches which is the Cassilis Recreation Reserve. Also known as the Jernkee Recreation Reserve and the Jirnkee Cassilis Recreation Reserve.

It was recommended that this area: [quote] "in the position defined by the technical description herewith be temporarily reserved in the parish of Jirnkee as a site for Public Recreation, also excepted from occupation for residence or business under any miners right or business licence." [end quote] Dated 1896

Obviously there were even then, in the late 1800's some far sighted visionaries and we reap the reward of their consideration.

The recreation reserve is visited by people from all over the world as well as local residents. The adjacent cemetery draws the visitor, and the ambiance of the place soothes all who enter this small wrinkle between the hills that frame Cassilis.



The trees being planted at the reserve, supplied by Hidden Valley Trees in Harrietville, are for summer shade and autumn colour. This is a project that has brought all the community together to give an area already beautiful more depth and diversity.

People of and from the local community planting trees.

Please click on the tree legend below to see it more clearly. The colour coding is along the lines of what the autumn colours of the trees will be.

Update: August 2012

The first tree to blossom is, much as expected the Manchurian Pear. Other ornamental pears are starting to show bud swell.

More trees have been planted and a new legend will have to replace the old one above to show their location and type. Photographs of the trees will follow, so watch this space.

The new plantings consist of walnut, pear and trees. It is the intention of the committee that the trees in the  Cassilis Recreation Reserve will, as well as supply shade and shelter, also give the visitor an opportunity to pick fruit and nuts. This will create interest, along with the birds and wildlife, who will also share the area and the produce, and by so doing, create even greater and more diverse interest for the the visitor to that area.

Spring 2012

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

It's spring. The ornamental pears planted by the tree sponsors and the Cassilis Recreation Reserve Committee of Management are showing their finery, their interpretation of the season, the quickening. The red maples are starting to fire up as are the trident maples. The staggered flowering of the various trees means there will be blossom heralding the spring for a longer period of time.

If the autumn leaves are similarly staggered we will be well pleased, because the seasons are not just a day or a week, they are an evolution of many factors moving into each other.

Like all living things, trees will help us to see what's going on, and show seasonal conditions far more accurately than a calendar.