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Do you recognise this nature trail?

For over 150 years, Waterfall Gully has been a popular nature escape, although today it would be unusual to see someone hiking the trail in a suit!

The hills surrounding First Creek were once covered with open woodland vegetation, including eucalypts, casuarinas and native grasses. During autumn, the Kaurna people moved from the coastal areas to the creeks and gullies of the foothills.

European settlers initially used the land around Waterfall Gully for timber cutting and sheep grazing. By the 1850s, the gully was a popular spot for walks and picnics. It was widely referred to as ‘Waterfall Gully’ by 1906.

Photo: Waterfall Gully circa 1908 – Photograph courtesy of Margaret Ford, donated to Burnside Library Local History Collection.

In October 1966, the Burnside Swimming Centre (now known as the George Bolton Swimming Centre) opened at Hazelwood Park on Greenhill Road. Pictured here is Olympian Dawn Fraser diving off the starting block. Dawn flew to Adelaide to officially open the pool and swim the inaugural lap. She drew quite an enthusiastic crowd!

Picture – Dawn Fraser diving into the pool at the new Burnside Swimming Centre at the grand opening in 1966 – courtesy of the Burnside Library Local History Collection.

Shajir Bran and his wife Srinita moved to Australia in 2021, with their two children, Ryan and Rihana. The young family originally comes from India, but recently lived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for eight years. Ryan was born in Austria and Rihana was born in the UAE.

The family’s Australian dream was kept on hold for nearly two years due to Covid 19 border closures and restrictions. As soon as the Australian government announced that the borders would be opening for all visa holders, the family booked their flights and prepared to move. They finally arrived in Australia on Christmas Day, a warm and welcome introduction to their new home.

Upon their arrival, the family quarantined at Peppers Waymouth Hotel in the Adelaide CBD for two weeks. The staff members there took excellent care of them and regularly dropped off paper-based activities, such as crosswords and Sudoku at their door. Their first Christmas was made extra special by hotel staff, as the children were dropped off a small present each from Santa. The children were delighted and said “see Santa still loves us and came to Australia to give us presents, so we will definitely be good kids throughout the year!’’

Burnside’s library, swimming pool, tree lined streets, walking trails, beautiful nature and houses are just some of the family’s favourite features of the area. Since their arrival, they have found the community to be welcoming, friendly and hospitable. They find Burnside to be very different to the UAE and they enjoy the slower pace and family atmosphere that they’ve discovered here.

“Life here is the opposite to what we had in the UAE,” said Shajir.

“Our main intention to move to Australia was to have a well-balanced life with work and family. We are a family of four and we find so much pleasure in growing together.”

“When we moved here, we barely knew Australia and didn’t have any friends or relatives here,” he said. “We stayed in a hotel for a month while we were waiting to find a house. The first property that was offered to us was in Burnside and we didn’t give a second thought choosing it as our home. From the very first day we moved in we felt so comfortable. Green surroundings, amidst nature and beautiful people around made us very comfortable. Most importantly we even got our kids into a school which is in the next lane. Slowly we learnt about Burnside council and the facilities provided to its residents.” The family has already made some great memories in Burnside.

In 2022, exactly a year after their arrival, the family celebrated Christmas in their new home for the first time. As a part of this, Ryan entered his artwork into the City of Burnside Christmas Card Design Competition. Much to his delight, he placed as a runner up in the competition. The theme was “what makes an Australian Christmas?”. Ryan’s entry featured a sunny beach scene with Santa barbecuing, a fireman saving a koala, Santa and his sleigh, and even some of Burnside’s iconic Jacaranda flowers. It is evident that Ryan has truly embraced his new home and has quickly learnt what an Australian Christmas is all about! Ryan’s parents are so proud of his first major achievement since arriving in Australia.

Ryan, age 8 and Rihana, age 6 are loving their Burnside school and have quickly made some close friends. They are both actively involved in their school community and are doing very well in school.

“Their teachers tell us they are very resilient and that they perform well in class,” said Srinita.

The family hopes to apply for Australian Citizenship as soon as they can.

“We have no plans to go back. We have certainly made our mind to make Australia our home,” said Shajir. “We are looking forward to applying for Permanent Residency in December 2023.”

We wish this wonderful family all the best for their future in Burnside. If you see them around, please wish them a warm welcome!

The Bran Family (Srinita, Rihana, Shajir and Ryan)

Ryan with his winning artwork and City of Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux

Did you know we once had trams in the City of Burnside? There used to be a number of lines that ran through the City of Burnside area, from horse drawn trams in the late 1800s and early 1900s to the electric trams that ran until the late 1950s. To this day there remain tram poles in the Council area, some that you may possibly drive or walk past each day! Have you seen any in your daily travels?

Photo: Electric tram in Kensington Gardens in the early 1900s. Burnside Library, Local History Collection.

Water is a valuable resource. It is important to save water. It is also important to manage stormwater to avoid flooding. Good management of urban water helps to create a Water Smart City.

There are many examples of smart water management in the City of Burnside, like the beautiful new wetlands at Kensington Gardens Reserve/Kensington Wama. But much of the management of urban water happens underground, where it can't be seen. Council has developed a new website to help uncover how Water Smart the city really is.

Find out more! Explore the Water Smart Burnside website.

Nominations are now open for the annual Environment Awards.

These Awards celebrate excellence and sustainability practices within our community by showcasing our local champions who have demonstrated a substantial environmental impact.

The Awards will be presented at the Environment Day on Friday 3 March 2023 at Kensington Gardens Reserve.

There are three categories:

• Environmental Action Champion

• Inspiring Garden

• Young Environmentalist Award

Please use the form on our website to nominate.

One of last year's winners, Andrew Compton, was awarded for his work over many years at Waterfall Gully. Andrew says there are so many people working away doing good things for the environment who often go under the radar. "They don't want to blow their own trumpet but they should be recognised," Andrew says.

Andrew is third from the left with the other award winners from 2022.

The Grow It Local Awards is an annual celebration of creativity and fun in homegrown culture.

Grow It Local - your local grow community - is proud to announce the third annual Grow It Local Awards, a community-minded celebration of creativity and fun in homegrown culture. Supported by the City of Burnside, the Grow It Local Awards encompass eight key categories and a search for the:

● Biggest vegetable

● Wonkiest vegetable / vegetable that most looks like..

● The why I love my patch award - only a grower knows the feeling

● Australia’s best chicken name

● Homegrown hero – community champion award

● School garden – growing the future

● Sustainable gardener award

● Homegrown harvest award

Broadcaster, author and Grow It Local co-founder Paul West (River Cottage Australia) noted “community interest in growing food has exploded and here at Grow It Local we’re all about making growing food simple, social and fun!”

Gardening Australia host and Grow It Local ambassador Costa Georgiadis commented that “cultivating diversity is central to the Grow It Local vision in our gardens, in our communities and for the planet too”.

To enter the Grow It Local Awards simply post a photo to #growitlocalawards on Instagram or Facebook tag @growitlocal and mention your council and the award category you are entering in the post copy. You also need to be a member of the Grow It Local community for which registration is a free and easy process at growitlocal.com.

Prizing from Seasol, Mr Fothergills and Grow It Local will be awarded to the winning entry in each category.

Entries are open until February 1 – March 30, 2023 and judges include Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis, Paul West and others.

You can check out the winners of the 2022 awards here.

For media inquiries contact:

Darryl Nichols:

0422-665-088

darryl@growitlocal.com

Photo credit: @kathshomeandgarden - Grow It Local Awards Wonkiest Vegetable Winner 2022

Earlier this year, sisters Amber and Penny Trappel submitted two entries into the Your Neighbourhood Budget (YNB) program.

Backed by the community, both of their entries were successful and have now been brought to life.

The first was a defibrillator in Tusmore Park and the second was a rock swap shelf, also in Tusmore Park, which was installed in late December.

The girls have been involved in rock swapping for a while now, and are active on the SA Rocks Facebook group, which has over 52,000 members.

According to the SA Rocks Facebook group, the popular initiative is “a little bit of creativity and nature play for kids and parents that live in SA, Australia. Let's go hunting for painted rocks in your local park, or paint some and hide for others to find!”

The process involves painting, dropping, finding and re-hiding the rocks. The postcode where the rock was decorated is painted on the back of the rock, so that whoever finds the rock knows where it comes from, and how far it has travelled.

Amber (12) and Penny (10) were invited along to Tusmore Park for the unveiling of the new rock swap shelf. Together with their parents Sharon and Ben and their friend Amber, the girls helped to paint the shelf in preparation for its debut to the community.

“It feels really good [that the rock shelf has been installed]. It’s really nice to see that it’s been done”, said the girls.

“It’s wonderful to see people walk past and show interest in the rock swap shelf,” said Sharon. “Let’s hope the word will spread among the community. It’s a great activity that gets kids outside, off screens, and spreads kindness”.

The girls found their first rock while on holiday in Point Turton. From there, they joined the SA Rocks Facebook group and have been involved in rock swapping ever since. The girls started getting inspired by other rock shelves they were seeing on the Facebook group, which was the catalyst for the idea of having a rock swap shelf in Tusmore Park, which they visit regularly with their grandmother.

The girls chose to decorate the rock swap shelf with pictures of flowers, bees, butterflies, fruit, and even a galaxy. Some simple instructions have been painted on the side of the rock swap shelf to teach those who are new to rock swapping how it works.

For those who are interested in getting involved, the girls’ instructions are simple: “take a rock, paint a rock, swap a rock… make your own rocks!”

“It’s really easy and inexpensive to get started – all you need is some acrylic paints or paint pens, a clear gloss to seal the paint and some brushes, which you can all pick up from Kmart or Officeworks”, said Sharon.

Get started today, and make sure to visit the brand new rock swap shelf in Tusmore Park to share your beautiful artwork with others!

The Burnside Family Church, located at 88 Lockwood Road, consists of two small church buildings. One is a bluestone chapel constructed in the 1860s, and the other a red brick church that was opened in 1939. Both these buildings retain all original detailing and stain glass windows.

The original stone church was built on land donated by Joseph Lockwood for the construction of a chapel for the Christian Church members. He had previously made his store in High Street available for their meetings and worship.

The first church was opened in 1864 and two rooms were added to the western end soon after. As the congregation grew the new church was constructed next door.

Images (L to R): Burnside Christian Church in 1939, courtesy of State Library of South Australia. Burnside Christian Church interior in 1940, courtesy of State Library of South Australia.

City of Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux, who will represent the City of Burnside for the next four years, brings you the latest news in Burnside following the first meeting of the new council.

Updates include:

• Successful Carols in the Park event on Friday 9 December
• Magill Village Project opened on Saturday 3 December
• Recognising and acknowledging the efforts of our volunteers
• Christmas exhibitions at Pepper Street Arts Centre and Burnside Civic Centre
• Christmas Card Competition winner

Find out more in this edition of Burnside Highlights.