News & Discussion: Squares and Parklands

[rhino]

NPWSA are typically good at managing conservation and flora and fauna management. A Parklands Authority managing the ACC parklands and linear park requires a different kind of thinking with a greater focus on improving access to and amenity of these spaces. You wouldn't want an organisation like NPWSA managing the Riverbank Precinct.

NPWSA, for the past 6 years or so, has also actively been pursuing getting people visiting national parks. This includes upgrades and additions to paths and signage, facilities, and mapping (which is accessible in your home now for you to print off on your A4 printer and bring with you), as well as on-line maps so that you can track your position while you walk the trails. Websites exist for nearly all the parks, explaining what is available to do and see in each park. You can book campsites via the websites too. Further, NPWSA is open to private companies running businesses in the parks which help to bring people in and get more use out of the parks (an example is Australian Walking Tours, who were running guided 5-day walks on the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail before it got burned out in the bushfires a few years ago, or companies running tag-along style 4WD tours through the desert parks.

[Prodical]

Having moved into the city last year, it has become clearer how much effort goes into maintaining the parklands around the CBD. The area near Adelaide oval and along the Torrens bank have always been looked after, but lately this has extended to the northwest parklands, including the large sporting and cricket areas around Karen Rolton Oval, which are really well set out and looked after.

I have been guilty of taking this for granted - we are pretty lucky to have these peaceful areas of relaxation nearby.

[abc]

Having moved into the city last year, it has become clearer how much effort goes into maintaining the parklands around the CBD. The area near Adelaide oval and along the Torrens bank have always been looked after, but lately this has extended to the northwest parklands, including the large sporting and cricket areas around Karen Rolton Oval, which are really well set out and looked after.

I have been guilty of taking this for granted - we are pretty lucky to have these peaceful areas of relaxation nearby.

I'd hoped Rolton Oval would be an easily accessible and laid back park ground where you could watch a decent standard of cricket, much like a village ground in England.

Unfortunately it's almost always surrounded by security fencing in summer to keep the non-payers and in previous seasons, anti-vaxxers out.

Adelaide is a city of security fences.

[rev]

I'd hoped Rolton Oval would be an easily accessible and laid back park ground where you could watch a decent standard of cricket, much like a village ground in England.

Unfortunately it's almost always surrounded by security fencing in summer to keep the non-payers and in previous seasons, anti-vaxxers out.

Adelaide is a city of security fences.

So you want to attend ticketed cricket matches, for free?

[abc]

I'd hoped Rolton Oval would be an easily accessible and laid back park ground where you could watch a decent standard of cricket, much like a village ground in England.

Unfortunately it's almost always surrounded by security fencing in summer to keep the non-payers and in previous seasons, anti-vaxxers out.

Adelaide is a city of security fences.

So you want to attend ticketed cricket matches, for free?

Sheffield Shield cricket used to be free

if they're going to charge money for cricket then have it at Adelaide oval

I'm sick of seeing security fences put up in public spaces, ie the parklands and the squares

[rhino]

Sheffield Shield cricket used to be free

Apparently it still is, at Karen Rolton Oval.

[Llessur2002]

Sheffield Shield cricket used to be free

Apparently it still is, at Karen Rolton Oval.

Yep, pretty sure all Karen Rolton Sheffield Shield games are free, it's only the ones played at the Oval which are ticketed.

It's the WBBL games played at Karen Rolton Oval which are fenced off. There were eight in total last season - all played in October and November, not really a long-running exclusion from the area.

[abc]

Sheffield Shield cricket used to be free

Apparently it still is, at Karen Rolton Oval.

the last time I went the area was fenced off and they wanted to scan my phone prior to entry

there was heavy security there

that was a Sheffield Shield game

I told them to shove it

[Nathan]

I told them to shove it

#thathappened

[Nort]

And then everyone stood up and clapped.

[Prodical]

Just walked around the Karen Rolston oval and the several ovals located between there and the rail line. The grounds are terrific and are being prepared for several cricket games. Also, there are new irrigated garden areas (some installed by Rotary), with seating and BBQs between the new skate park and the oval.

These parklands have been transformed over the past couple of years and are enjoyed by many people - it is an ideal use of parklands, areas where skaters, sports people, joggers, families, dog walkers and anyone can enjoy and relax in.

I don't get the negativity about these and other parklands which provides Adelaide CBD with its unique setting.

[ChillyPhilly]

Just walked around the Karen Rolston oval and the several ovals located between there and the rail line. The grounds are terrific and are being prepared for several cricket games. Also, there are new irrigated garden areas (some installed by Rotary), with seating and BBQs between the new skate park and the oval.

These parklands have been transformed over the past couple of years and are enjoyed by many people - it is an ideal use of parklands, areas where skaters, sports people, joggers, families, dog walkers and anyone can enjoy and relax in.

I don't get the negativity about these and other parklands which provides Adelaide CBD with its unique setting.

This is certainly a positive area for the Parklands. This treatment should ideally extend to the south of West Terrace Cemetery.

[SRW]

Just walked around the Karen Rolston oval and the several ovals located between there and the rail line. The grounds are terrific and are being prepared for several cricket games. Also, there are new irrigated garden areas (some installed by Rotary), with seating and BBQs between the new skate park and the oval.

These parklands have been transformed over the past couple of years and are enjoyed by many people - it is an ideal use of parklands, areas where skaters, sports people, joggers, families, dog walkers and anyone can enjoy and relax in.

I don't get the negativity about these and other parklands which provides Adelaide CBD with its unique setting.

This is certainly a positive area for the Parklands. This treatment should ideally extend to the south of West Terrace Cemetery.

Perhaps controversial opinion: West Terrace Cemetery should be closed to new burials except for those offered state funerals. Leased plots should be left to expire and notable/heritage graves progressively consolidated into a monumental area.

[claybro]

Just walked around the Karen Rolston oval and the several ovals located between there and the rail line. The grounds are terrific and are being prepared for several cricket games. Also, there are new irrigated garden areas (some installed by Rotary), with seating and BBQs between the new skate park and the oval.

These parklands have been transformed over the past couple of years and are enjoyed by many people - it is an ideal use of parklands, areas where skaters, sports people, joggers, families, dog walkers and anyone can enjoy and relax in.


I don't get the negativity about these and other parklands which provides Adelaide CBD with its unique setting.

I guess you have highlighted your own question though. When properly maintained, irrigated and landscaped, the parks are well used, safe and inviting. Now compare this area to some other entry points ie.. Anzac Highway corner around the netball courts and some areas in the North parklands, where main north road enters the park etc.. not at all pleasant or inviting. At the very least, these main entry points from the surrounding suburbs should be up to the standard you are admiring in this section.some of the more isolated sections coukd then become more natural remnant bush land, instead of dusty paddocks.

[SRW]

Yesterday's InDaily had a compelling op-ed by the Lord Mayor about parkland preservation:

Park lands protection a losing battle, but worth fighting for
Tuesday, Mar 21, 2023
https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2023/03/ ... hting-for/


Why do you bother?

A journalist put this question to me during an interview last week, when the State Government announced another decision to locate yet more buildings on our park lands.

It’s a fair question. The City of Adelaide has recently been fighting a losing battle to prevent development on our National Heritage-listed, and potentially World Heritage-listed, park lands.

My response is that, in life, you don’t just fight the battles you can win. You fight the ones that are worth fighting, especially when we are, by legislation, required to conserve our park lands.

Already, we have lost 25 per cent since they were laid out, with long-time Advertiser columnist Rex Jory once comparing the erosion of our park lands to “mice nibbling at cheese”.

The reality is, if the mice keep nibbling, one day there won’t be any cheese left.

In an InDaily opinion piece about park lands development, former Labor minister Chris Sumner says the current government took a “help-yourself-to-free-land” approach to the park lands.

Sumner remembered, somewhat fondly, the time Premier Don Dunstan passed planning laws shielding the park lands and the Hills Face Zone, policies continued under John Bannon and explicitly supported by Mike Rann, who returned alienated land to the park lands.

Rann also enacted legislation requiring the State Government, their agencies and the City of Adelaide to protect and enhance them.

The present government has followed an aggressive pro-development agenda in our park lands and we often forget that each individual decision has consequences.

When heritage and planning laws were circumvented to build the $3.2 billion Women’s and Children’s Hospital on a heritage and park setting, the legislation passed at warp speed last year, allowed the government to remove any obstacle to development, and contemplated the implications even if the community didn’t realise that they were seeing only the thin edge of the wedge.

The plan to demolish the state-heritage listed Thebarton Police Barracks meant that the building complex housing SAPOL’s Mounted Operations Unit had to go.

Luckily, the Act allows Police Minister Joe Szakacs to take any land he chooses to find them a new home.

Once again, an ‘extensive’ search has identified a ‘disused’ corner of Golden Wattle Park/Mirnu Wirra (Park 21) as their favoured option, since we are told the [me: riot-trained] mounted horses are not able to cross main roads.

I don’t intend to argue about the assertion but will point out that our park lands are not just manicured, ornamental areas with rose bushes and footy fields.

This site happens to be designated as a biodiversity zone and re-vegetation area. These natural areas are integral to our park lands.

When we do stand up for our pristine figure-eight patch, we are branded selfish, old-fashioned NIMBYs who are holding the progressive utopia of South Australia back.

Alexander Downer told The Guardian those want to preserve the park lands were “squeaky wheelers” and a “narrow-minded, change-averse” minority.

This latest chapter in the park lands standoff is nothing new, albeit a little more brutal.

I believe the Premier when he said the Women’s and Children’s Hospital plan was not about free land, so it’s a pity that the solution to every development problem is using the park lands as a land bank.

What’s being proposed won’t be just a few bridle paths and floats. SAPOL have grand plans which include high perimeter fencing, stables for an expanded troop of 40 horses, accommodation for some 30 staff, a modern horse training facility plus tack and fodder stores.

This isn’t about horses. It’s about a semi-industrialised complex alienated for all time.

In keeping with the tradition of deriding park lands supporters as nay-sayers who are holding back progress, I’ve been branded a hypocrite for criticising this plan but allowing privately-owned horses to graze on North Adelaide paddocks.

Adelaideans aren’t idiots. They know a stable is a building and a paddock is a field.

Ironically, however, the one thing our critics ignore is the importance of our park lands in the plan to get more people living in our city.

If we want to increase our population through apartment living, we need to have open space for cycling, running and other recreational activities.

People don’t want to live in concrete jungles where they need to dodge cars on city streets for a chance to go for a run or walk the dog.

It may appear the horse has bolted (pardon the pun) for us at Adelaide Town Hall when it comes to criticising these latest plans.

We may not have the power, but apathy and indifference aren’t an option.

The one thing we have on our side is a rational argument and a well-established consensus that open space and Adelaide Park Lands are precious.

Just because the State Government has passed legislation allowing them to snap up whatever parcel of park lands they like, doesn’t make it right and just because they can, they don’t have to do it.

The City of Adelaide could suggest a location for the current horses to graze as a temporary measure away from a designated biodiversity site.

We could devise a long-term plan and the government could decide to embrace conservation, community values and their party’s history.

That’s why I bother.

Dr Jane Lomax-Smith is Adelaide Lord Mayor and a former Labor minister.