William Fraser Memorial Park

William Fraser Memorial Park's centrepiece is the Pohe Island Tower, a 7 metre dual tower styled like a traditional waka and linked by rope bridges at two heights, with twin tube slides running down from the top. Cutouts of birds and leaves decorate the panels, and 3D koru fronds rise from the ground around it.

Equipment

Other equipment includes embankment slides built into terrain mounds, tunnels, climbing nets and ropes, stepping logs, spring rockers, a seesaw, a stilts house, a flying fox and 4 bay swings. A wobbly wood sand play module, musical drums and an interactive sound bridge add sensory play, alongside a playhouse with its own slide, balance beams and pendulum swings. Public toilets, a drinking fountain and seating sit on the very large, artificial surfaced site.

Access and Inclusion

The main play area has continuous poured rubber surfacing throughout, giving wheelchairs, walkers and strollers an easy path in. Wheelchair accessible inground trampolines and a carousel sit alongside sensory play equipment and sand play tablets designed at wheelchair height. In 2023 Children with Disability NZ gathered more than 400 signatures calling for further accessible swings and seesaws, which the council said would need budget approval.

History and Cultural

The park sits on Pohe Island, historically Maori fishing grounds named after Pohe, a Maori chief who welcomed the first settlers to Whangarei, before decades of use as landfill undermined that heritage. The playground opened on 15 April 2023 as part of turning the reclaimed island into a destination park, designed by Catherine Hamilton of WSP. The park's name honours William Mackenzie Fraser, engineer for Whangarei County from 1907 to 1918 and a county councillor until 1960, who assembled around 90 Maori artefacts now held by Whangarei Museum.

Practical Info

The playground is on Pohe Island Road off Riverside Drive in central Whangarei, with a 272 space carpark opposite Kauri Place, or reachable via the Hatea Loop walkway. Dogs aren't permitted in the playground area. A shade sail covers the sandpit, the rest of the equipment is unshaded for now, and a smokefree policy applies throughout.