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Parks and Recreation Collection – Narratives

Category: Health, fitness and well-being

nature play; role of open space in mental health

“People Gardening”

Updated on date by author

Long-term recreation professional Peter Nicholls of Adelaide has generously agreed to provide the substance of materials on his website Australia’s People Gardener for re-presenting and curating on PaRC. Peter’s professional qualifications in the fields of leisure and recreation planning and development include:

 

  • Bachelor of Arts ANU Canberrra 1965
  • Graduate Diploma in Recreation Planning: Canberra University 1975, making him one of the pioneers of the professional recreation movement in Australia
  • Senior Recreation Planner (and various other managerial positions) with the South Australian Department of Recreation and Sport, 1976 – 1994
  • Recreation Planner City of Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide 1994 – 2002
  • Life Member and a past National and State President of his professional association, Parks and Leisure Australia.

A profile of Peter is also preserved on PaRC under the category “Inspirational People“.

THE BENEFITS OF CREATIVE LEISURE INTERESTS

LIST OF LEISURE/RECREATION IDEAS. Although this document includes 2005 in its heading, that is the date it was commenced. Activities have been added continuously since then.

BEING WHO YOU REALLY ARE IS A RISK WORTH TAKING

BEWARE OF THE RETIRED HUSBAND SYNDROME

DARE TO HAVE FAITH IN YOUR DREAMS

DON’T THROW YOUR ABILITIES AWAY. RECYCLE THEM

EMPLOYERS OF CHOICE WHY THEY ATTRACT STAFF LOYALTY

FEAR AND COURAGE THE ODD COUPLE

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU TRUST YOUR TRUE SELF

I WISH I WAS THE ME I ONCE WANTED TO BE

IT’S TIME TO TEAR DOWN THE WALL THAT SEPARATES WORK AND LEISURE

LIFE AFTER WORK WILL BE LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN BEFORE

MY APPROACH TO EXPONENTIAL PERSONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

MY DREAM FOR THE WORLD

MY LEFT FIELD PERSPECTIVE

SETTING THE STAGE

SPACE THE SEPARATION THAT KEEPS US TOGETHER

THE CHANGING ROLE OF BUSINESS IN MAKING SENSE OF WHY WE ARE HERE

THE ENQUENCHABLE YEARNING TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART

THE GLORIOUS ENIGMA OF UNCERTAINTY

WE NO LONGER ACCEPT LIFE IS OVER WHEN IT

WHY I WANT TO BE A KID AGAIN

WHY IT’S TIME FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT TO CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT

 

The above 23 files AGGREGATED

To be continued.

Review Status: Pending
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Peter Nicholls: Life Enjoyment Mentor

Updated on date by author

Peter Nicholls, of Adelaide, a long-term Trustee of the AIPR Trust Fund-Education (forerunner and originator of PaRC), has described himself as “Australia’s People Gardener”. His inspiring life story has been summarised in his “Manifesto“, a challenge to people enslaved by an economic  worth ethic to substitute “life enjoyment” for “work” as their purpose in life.

Peter’s professional qualifications in the fields of leisure and recreation planning and development include:

  • Bachelor of Arts ANU Canberrra 1965
  • Graduate Diploma in Recreation Planning: Canberra University 1975, making him one of the pioneers of the professional recreation movement in Australia
  • Senior Recreation Planner (and various other managerial positions) with the South Australian Department of Recreation and Sport, 1976 – 1994
  • Recreation Planner City of Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide 1994 – 2002
  • Life Member and a past National and State President of his professional association, Parks and Leisure Australia.

Peter has made his updated Manifesto available to PaRC readers. Further details  of Peter’s vision may be obtained from his website, https://australiaspeoplegardener.com.au/. The substantive documents from his website are being curated on a separate post “People Gardening“.

 

 

Review Status: Pending
Posted in Health, fitness and well-being, Human resource management, Inspirational People, Narratives | 1 Reply

The Preconditions of Well-being

Updated on date by author

Human well-being is central to the worldview of parks and leisure people, it’s a, and perhaps THE primary purpose of parks and leisure activities and facilities. So there is likely to be wide interest in a series of thought pieces being published in The Mandarin, a national online newsletter of public administration, under the aegis of the Royal Societies of Australia.

The series has its origin in a conviction by the scientist members of The Royal Society of Queensland that the knowledge held by scientists and medicos about human health and well-being is not being adequately reflected in national public policy and there is a need for public advocacy of scientific insights to better inform policy settings in health, education, and a range of other portfolios.

Some of the columns published to date don’t overlap much with the interests of parks and leisure people (speaking generally), but some will resonate strongly with readers of this website:

  • under-resourcing of public goods
  • under-resourcing and politicisation of the public sector departments responsible for public infrastructure and services
  • timidity in tackling alcohol, drug, gambling and other industries that are threats to well-being
  • absence or weakness of forums for crossing the disciplinary and sectoral silos to bring evidence and insights from all quarters into the senior policy apparatus.

Articles 3-7 will be of particular interest to operational managers who struggle to implement good ideas: they explain that there are five major ingredients to a successful program or project, and the absence of any of the one can be fatal to success.

The Mandarin is tagging the articles and the full series can be accessed by clicking on this link. The parent website, a page under the Royal Societies of Australia banner, is being developed as a knowledge hub on the subject.

«««««»»»»»

Most of the articles published to date have been written by one author, but the project envisages contributions from a range of people with expertise. Any parks or leisure practitioner who would like to write a column of about 1000 words on a well-being subject of their choice is warmly invited to contact the Coordinator via health AT SYMBOL royalsocietyqld.org.au or the secretary of PaRC via secretary AT SYMBOL parcaustralia.com.au.

 

Many parks people will be highly sensitive to the need  to protect green space within and around areas of urban settlement. This has long been understood by town planners and by the parks and recreation officers of local governments. However, in the contemporary push for densification of urban development, this deeply held principle is being set aside as lot sizes shrink and vacant government land is being re-described as “under-performing” and targeted for blocks of flats. Parks and recreation people who have some anecdotes to share can write for PaRC. Those with more policy-orientated advocacy to share can write for The Mandarin. Those with a social media aptitude are warmly invited to join the LinkedIn account.

 

Please see the Call for Authors for details of style and format.

 

Review Status: Pending
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Sport knowledge – the Australian Clearinghouse

Updated on date by author

The Australian Clearinghouse for Sport is the pre-eminent information and knowledge-sharing platform for Australian sport.

The Clearinghouse brings together Australia’s leading sport and active recreation agencies, using Sport Australia as the principal information coordinator, to share news, evidence and insights about sport, human performance and physical activity. The Clearinghouse works to:

  • Identify and acquire information of relevance to the Australian sport and active recreation sectors;
  • connect people in sport and active recreation with complementary expertise;
  • inform Australian sport practitioners (such as athletes, coaches, physical educators, scientists, medical providers, researchers, administrators, students, facility managers, policy makers, volunteers, and sporting officials) about good and promising practice in sport and active recreation;
  • provide Australian governments at all levels with comprehensive and policy relevant analysis of research relating to sport and active recreation, and its value to the community; and
    Provide Clearinghouse members with high quality information on sport, physical activity and active recreation.

The Clearinghouse is a central access point for knowledge about the Australian sport sector and for communication between sportspeople and sporting organisations. It is an entity of the Australian Sports Commission, itself an agency of the Australian Government. Access its website https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/ here.

Given the existence of the Clearinghouse with its focus on ‘active’ recreation and sport, the PaRC document library and this PaRC narratives website have purposely focused on ‘passive’ recreation, open space and park management, although of course no clear distinction can be maintained.

The Clearinghouse’s useful list of definitions of key terms in sport, for example, has been extracted and converted to a durable PDF format in a post in PaRC.

Canadian Sport Information Resource Centre

The Canadian equivalent is an excellent source of technical knowledge about sports played in that country. Click on SIRC Resources or its French version.

Review Status: Pending
Posted in Health, fitness and well-being, Infrastructure, facilities and urban environments, Narratives, Organised sport | 1 Reply

Parks and Recreation Portfolio Planning Presentation

Posted on date by author

Parks and Recreation Portfolio Planning

 

This is a presentation that I gave at the Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA) 2024 National Conference in Brisbane.

The presentation outlines the portfolio approach to planning for parks and recreation.

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Posted in Health, fitness and well-being, Infrastructure, facilities and urban environments, Leisure activities, Management and governance, Natural resources and environment, Open space and recreation areas, Organised sport, Planning, policy and legislation, Tourism and events | Leave a reply

The Health of Young Aborigines – Aged 12 to 25

Updated on date by author

This report dated 1992 by consultant Pamela Lyon was published by the National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, Department of Education, University of Tasmania (Hobart).

In 1989, the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) had research done into the health issues affecting young Aboriginal people aged 12 to 25 years. The
researcher was also to look at how culture and life situations, living conditions and relationships with other people (”social factors”) may affect the health problems of
Aboriginal young people. The result was the report The Health of Young Aborigines, by Maggie Brady, an anthropologist with much experience of Aboriginal people and Aboriginal issues in many different parts of Australia.

The report:

• identifies the most important health issues affecting young Aboriginal people in cities and towns and in country and remote areas,
• looks at some of the ways people are trying to do something about these issues; and
• recommends other ways of making young Aboriginal people healthier.

The report is based on published studies, Ms Brady’s previous fieldwork, and several field trips to South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This summary of the original report was prepared by Pamela Lyon for NYARS so that Aboriginal people living in communities, and community-based health professionals who work with young Aboriginal people, may understand more easily what is in the report.

 

 

 

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MidCoast Recreational Boating Infrastructure Plan 2024 – 2035

Posted on date by author

MidCoast Recreational Boating Infrastructure Plan 2024 – 2035

 

This boating infrastructure plan is part of the MidCoast Parks and Recreation Planning Portfolio.

 

It covers more than a hundred individual boating assets, which include boat ramps, pontoons and jetties, across our coastline, rivers and lakes, many of which are sensitive ecosystems. The Plan not only focuses on the assets but also on the activities that are conducted on the waterways, and which use the facilities. Environmental protection is the main focus of the Plan.

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Healthy Spaces and Places

Updated on date by author

“Healthy Spaces and Places” was a web-based national guide for planning, designing and creating sustainable communities that encourage healthy living.n regional cities, towns, villages and remote communities. The Healthy Spaces and Places material was developed over 2008-2016 and was previously hosted on a dedicated website www.healthyplaces.org.au, but this has since closed down. (It was however snapshotted by the National Library in 2011).

This resource was developed by a collaborative team comprising the Australian Local Government Association, the National Heart Foundation of Australia and the Planning Institute of Australia and funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

The material has been entirely superseded by the Healthy Active by Design (HAbD) website hosted by the National Heart Foundation. From 2016 all the previous resources of HSP have been brought under the HAbD online platform. Over 2024-25 the Foundation has an exciting program to further enhance and update the HAbD resources on its website.

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