Letter | There's a simple reason why people don't use McPhillamy Park

The answer is a definite yes, however, the intimation that a lot of Bathurst residents do not use the park is correct and there is a perfectly simple explanation for this which I experienced before discovering the park.

There is a conception by the general public that Mount Panorama is all physically connected with the car race track and most of the population are not aware that a park worth visiting exists.

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They simply do not know it is there, or have a conception of a camp site for crowds of racing fans, which is correct at car race times - hardly a place to go for any feelings of peace and solitude.

The public are not encouraged to go there by any council initiative.

The access is connected to the race track and obscure to a lot of people compared with Machattie Park, the Adventure Playground and the river walk, which are all a credit to council.

Why has a park in such a wonderful position with such views been allowed to become obscure and neglected like this by the council compared with these other parks?

This neglect can only be what our council wanted or it would not be as it is.

The neglect is not only physical, but in relation to it not being promoted as a venue for residents and visitors alike.

The park is without the cared for grass, paths, seats, lookouts and plantings which a park with a caring council would be expected to have.

Nevertheless, any person taking the trouble to find their way to the park cannot be other than impressed with the 360-degree views and the feeling of peace and tranquillity.

Residents in populated centres around the coast have beaches where similar mental relief can be experienced. Bathurst has few places where such natural remedies are at hand.

This park, by its position, should be Bathurst's premier park. The few metres' difference in height between the race track and the park take a person into a different world, regardless of the neglect and the close proximity to the race track.

I cannot understand a council so blinded by commercial ends that they ignore the fact that residents and people need such places to regenerate, and the chances to have somewhere where these virtues are so close at hand are few and far between.

A successful city, enjoying a properly planned environment, does not rely on commercialism alone. A balance is needed.

McPhillamy Park, properly used and cared for, will give that balance and could attract many visitors to come and live in Bathurst, more than equalling any commercial benefits derived from attendees to go-kart events, and in the process, help to have a mentally healthy population.

The residents fighting to retain this asset enjoy it for the reasons given above and also for the rights and wishes of the Wiradyuri original owners of this land, and are fighting for the rest of the Bathurst population to have the right to enjoy the same in the future, when they discover this venue, which gives so much to the human soul.

Maybe our councillors need this more than anyone.

The sad point is that both venues are possible, with a go-kart track built in a more appropriate place, as was originally planned.

Such a move would end this troubling debate between Bathurst residents, which has the potential to escalate and present long-term effects in the community, including distrust in our own council.

This is not good management by our council.

The council approved the go-kart track on the basis that there was no attachment to the park site of any Aboriginal heritage.

Anyone who considers that the Aboriginal people, who occupied the Bathurst area for thousands of years before being dispossessed, did not use the mountain top for their cultural ceremonies in all that time would have to be logically incorrect.