Gumbramorra Wetlands Reborn in Marrickville for NAIDOC Week

A wetland that once stretched across Marrickville, Sydenham, Tempe and St Peters will partially return to life at Mackey Park on Sunday 12 July 2026, with the official opening of the Gumbramorra Wetlands Re-Creation Project.

The $1.2 million restoration, jointly funded by Inner West Council and the NSW Government, has transformed part of the park into a multi-pond ecosystem. Open water ponds, reed beds, saltmarsh plantings and expanded raingardens now capture and filter stormwater, easing the flood risk that has long plagued the sports fields while creating new habitat for birds, frogs and turtles.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne described the restoration as one of the most ambitious environmental projects the council has undertaken in recent years. “This is a project that looks to the future while recognising the history of this landscape and the people who have cared for it for millennia,” he said.

NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the state government allocated $639,000 through its Metropolitan Greenspace Program, matched dollar for dollar by council. “Projects like this show how investment in the blue-green grid and our open space network can restore natural ecosystems, reduce flood risk and give communities a place to connect with Country and each other,” he said.

But the story of Gumbramorra is older than any council project. Before late-1800s drainage and industrialisation, the seasonal swamp sustained Gadigal and Wangal peoples for tens of thousands of years, providing food, medicine and cultural connection. Historian and Marrickville resident Sue Castrique, who documented the system in her 2019 Griffith Review essay ‘On the margins of the good swamp’, noted that archival traces remain the most reliable way to understand its original scale.

The new wetland deliberately mimics the natural wet-dry cycle. Seasonal flood zones expand after rain and recede in drier months, filtering stormwater before it reaches local waterways. The system includes marsh and reed beds that improve water quality while offering cover for native wildlife.

Central to the project is the Reconciliation Walk, a raised boardwalk that weaves through the ponds with cultural artworks, interpretive signage and storytelling elements acknowledging the enduring Aboriginal connection to Gumbramorra. The walk forms part of Inner West Council’s NAIDOC Week program, framing the restoration as land reconciliation alongside practical environmental gain.

Member for Summer Hill Jo Haylen said the project would deliver long-term benefits. “It will boost local biodiversity, honour the cultural significance of this landscape, and help reduce flooding impacts on Mackey Park’s sporting grounds, creating a space that can be enjoyed by all the community for years to come,” she said.

The free official opening runs from 10am to midday on Sunday 12 July and includes guided walks and opportunities to learn about the site’s ecology and history. Only a section of the original Gumbramorra system has been recreated — the full historic wetland, which covered several suburbs, remains largely buried beneath roads and housing.

Visitors are encouraged to use public transport. Marrickville Station is the closest train stop; parking at Mackey Park is likely to be tight during the opening. After the event, the wetland and Reconciliation Walk will remain open to the public every day. Those wanting a longer outing can combine a visit with the nearby Cooks River parklands or Marrickville’s cafe strip on Illawarra Road.

For a city that spent more than a century burying its swamps under concrete, the return of even a fraction of the Gumbramorra system marks a quiet act of repair. As Sue Castrique has observed, the swamp now lives mostly in archives. From Sunday, a small piece of it will again be visible to anyone who walks the new boardwalk.