Park 12

Park 12, (also referred to by its Kaurna name Karrawirra, meaning "river red gum forest")[1] is one of the 29 Parks that make up the Adelaide Park Lands. It consists of 55.5 hectares bounded by North Terrace, Frome Road, Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and King William Road[2]

Bisected by the river, the northern part of the Park contains the University playing fields.

Along North Terrace, the southern part of the Park contains the University of South Australia (City East campus), the University of Adelaide (main campus), the Art Gallery, the Museum, the State Library, the War Memorial, Government House, the Boer War Memorial, the Jubilee 150 Walkway, and numerous statues.

The southern part also contains the Torrens Parade Ground, Jolly's Boat House, and a number of Rowing Club boathouses.

Park 12 is home to the Peace Park,[3] Angas Gardens,[4] Roberts Reserve, Grundy Gardens,[5] the Cross of Sacrifice Garden,[6] the South Australian Naval Memorial Garden,[7] Lady Esther Lipman Gardens,[3] Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden,[8] Town Clerk’s Avenue/ Walk and the Pathway of Honour.[9]

Buildings

Buildings in Park 12 North of Victoria Drive[10] include:

Description Owner/licence holder
Gardeners Shed (Brick & Stone) Adelaide City Council
Jolley's Boathouse Restaurant[11] Lessee – Jolley’s Boathouse Bistro Pty Ltd
Lunch Room & Toilet
(Victoria Avenue Police Station)[12] 		Adelaide City Council
Gardeners Shed (Brick & Stone) Adelaide City Council
Pumphouse Bunker Adelaide City Council
Gardeners Shed (Brick & Stone) Adelaide City Council
Gardeners Shed (Brick & Stone) Adelaide City Council
Gardeners Shed (Wood & Iron) Adelaide City Council
Adel Uni Pavilion[13] Adelaide City Council
Adelaide Uni Building Licence Holder – University of Adelaide
Adel Uni Shed Licence Holder – University of Adelaide
Adelaide Uni Score Board/Store
(Dean Dawson Memorial Scorers Box & Plaque)[14] 		Licence Holder – University of Adelaide
Lounders Boathouse
(Popeye's Boathouse)[15] 		Lessee - Keith A & Elma H Altmann and Tony T & Lidija B Shuman
Prince Alfred College Rowing Club[16] Lessee - Prince Alfred College Incorporated
Adelaide Uni Rowing Building[17] Lessee - The University of Adelaide
CBC Rowing Club[18] Lessee - The Christian Brothers Incorporated
Torrens Rowing Club Building[19] Lessee - Torrens Rowing Club Incorporated
Adelaide H.S. Rowing Club[20] Lessee - Minister for Education & Children’s Services
St Peters College Rowing Club[21] Lessee - The Church of England Collegiate School of St Peters
Implement Shed Adelaide City Council
Sewer Vent House (Frome Road) SA Water
Pump House (at the Zoo Bridge) Adelaide City Council
University Footbridge

Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park, a dramatic cantilevered footbridge over the River Torrens of much picturesque charm and presence. Designed by the South Australian Railways department by engineers John Adrian Farghar and Reginald Bridgland with plans carrying the signature of the chief engineer of the Railways, Robert Hall Chapman. Construction of the footbridge proceeded with monies from the Council as part of its commitment to the state’s centenary celebrations, and with a gift of £2,000 from Misses E and L Waite. The footbridge was opened on 9 August 1937. Currently listed as a State Heritage Place.[22]

Formal parks, gardens and paths

Pathway of Honour

Located between Kintore Avenue and King William Road, adjacent to the northern Government House grounds wall. Consists of a narrow slither of land with a partially curved pedestrian pathway with associated war memorial plaques and stones. It was a pedestrian route that evolved in the 1920s and was formalised in the 1980s to honour war fallen.

Town Clerk’s Avenue / Walk

An axial pedestrian pathway from Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and Angas Gardens, leading to Frome Road, it was developed in c.1917 with tree planting and pathway formation.

Angas Gardens

Located on the southern corner of King William Road and War Memorial Drive and featuring the Angas Statue and Memorial. Named after South Australian pioneer and pastoralist George Fife Angas.[23]

Roberts Place

Located on the corner of Frome Road and Sir Edwin Smith Avenue, and an original extension of McKinnon Terrace. A triangular portion of land originally conceived as a formal garden centred upon a mature Moreton Bay Fig tree. Named after retired American merchant and South Australia Colonization Commissioner Josiah Roberts.[23]

Grundy Gardens

Located between Frome and King William Roads and War Memorial and Victoria Drives.[23]

Pennington Gardens East

Located between King William Road, Pennington Terrace and Sir Edwin Smith Avenue. A triangular shaped garden that was severely modified in 1919 onwards with the imposition of the Women’s War Memorial Garden. Named after South Australian Colonisation Commissioner James Pennington.[23]

Women’s War Memorial Garden

Located within Pennington Gardens East, a formal rectangular configured ‘Cross of Sacrifice’ Garden reminiscent of a cathedral floor plan, designed by architect Alfred Wells and garden by Sir Herbert Baker. It includes the predominant use of low Olive hedging, Lavender, and Roses. The Cross of Sacrifice, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, is at the north-west end. The Remembrance Stone, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, is at the south-eastern end. The Cross was unveiled and Garden opened on 25 April 1922. The Stone was unveiled 25 April 1923. The Garden is currently listed as a State Heritage Place.[23]

Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden

Located in the Torrens Parade Ground portion between the Ground and the northern Government House grounds wall. A place identified and proposed in 1937 by the Women’s Council of South Australia as a venue to honour the pioneer women of South Australia, under a Committee chaired by Adelaide Miethke. Waikerie limestone statue sculptured by Olna Cohn and garden designed, planted and constructed by landscape designer Elsie Cornish in 1938. Statue unveiled 19 April 1941. Garden renovated by the Council in 2002. The Garden possesses associative significance to the foundation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Alice Spring. Currently listed as a State Heritage Place.[23]

Heritage Rose Garden

Developed in 1995–1996 and located on the north bank of the River Torrens, the garden was designed by the Heritage Rose Society.[24]

Notes

  1. ↑ Karrawirra 'river red gum forest'
  2. ↑ Legal Framework and Land Control Details, Section 2.1, "Community Land Management Plan: Karrawirra (Park 12)", Pg 7.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.totaltravel.com.au/travel/sa/adelaidearea/inneradelaide/guide/adelaide-parks
  4. ↑ Adelaide - Statues and Memorials, State Library of South Australia
  5. ↑ "Entry AHD14544". Australian Heritage Database. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
  6. ↑ Memorial Gardens, Adelaide, showing Cross of Sacrifice
  7. ↑ Canberra Reunion 1995
  8. ↑ Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden - Main Entrance
  9. ↑ Overview, Section 1.2, "Community Land Management Plan: Karrawirra (Park 12)", Pg 5.
  10. ↑ Buildings, Section 2.1, "Community Land Management Plan: Karrawirra (Park 12)", Pg 8.
  11. ↑ Jolley’s Boathouse: Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park, the two-storey Jolley’s Boathouse and restaurant composed within a timber and sheet metal clad structure dating from the 1910s following the 1914 fire of the original Jolley’s Boathouse. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  12. ↑ Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park, positioned in the north-west corner of Victoria Drive overlooking the River Torrens, a single-storey rendered-brick, cream-coloured structure featuring portico, wrought iron security bars on windows, and red terra cotta roof tiling all composed in a Spanish architectural style. Designed and erected in 1928 to serve as a Water Police Station to police watercraft and water-based recreational activities on the River Torrens, its Spanish architectural style is similar to the Hartley Building in Kintore Avenue erected in the late 1920s, and it was in use until 1956. It is now used by the Gardeners as a lunch room, office and for storage. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 18.
  13. ↑ University of Adelaide ‘Pavilion’: Located in the University Oval portion of the Park, a prominent and elegantly designed grand stand structure including 5 gables, wrought iron metal strap seats, Mintaro slate steps, wrought iron support posts, and plaque. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 16.
  14. ↑ Dean Dawson Memorial Scorers Box & Plaque: Located in the University Oval portion of the Park on the edge of the oval, a small two-storey cricket scorers box with plaque recording Dean Dawson as the Captain of the first University of Adelaide Inter-Varsity Football Team in 1904, and donated by KT Hamilton as erected in 1920. This box replaced an earlier box, and was donated by Alex J Melrose in 1920. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 16.
  15. ↑ Popeye’s Boathouse: Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park on the River Torrens, a single-storey green-painted timber and red-painted galvanised-roofed rectangular structure with feature finial dating from the 1910s associated with the Popeye licence. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  16. ↑ Prince Alfred College Boathouse: Located in the University Oval portion of the Park, a two-storey gabled iron-roofed structure sited on War Memorial Drive overlooking the River and erected in c.1930. While the College and the Old Collegians Association had been active in rowing prior to 1930, it was the enthusiasm of rower HWA Miller than enabled the Association to advance £1,250 to construct a boat house and to buy rowing boats. An Edwardian red and white painted timber slat structure with red painted gabled corrugated iron roof erected, and opened on 10 December 1930 by ex-Headmaster WR Bayly. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  17. ↑ University of Adelaide Boathouse: Located in the University Oval portion of the Park, a two-storey gabled iron-roofed structure sited on War Memorial Drive overlooking the River. Designed in an Edwardian style by architects English & Soward. Robert Barr Smith funded the "handsome boathouse," measuring 18.2 x 9.1m, at a cost of £750. The boatshed included a balcony that provided views of the Lake and a finishing line for races and electric lighting. Extensively changed and altered since 1910. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  18. ↑ Christian Brothers College Boathouse: Located in the University Oval portion of the Park, a nondescript red-brick two-storey structure sited on War Memorial Drive overlooking the River. Erected in 1961 by builders Blunden & Co at a cost of £8,000. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  19. ↑ Torrens Rowing Club Boathouse: Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park next to Jolley’s Boathouse, a contemporary two-storey red-brick structure, with club formation origins dating back to 1903. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  20. ↑ Adelaide High School Boathouse: Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park on the River Torrens, a two-storey skillion-roofed red-brick structure with balcony erected in the 1970s replacing an earlier structure. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  21. ↑ Collegiate of St Peter Boathouse: Located in the River Torrens portion of the Park on the River Torrens, a two-storey red-brick structure with gabled roof in one portion and skillion on the other. CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  22. ↑ CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 17.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 15.
  24. ↑ CLMP Karrawirra (Park 12), pg 16.

References