Fagan Park, a hidden jewel in Galston offers 55 hectares of sprawling open space, 11 themed gardens, an eco-garden, playgrounds, bicycle paths, bushwalking trails, picnic/BBQ areas and so much more for the whole family.
Like many regional parks in Sydney, Fagan Park is also accompanied by an interesting history dating back to the early 1900’s. The Fagan family were the pioneers of the citrus industry in Dural, Galston and Arcadia.
William Fagan emigrated from Derry, Ireland as a free settler in 1948, married Ann Waddell and purchased 70 hectares of land at Arcadia where they established a successful citrus orchard.
Two of William’s Sons, Samuel and William (named after his father) learned the family business and expanded the citrus orchards to land they acquired in Dural. After Samuel married, he acquired the land at Galston, now known as Fagan Park, ran the largest the orchard in Galston and also constructed ‘Netherby”, the original family homestead made of handmade bricks which is still located on site today.
The Great Depression of the 1930s saw Samuel close his orchards, after which Fagan Park was utilised by his youngest brother Bruce to run a herd of Jersey Dairy cattle and a cattle breeding programme which involved constructing a dairy building and packing shed both of which remain on the property today.
In 1980 Bruce Fagan and his sister, Ida, donated the original property, “Fagan Park,” to the Department of Lands with Hornsby Council appointed the as the sole trustee for the park.
Fagan Park became Council’s Bicentenary project in 1988. The Council successfully received a grant towards the “Garden of Many Nations” which overs 10 hectares of Fagan Park and features plants and flowers of countries across the globe including Japan, China, North and South America, Africa, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
The original buildings on the site, ‘Netherby’, the milking complex and packing shed were also restored homestead, ‘Netherby’, together with the original milking complex and packing shed were also restored the bicentennial year. “Netherby” is regularly opened to the public and the packing shed and milking complex are used as a rural museum featuring heritage artefacts, where you can learn more about the history of the area.
Adding to the attractions at Fagan Park, Council has added a very popular eco-garden to educate the community about sustainable gardening through open days, workshops and school holiday programs.
There are plans in place to create a Children’s Forest which will be the first park in NSW designed to encourage children to connect with and become responsible stewards of nature. When completed the Children’s Forest will also include a tree house, hidden sculptures for children to find, informal discovery trails and a pond.
Fagan Park is fast becoming one of our favourite parks to visit with the various gardens from around the world to explore, paths to meander along with signage outlining the history of Fagan Park, large playgrounds to enjoy, places to sit near the lake to watch the ducks and the turtles swim and on the weekends a mobile café is on site selling coffee, food and of course ice cream!
For more information on Fagan Park including opening hours go to https://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au and search for Fagan Park
