Location: Roleystone WA Owner/Designer: Araluen Botanic Park Foundation (Inc) Construction: Leo Coppins Austral Bricks products: • Riviera Series large format clay pavers - Valletta 300, Portofino 300, Valletta stairnose pavers • Waterloo Collection clay bricks - Newstead   NOVEMBER 2005

Deep in a valley south-east of Perth is Araluen Botanic Park, a cool dark oasis featuring exotic plants against a background of native flora. The 59 hectare property, originally a youth camp, has been operated by a foundation since 1990, supported by a thriving volunteer network.

We visited Araluen during the recent springtime tulip festival and spoke to Grant Nixon, a third-generation nurseryman who began as a volunteer and is now garden development manager.

The park’s display area is traversed by a network of winding paths that carry the occasional truck or loader as well as foot traffic and a ‘train’. The first pavers were laid in 1994 with additions over the subsequent decade as funding allowed. “Initially we wanted to blend the colours with the soils structures of the hills,” Nixon explains. Austral Bricks unique Folklore pavers were selected and laid in a sand bed over a base of crushed rock.

The 60 mm thick pavers have since given unfailing service, one section uncomplainingly supporting a semi-trailer carrying a mobile crane and massive jarrah logs!

For the Tulip Festival Austral Bricks supplied its new Riviera large-format clay pavers to create Tuscan-style piazzas on the Concourse Lawn. “As a feature the Riviera pavers look fantastic,” Nixon compliments. “They have very clean lines and the colours blend very well with what we had on site.”

The Araluen team are pleased with the public’s response to their work. “I don’t think we could have chosen better bricks or pavers to do what we were trying to achieve.”