Hawkesbury City Council has launched a wide-reaching signage project that will change the face of how the region greets and guides visitors and locals alike, with the first installations appearing in Windsor this month. New park signs at the historic McQuade Park, placed at its three main access points, represent the opening chapter of what is expected to be a multi-year transformation of the area’s wayfinding infrastructure.
Hawkesbury City Council’s initiative, known as ‘Getting Around and Discovering the Hawkesbury,’ has been in development as part of a broader commitment to improving liveability and accessibility across the region. The project encompasses far more than park signs. When complete, it will include a full suite of City welcome signs at roads entering the area, suburb welcome signs, and navigational signage within major town centres.
Windsor is first in line, but the schedule is ambitious. In the coming months, signs are expected to appear at Deerubbin Park, Hollands Paddock and Thompson Square, as well as throughout the Windsor Town Centre. This builds on navigational signage already installed at Richmond, South Windsor and Windsor during recent Liveability upgrade works meaning some parts of the city are already further along than others.
The design thread running through the project is the sandstone aesthetic that the council selected to reflect the Hawkesbury’s colonial heritage and natural environment. Sandstone is not merely decorative in this context — it is architectural shorthand for a region shaped by geology and history in equal measure. The choice signals that these signs are meant to belong to their surroundings, not simply stand in them.
Hawkesbury City Council has indicated the full rollout should be completed by the end of 2027, contingent on the weather. The project is co-funded through the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grants program, positioning it within a wider state-level investment in the liveability and connectivity of Western Sydney communities.
For a city whose identity is inseparable from its landscape and past, a well-considered network of signs is both a practical asset and a statement of intent. Hawkesbury City Council’s project is, at its core, an invitation to look around, to stay a little longer, and to discover what the region has to offer.
