Darlington Public Domain - Shepherd Street Boardwalk

Until April 2007, the University’s ‘back gate’, at the corner of Shepherd and Lander Streets in Darlington had a definite down-at-heel look.

The boardwalk has transformed it into an attractive, inviting entrance that creates the first stages of a wheelchair accessible route which will eventually stretch all the way to the Quadrangle.

The boardwalk is crossed around 500,000 times each week by staff, students and visitors travelling to and from various parts of the campus.

The boards used to make the walkway are Australian Coastal Blackbutt timber obtained from sustainably managed forests in NSW.

The spectacular steel fins are pre-rusted to prevent corrosion keeping maintenance to minimum and avoiding the need to use cleaning solvents.

Under the boardwalk is a rain garden which will save thousands of litres of water annually. Rain, draining off nearby tennis courts, roofs and pavements, floods the rain garden which is planted with native wetland plants.

The water is purified as the plant roots and soil take up excess nutrients and pollutants. It then percolates into a 75,000 litre underground tank and is piped to Maze Green to water gardens and lawns. Excess water, cleaned of pollution, flows to Blackwattle Bay via stormwater drains.

At night the boardwalk retains its beauty as 3,000 lights representing the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) constellation shine through the boards.