Waratah Park, former home of Skippy, to be returned to Aboriginal Land Council

Former Sydney wildlife attraction Waratah Park, one time home of Skippy, is to be handed over to Sydney's Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.

The 13 hectare park, made famous as the location of the Skippy The Bush Kangaroo television series in the late 1960s and early 1970s, will become an Aboriginal heritage and cultural centre.

Organisations associated with the site such as Sydney Wildlife, the Friends of Skippy and the Duffys Forest Residents Association will continue to be able to access the land.

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council Chief Executive Nathan Moran said the site would be handed over by the NSW Lands Department soon.

Moran told Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph “we just want to use the site as best we can and utilise the existing infrastructure."

The Land Council plans to use the site as an Aboriginal cultural and heritage centre while also displaying props used during the making of Skippy.

The new ownership looks set to give some stability to the site.

After filming ended the park continued as a tourist destination and wildlife park from 1998 but in 2003 the then lessee was charged with animal cruelty and his licence was revoked.

Later that year the licence was acquired by Earth Sanctuaries but the business floundered and was taken over by another company in 2006 with the intention of opening it as an attraction. 

However, the gates to the park remained shut and its future remained uncertain until the Lands Department agreed to hand the land to the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.

In recent years volunteers, including from the Duffys Forest Residents Association, have been cleaning the site and undertaking revegetation work, and Sydney Wildlife has been using the site to rehabilitate injured native animals.

7th January 2010 - SKIPPY EVICTED FROM WARATAH PARK