FOCUS On Burnside - the news hub

The interactive mural was created by Miss Libby Rose (The Sewing Yogi) in partnership with Burnside Council. The many wonderful individual squares that make up the lotus mural were created over weeks of workshops. Visit the Civic Centre to view the mural.

Burnside’s newest resident needs a name. WIN four tickets to the Regal Theatre

A yultu* has found a forever home in Kensington Wama – but it has no name. Yultu is the Kaurna word for frog.

Our yultu would like a name with style. Some of its favourite celebrity names are Trevor, Politoed, Frog Prince and Michael Perry (our frog admits that last one is a place and not a person, but likes it anyway).

Tell us what you think its name should be and WIN four tickets to the Regal Theatre for any movie, and any session; plus the winning name will feature on a plaque in the Kensington Wama nature play space.

The competition is open for children aged 12 and under who live or attend school within the City of Burnside.

Entries close Tuesday 18 January 2022.

A resident in Kensington Gardens was completing renovation works last year and uncovered a pile of postcards and photographs from a previous owner. The resident donated these items to the Burnside Local History Collection.

Pictured is the 1921 Christmas greeting that the dustman sent the owners. A ‘dustman’ is someone employed to remove rubbish, refuse or ashes.

The Library of Things is an exciting new collection available at Burnside Library that launched in October 2021.

The theme of the Burnside Library of Things collection is ‘kitchen items’. You can now use your existing library membership to borrow from a fantastic library of tools, including kitchen utensils, cake tins, baking kits, and so much more!

The Library of Things is an excellent way to save money, free up space in your cupboards, and is kinder to the planet, too.

Sarah Parton, Library of Things customer and environmental scientist, and her son Mattais, recently borrowed a lovely heart-shaped baking tin from the Library of Things to bake some special cakes together.

“The kids and I made a zucchini chocolate cake and a beetroot red velvet cake with rose petals on top for my birthday, Sarah said. “The cakes (surprisingly) both turned out great! The kids love baking - mainly because I let them lick the spatula!”

Sarah would love to see the Library of Things continue to grow.

“People should get involved so they don’t have to clutter their home with things they rarely use - this way they have access to fun and useful items but instead we can all share them as a community.”

What does the future hold for the Library of Things?

Although only kitchen items are currently available to borrow, the goal is to expand the collection in the future to include other types of household items. Stay tuned!

The City of Burnside is navigating the opening of borders and ensuring that we can still continue to deliver services to the community, even with new strains of COVID in our state.

One way of doing that is to help remind people to check in and wear a mask, as per state government Transition Committee directions.

This is one way to ensure the safety of our community at our facilities (especially the vulnerable), and our staff, to ensure that Council can continue to deliver services to the community.

As school holidays begin our Library faces its busiest time of the year. It is vital that visitors are protected by high standards of hygiene and COVID compliance.

Almost every visitor is wearing a face mask and if not, they comply as soon as it is pointed out that it is a mandatory condition of entry. Council has a supply of masks for those who forget.

Our Customer Service Team is in their own ‘bubble’ with limited exposure to other staff so they remain safe as the first point of contact with the community.

All staff are encouraged to wear masks and maintain social distance and teams are alternating working in the office and from home to minimise their chance of contact.

All of these actions are for the health and safety of our community, our employees and the general public.

This is the second year the Mayor’s Christmas Card Competition has been run. The theme was ‘What makes an Australian Christmas?' A recurring theme in entries was sunshine, barbecues, native Australian animals and Santa in shorts. The competition was open to Year 3 and 4 students from schools within the City of Burnside.

Anna, a Year 4 student at Linden Park Primary School, was declared the winner at a ceremony on Tuesday 7 December. The four finalists were all designs which really spoke of Christmas. They were vibrant and colourful. Anna’s card had the theme ‘Christmas is about caring’. It shows a young girl who has hurt herself playing ball and a kangaroo wearing a Santa hat offering to help. Anna said that caring means “We help each other”.

Anna’s mother Venus, said she was very proud of her daughter. She said the win was unexpected but Anna has always loved to draw. She also enjoyed dancing and gymnastics and had to make special time in her busy school schedule to draw her design.

More than 50 entries were received and the Mayor chose three runners up. They were Tiziana, 8, in Year 3 at Linden Park Primary School and Indigo and Alice, both 9 and in Year 4 at Rose Park Primary School.

Mayor Monceaux with winner Anna and her entry.

Runners Up Tiziana, Alice and Indigo.

Is your Christmas tree up yet?

This photograph is of Burnside Town Hall on 21 December 1940 during a Christmas event for children of military service personnel, organised by the Volunteer Defence Corps of South Australia.

Photograph: George Ignatius Ziesing. SLSA B 62413/40.

A rare butterfly has been sighted in the City of Burnside – a chequered copper! Chequered Copper Butterflies once occurred across Adelaide, but they are now considered rare in the region. They were last recorded in Burnside, near Stonyfell, in 1938. Recently, a member of Council’s park staff was surprised to see a Chequered Copper.

“When we were working at Beaumont Common I noticed a butterfly I had never seen before… I let my team leader know and we found a few of them, it was really exciting.”

Chequered Coppers have a wingspan of around 2.5 cm with an eye-catching splash of metallic copper on the forewing and traces of copper on the hindwing. The outer margins of the wings have a distinctive white and black chequer pattern. Their scientific name for Chequered Coppers is Lucia limbaria and they are sometimes called Small Coppers or Grassland Coppers.

The caterpillars of this species rely on ants to survive. The caterpillars live in the nests of small black ants (Iridomyrmex species). They release pheromones that mimic the pheromones of the ants, so the ants protect them. The caterpillar typically builds its chrysalis underground, within the ants’ nest, emerging 10-13 days later as Chequered Copper Butterflies.

The presence of Chequered Copper Butterflies is a testament to the quality of the planning and groundwork conducted by the council’s park and biodiversity management teams. These butterflies are quite particular in their requirements for habitat.

Chequered Coppers need open areas with native grasses. The butterflies also require Native Sorrel (Oxalis perennans), plus the attendant ants. In Beaumont Common, council staff have recreated habitat that is favourable to these beautiful and rare species, removing weeds and allowing indigenous plant species to thrive. The open grassy woodland at Beaumont Common is perfect for Chequered Coppers.

Other rare and threatened species are also present in public and private parks and gardens in the area. For example, Cryptic Sun Moths, Southern Brown Bandicoots, and Yellow-footed Antechinus can all be found in Burnside, where suitable habitat exists. Council is working to maintain these habitats to ensure these species do not become locally extinct.

Council is working with Butterfly Conservation SA to monitor the butterfly population. If you would like to learn how to provide habitat for butterflies in your garden, the book Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden is a great place to start. Copies of the book can be purchased through Butterfly Conservation SA or they can be borrowed through Burnside Library.

More photos of the butterflies in Burnside are available on iNaturalist, a website and app for recording observations of wildlife.

A Chequered Copper Butterfly at Beaumont Common

Native Sorrel in Beaumont Common

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Have you organised your Christmas cards yet?

This Christmas postcard from 1902 shows the corner store on Union and Mill Street in Dulwich under management by Mrs M.A Coleman as a draper and grocer. Built circa 1896, this shop serviced the local area as a shop and post office. The building is now a private residence.

Postcard, 1902. Burnside Local History Collection. Courtesy of H Grant.

In September 2021 Council approved the renovation of the Dulwich Community Centre in line with concept plans and future community consultation as part of the 2022/23 Business Plan and Budget engagement. Concept designs were developed to understand the possibilities of this site.

There is an extensive amount of work to still be done before any renovations can begin, including a detailed design undertaken during the 2021/22 financial year followed by a Development Application process. The decision to fund the construction of the centre will be made as part of the 2022/23 Annual Business Plan and Budget process.

For more background on this project you can read the Council Report and minutes.

The redevelopment proposes to demolish the old house and front extension and retain and upgrade the existing large hall, with a new purposed-built stage at the rear and a new entry foyer. A new off-street carpark with permeable paving and accessible amenities will bring the facility up to meet current building standards.

Get involved in future engagements like the 2022/23 Annual Business Plan and Budget by registering on engage.burnside