Please replace this cache exactly where you found it to minimise the risk of its sighting by muggles.
The market garden on this site was one of 6 gardens located between Eastern Valley Way and Alpha Road from 1880 to 1950. The garden was farmed by a group of Chinese gardeners, who regularly carried vegetables in baskets around local streets to sell to residents.
This area added significant character to historic Willoughby. The Daily Telegraph on 12 September 1913 printed an article with the heading ‘Opium Den Discovery at Willoughby’ which included the following report: “The Chief Secretary has received a report from Supt. Goulder in regard to an opium den in Willoughby. Publicity was recently directed to this place owing to a quarrel between a habitual opium smoker and the Chinese who kept it. According to the information now in the possession of the Chief Secretary, the opium smoking took place in a cottage on the outskirts of Willoughby, towards Middle Harbour, about 2½ miles from Chatswood station. “Until recently,” says Inspector Goulder in his report, “the locality consisted almost entirely of gardens worked by Chinese, but the bulk of the land has been sub-divided for residential purposes.”
The garden continued until 1949 and was one of the last market gardens in Willoughby.
Market Garden Park connects Flat Rock Gully (south) to Castlecrag (north-east). A shared path through the reserve allows cyclists and pedestrians to travel between these areas.
The playground was constructed in 2018. Artistic features of the playground which reference the horticultural history of the site include sandstone vegetable sculptures carved by Mark Fallone and carved timber balance beams in the shape of carrots and beans in the sandpit.