Barry got his first skateboard in 1978. He's been waiting for a Wollongong skate park ever since

Longtime skater Barry Strachan has been campaigning for a Wollongong park for decades. Picture by Adam McLean

Barry Strachan got his first skateboard for Christmas in 1978 and he's been waiting for a skate park in Wollongong ever since.

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The 56-year-old Fairy Meadow resident still "finds it fun to roll around" but has toned down the skating since he's gotten older.

"I'm getting scared, because I find it hard to find enough time to practice like I used to," Mr Strachan said.

But he has passed on the sport to his son and now has grandsons keen to give it a go.

Longtime skater Barry Strachan gives his grandson Levi Hegyi some guidance at Port Kembla skate park. Strachan has been campaigning for a Wollongong park for decades. Picture by Adam McLean

Mr Strachan picked up the sport because both his parents were surfers, and friends of his already owned skateboards.

He started out on his backside and then kneeling before wanting to stand and do on land what he'd watched "the hotshots at Sandon Point" do in the water.

"The main public push happened around the late '80s," Barry said.

Running in the family ... skater Barry Strachan and son Lenny at Port Kembla skate park. Picture by Adam McLean

"We progressed from our local neighborhood driveways and things like that to shopping centre car parks and we were getting kicked out of everywhere.

"No one wants the noise and kids hanging around in public areas riding their skateboards.

"We tried to build ramps in our friends' backyards but the council would turn up or the police would turn up and say 'no, you can't have that here either'.

"So we weren't welcome in public or in private."

One exception was Violet Mar from the old Thirroul skating rink. She let the skateboarders build skate ramps indoors.

A look inside Thirroul skate park when it was one of the few places skateboarders could go without being hassled. Picture by Hank van Stuivenberg

Wollongong skaters formed a group to try to get an outdoor skate park built in Wollongong.

That became a bit harder when public liability concerns turned people off building skate parks.

Mr Strachan said that all changed when skateboarding was classed as a hazardous activity, which placed the responsibility on the participant.

"But it was a really long process," Mr Strachan said.

Running in the family ... skater Barry Strachan and grandson Levi Hegyi at Port Kembla skate park. Picture by Adam McLean

"We used to organise our own competitions as well and go around to Ern Webb and Byrne Surf and Extreme Surf and Ski saying we were going to hold a little competition.

"We'd build our own ramps and rail slides and things and have it on a disused tennis court or a local area, Those local companies were very supportive of us in those years to promote the sport."

One of the first outdoor skate parks in the city was built at Fairy Meadow.

"It was ahead of its time and it became a venue for traveling international skateboard teams in those days, which really helped promote skateboarding in Wollongong," he said.

The council has decided to build a concrete skate park in MacCabe Park, though Mr Strachan said he thought Stuart Park or Lang Park near the beach might have been more suitable.

"Some of the arguments that are coming out of this opposition towards the skate park as far as warming the temperature of the city and things, that just sounds a little bit ridiculous to me," Mr Strachan said.

"Also, the idea it is taking away the last bastion of green space. If you look a little bit west, there's a big escarpment full of green space - and we're lucky enough to have the ocean.

"We're not New York City, you know."

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