Wattle Park, South Australia

Wattle Park is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Burnside. It was named for the abundance of Golden Wattle, Acacia pycantha, which grew in the sandy creek bed that runs through the suburb. The creek is also host to a large number of ancient River Red Gums which give the area its distinctive feel. As a result of its proximity to central Adelaide, large block sizes, and its dramatic Adelaide hills backdrop, it has become quite an affluent area.

One result of this increasing wealth has been the replacement of many of the houses, built in the early 1950s post-war boom, with modern houses. This led to developers cutting down the 300 year-old red gums. In 2000 the octogenarian Wattle Park resident Joan Keightley brought things to a head by threatening or actually chaining herself (it is not clear which) to one of these trees. As a result, the laws were tightened and developers learnt to build around the trees.

It was home for many years to a convent and a teachers' college, now the Magill campus of the University of South Australia.

The original Penfolds winery sits behind Wattle Park, although this has since been converted into housing and Penfolds has moved to the Barossa Valley.

Wattle Park Post Office opened on 8 April 1965 and closed in 1967.^[2]

Facilities

There are no schools in Wattle Park. The closest school to Wattle Park is St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School in Stonyfell. Other schools nearby are Norwood Morialta High School (Senior Campus) and Magill Primary School in Magill.

References

Coordinates: 34°55′40″S 138°40′37″E / 34.927812°S 138.677073°E / -34.927812; 138.677073