Hamilton has more than 200 parks and reserves. They come in all shapes and sizes, and are used for everything from walking dogs to playing sport, from sitting in the sun to skateboarding. Some link to the city’s extensive gully system, one encircles the lake, others open out to the Waikato River. Altogether, the city’s reserve land covers more than 1000 hectares.

The parks help tell the history of the area, from Miropiko and Lake Rotoroa, which have been important to Ngaati Wairere since pre-European days, to Steele Park, which was the first in the new settlement of Hamilton and was created in 1868 as Sydney Square.

And as the city spreads outwards, parks continue to be dotted among the suburbs, including the newest of the new such as Moonlight Drive Reserve in Rototuna, which comes complete with playground and newly planted trees. It is 12km from Steele Park, was developed more than 140 years later, and is about quarter of the size. The grid of the original settlement has been lost in the intervening decades, so Moonlight Drive Reserve is not quite the perfect square that Steele Park is. Both, however, offer recreation spaces and meeting points for locals.

The parks are the city’s breathing spaces, connecting residents to their neighbourhoods and providing free recreation for anyone who wishes to use them. Take a stroll as Wintec’s School of Media Arts students, with the help of Hamilton City Council, tell the story of our parks and the people who use them.