Burwood Park is a 31 acre recreation area which straddles New Brighton Road on the western fringe of the suburb of Burwood.
Rugby, soccer, hockey, tennis, archery, bowling and cricket are all played in this park. Buildings include sports pavilions and, up until 1993, a caretaker’s residence.
Once waste sandhills, Burwood Park was previously known as Marram Grass Reserve and it was envisaged that it might be used to accommodate a slaughter-house. Instead it became a rubbish dump called "Buxton’s Corner".
In 1928, the Burwood Progressive Association wanted the area improved and upgraded as it was becoming an eye-sore to the district. The Waimairi County Council, the local body under whose jurisdiction it fell, agreed to subsidise the funds raised by the Burwood Progressive Association so that the reserve could be laid out as recreation grounds.
In 1929 the depression arrived in earnest and the transformation of Buxton’s Corner into a recreation reserve was undertaken as an employment relief measure. Around 5,200 loads of rubbish were removed, mostly ashes but there were also about 480 loads of tins. This material was used in roading construction over at bottle Lake. Then 13,000 cubic yards of soil was carted on to the property, 11,000 cubic yards being transported by horse and dray and the balance by truck.
Plantings of trees around the perimeter and in groupings were carried out in the early years of construction, and further plantings have been added. The soil is very sandy and because of this Burwood Park is one of the best wet weather parks in Christchurch.
The name ‘Burwood Park’ was proposed in 1928 and the City Council adopted the proposal in 1930.
Sources
- Greenaway, Richard. Church on a Sandhill: All Saints Burwood, 1877-1967. Copycraft. Christchurch. 1967.
