These mature jacarandas make Rose Payten Drive one of the most attractive roads in the Macarthur region.
The jacarandas have been planted from the top of the rise, where Rose Payten meets old Campbelltown Road at Woodbine, and all the way down and around the corner to Airds Road on the right.
Obviously they present a far prettier picture when they flower, but even now in the middle of winter and as part of the built form around them, they are an amazing sight.
I say amazing because we are so often quick to criticise and carelessly forget the good parts when talking about our town.
Not far from the boulevard of jacarandas, at the entrance to Campbelltown, is a tremendous landscaped garden either side of Campbelltown Road.
Seen for the first time it must be a shock to many people with a different expectation of what Campbelltown looks like.
The fact is that thanks to the vision of a great council leader, Ian Porter, who was general manager for more than a decade, Campbelltown did literally become a green city in the past 30 years or so.
I still clearly remember toddling off to the native nursery at Kentlyn to redeem council’s voucher for three native trees given to people who build a new home at the time.
The other part of it all is how the combination between the built form and greenery, trees and plants, is a visual marriage made in heaven.
Ian Porter understood that you had to have building where people lived and worked, but they looked much better with nature added to them.
Next time you’re out and about look around and you will see that Campbelltown has turned out quite well, despite decades of new office buildings, industrial estates and housing.
Of course it could be greener, but in my book this is a pretty good story and we should be proud of it.
