A childhood spent playing in Oatley Park on this river, inflating
toadfish and splashing around the ghostly former oyster beds, may be what
influenced Dan to become an unemployed environmental chemist. Mick and Dan
often enjoyed coming here to paddle their kayaks, until the night the council
locked the gates, trapping them and their car inside. Carrying the kayaks home
was annoying and embarrassing, but not nearly as painful as having to explain
to Dad why they could not pick him up from the train station for the first time
he had ever asked them for a lift. (Please make sure you get your car outside
the gates by 7pm.)
Oatley Park is also one of NSW’s premiere tourist
attractions, rated between the Big Banana and Questacon, and every
international visitor to stay with the Paraskas has been taken for a walk here.
Miela and her brother Max walked through the whole park and went for a paddle
with Dan and Michael in 2011.
The Castle was built in the 1930s as part of the Unemployment
Relief Scheme, along with the scenic roads through the park, in part as a
defence of Oatley against the Sutherland Shire. During WWII, the park was used
as a camp for hundreds of Royal Australian Engineers, and some of the concrete
floors of their structures (kitchen, store, and shower block) remain. In 1919,
an Aleppo Pine from Gallipolli was planted near the main entrance of the park
to commemorate soldiers of WWI: thus even though we were not able to take the
Dardanelles, at least we stole one of their trees. The park was declared public
recreation space in 1888, but of course it was inhabited for more than 50 000
years before that. Oatley Park had been a gathering place for countless years
because it lies at the point where the Georges and Woronora Rivers meet. The
Biddegal people from the south and north and west would meet here and share
oysters (there used to be great middens down on the shore) and naughty
limericks. Oatley Park protects a wealth of plant and animal life, including a
kind of berry which only old men should eat, because although it cures most
ailments, it also makes you sterile. Last week, we saw a tawny frogmouth just
across the road from the castle.
It means a lot to Dan and Miela to celebrate their wedding in
a special place like Oatley Park, and we’re grateful that you have joined us
here today.
