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Shocked families arrived at Lake Wendouree Adventure Playground yesterday to find a large section of the popular playground had been destroyed in an overnight arson attack. Emergency services were called to a blaze at the Wendouree Parade park about 12.15am Sunday to find the tower section of the wooden playground well alight. Di Falkinder was at Lake Wendouree early for a play with granddaughter Olive, 2, and was shattered to see the charred remains of the tower section of the structure. “I absolutely could not believe it. My faith in human nature got shattered,” she said. Ms Falkinder and her family visit the playground every weekend, and often visit during the week if the weather is good. “I saw one lady tell her son that a naughty person had done this and he couldn’t go up there and the kid started crying,” she said. ​“It looks like someone has thrown glass in there too. It’s pretty disgusting and pathetic,” she said. The playground was built as a community project led by Ballarat Apex clubs in the 1990s and Ms Falkinder contributed to fundraising efforts for the playground at that time when her children were young. Milla Randall said her family visited the playground every holidays and the towers were her daughters’ favourite part of the playground. “It’s really iconic to Ballarat, the wooden park. Hopefully they will be able to rebuild it easily.” A large section of the wooden playground and towers were badly damaged and it is likely that section of the playground will need to be demolished and rebuilt. Fire investigators spent several hours at the playground on Sunday morning, and council workers attended to help make the play space safe, installing barricades to prevent children accessing the damaged area. Ballarat mayor Cr Samantha McIntosh visited the playground herself to inspect the damage, and promised it would be repaired as quickly as possible. “Council has already been up and started their assessment. There will be insurance and other processes that will need to be followed through, and recording and reporting what needs to be done about how we will go about fixing it up to be great again,” she said. “It’s gorgeous and it needs to be fixed back up and made sure it’s safe for our kids.” Any witnesses or anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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