Since opening in September 2025, the splash park at Jalunbu Park has become one of Port Douglas’ favourite gathering spots. It’s the place where local kids cool off after school, families meet on weekends and visitors get their first taste of what makes this part of Far North Queensland special. Now this community favourite has a state title to go with it.
Port Douglas Splash Park has been named Queensland’s best major playspace, winning the Playspace Award (over $1 million) at the 2026 Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA) Queensland Awards of Excellence, announced in Brisbane on Friday 31 July 2026. It’s a joint win for landscape architects Urbis and equipment designer and manufacturer Atlantis Liquid Dynamics, delivered for Douglas Shire Council in partnership with JMAC Constructions and Aquatic One.
It’s a milestone moment for the category too: the first time a splash park has won a PLA playspace award in more than a decade, and the first time a splash park has ever taken out the title in Queensland.
Douglas Shire Mayor Lisa Scomazzon said the award recognised a project that had become a landmark community facility and visitor attraction.
“From the outset, we were conscious of not delivering a cookie-cutter, off-the-shelf splash park. We wanted to create something that genuinely reflected our region, our lifestyle and our community,” Mayor Scomazzon said.
“The Splash Park has quickly become one of our most popular community spaces, attracting people from across the shire and beyond. It encourages children and young people to step away from screens and enjoy the outdoors year-round, while creating a welcoming place for families and friends to gather and connect.”
A play space that could only exist in Port Douglas
What sets the $4.93 million park apart is that it was designed specifically for this stretch of coast — not adapted from somewhere else. The concept, “where the tides kiss the canopy,” responds directly to Port Douglas’ position between reef and rainforest, organised into three zones that echo the tides, the gorge and the canopy of the surrounding landscape. Locally sourced, cyclone-affected granite runs through the site, and the water play equipment — engineered and fabricated in Brisbane by Atlantis Liquid Dynamics — is built for a 25-year lifecycle and recycles 98% of the water it uses. But it doesn’t stop there.
“Water has a unique ability to bring people into a space. It creates movement, energy and a reason to stay, and that’s what we mean when we talk about water-led placemaking.” said Atlantis Liquid Dynamics National Manager Stu Lierich.
“Port Douglas Splash Park is a great example of that — the water is not simply an amenity within the park, it’s helping shape how people use and experience place. The fact that it can be programmed and lit at night adds another layer, allowing the space to be used and enjoyed well beyond the heat of the day.”
The project also forms part of a broader activation of Jalunbu Park, bringing together the splash park, existing open space, landscaping and pedestrian connections into a more cohesive public destination. Rather than treating the splash park as a standalone facility, the design considers how it sits within the wider park and its relationship with the town around it — creating a stronger connection between recreation, landscape and the everyday life of Port Douglas.
Port Douglas Splash Park now advances as a Queensland Regional finalist to the 2026 PLA National Awards of Excellence, with national judging taking place in August ahead of the national gala on Tuesday 1 December 2026.
Want to learn more about the award-winning splash park? Check out the project profile.