Ranger Headquarters Office

The Ranger Headquarters office at Waratah Park has stood empty since the wildlife park closed in 2006. Reflections of gnarled tree branches spread across the polished timber floorboards, cast by sunlight pouring through a bank of large windows. A chain barrier and a dirt path are visible beyond the glass, with bushland past them. The room is timber-lined and bare. The Ranger Headquarters was built in 1967 on Crown land at Duffys Forest when the NSW Government granted Fauna Productions permission to occupy approximately 10 hectares for the filming of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. The building served as the on-screen base of operations for the fictional Waratah National Park ranger Matt Hammond, played by Ed Devereaux. It was purpose-built as a television set, timber-framed with a verandah, and surrounded by the dense bushland of what would later be incorporated into Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The production ran from May 1967 until September 1969, yielding 91 episodes across three series. When the park opened publicly in January 1970, the Ranger Headquarters became a visitor attraction. Guests could view the interior TV set with its original props and furnishings. The site operated under successive tourism operators until the business failed and the park closed in 2006. Ownership passed to the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council on 28 August 2014 under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983. The Skippy TV set was conserved by International Conservation Services in 2014 and moved off-site pending improvements to building security. What remained in the office was the room itself. The 2015 NSW State Heritage Register assessment described the Ranger Headquarters as sound but run-down. This photograph, made in 2017, records the office in that condition. Nothing arranged, nothing added. Just the floor, the windows, and the bush beyond them.