FOCUS On Burnside - the news hub

A Pedestrian Actuated Crossing (PAC) has been installed and activated on Greenhill Road, Hazelwood Park, to improve pedestrian safety.

Residents living south of Greenhill Road in the suburb of Hazelwood Park face a major barrier from safely accessing Hazelwood Park reserve and other facilities. The reserve is considered one of the best in the City of Burnside and is extremely popular, with the George Bolton Swimming Centre, Wombat Waterhole and numerous walking trails.

Despite heavy traffic on Greenhill Road, pedestrians continue to cross to access the reserve. In 2007 90-year-old pedestrian, Mr Colin Sargent, was killed and in 2018 a child pedestrian was struck by a vehicle while attempting to cross the road.

Council has received multiple requests for a crossing in this vicinity in addition to Council deputations. Council raised this issue with the Department of Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) in 2017, including an offer to project manage and part fund the installation of a PAC. Although the offer was initially well received, it was ultimately not supported by DPTI on the grounds of a ‘lack of warrant’.

Council strongly believed that should a PAC be installed, pedestrian movements would increase substantially and so elected to fund the crossing.

The installation of a PAC also promotes active travel by providing the necessary infrastructure required to better connect the community and residential areas south of Greenhill Road and destinations to the north including the Hazelwood Park Reserve, Leabrook Shopping Centre, Burnside Primary School, Post Office, hotel and other businesses/facilities. Council has also been advised of a Child Care Centre who regularly use the existing ‘refuge’ to cross Greenhill Road in this location.

The late Mr Sargent’s daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Bill Dickson, were present for the activation of the crossing and were the first to use the new crossing. Mrs Dixon said "I am very happy and thankful that it has finally happened".

L – R: Council Members Sarah Hughes and Jane Davey (Kensington Park Ward), with Bill and Linda Dickson. Linda’s father Colin Sargent was killed at the location in 2007.

This photo provides a view of Glen Osmond looking northeast, circa 1900. In the foreground is St Saviour's Cemetery, and the road passing through the middle is Portrush Road.

St Saviour's Cemetery was established circa 1854 on land previously owned by Osmond Gilles. Its gravestones illustrate over 150 years of life in Glen Osmond: its industries, its people and their occupations. St Saviour’s Anglican Church currently own and manage the cemetery.

To discover more about Glen Osmond and its history, download the self-guided historic walk here https://tinyurl.com/yjzu5mp5

Photograph: Burnside Local History Collection, courtesy of the Langley family.

Mayor Anne Monceaux shares the 'Burnside Highlights' from this week's Council meeting.

Summary:
✅ Citizen of the Year Awards nominations close 24 November
✅ Marra Dreaming poles installed at Kensington Gardens Reserve
✅ Glenside Lions Club Art Show on display in the ballroom until Tuesday 2 November
✅ Motion passed to develop a Public Art Policy
✅ Annual Environmental Sustainability Report submitted to Council
✅ Pump Track has moved from Penfold Park to Symons and Symons Reserve
✅ Mayor's Christmas Card Design Competition closes 17 November
✅ Halloween events at Beaumont House and The Regal Theatre
✅ Community mural under development by The Sewing Yogi This is just a summary of some of the things happening within the City of Burnside.

You can real the full minutes from the meeting at bit.ly/BurnsideAgendasMinutes

The Adelaide Hebrew Congregation Inc., Belljo Pty Ltd & Flemington Street Pty Ltd have commenced consultation on the ‘Flemington Street Code Amendment’.

This Code Amendment is being undertaken by a private proponent (the landowners of the site) who are proposing an amendment to zoning under the Planning and Design Code for land located at 13 Flemington Street, Glenside. This proposal affects land comprising both an existing synagogue and a former primary school (Massada College).

While this is not a City of Burnside driven Code Amendment, Council is providing details of this proposal to the wider community to ensure that those who wish to provide feedback can do so.

In summary, the Code Amendment proposes to:

• Rezone land at 13 Flemington Street, Glenside from the Community Facilities Zone to the Housing Diversity Neighbourhood Zone to enable the development of the land for medium density residential development;
• Include policy which seeks to limit new buildings to a maximum height of 2-storeys.
• Remove the State Heritage Overlay currently effecting the property. This has been proposed as its application over the property is an error which has arisen in the transition of the former City of Burnside Development Plan to the Planning and Design Code.

Consultation on this proposal is open Wednesday, 27 October 2021 until 5.00pm Wednesday, 8 December 2021.

Council encourages the community to provide their feedback on the Code Amendment via the various options provided by the Proponent.

The following Fact Sheet provides a brief summary of the intended rezoning proposal:

https://plan.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/917399/Flemington_Street_Code_Amendment_-_Fact_Sheet.pdf

More information on the Code Amendment, including mapping, the proposed policy changes, background investigations and where to submit your feedback are available on the State Government Planning Portal via https://plan.sa.gov.au/have_your_say/general_consultations

The hills surrounding First Creek were once covered with open woodland vegetation including eucalypts, casuarinas and native grasses. After colonisation, the land around the gully was used for timber cutting and sheep grazing. By the 1850s, the waterfalls were a popular spot for walks and picnics. By 1906, the area was widely referred to as ‘Waterfall Gully’.

If you are interested in exploring the history of Waterfall Gully, download the self-guided historic walk from our website.

The walkway down from the first falls towards the kiosk at Waterfall Gully in 1936. Photograph courtesy of Mrs M Oliver.

Self-guided historic walk

Volunteer English tutor Brenda Barnett writes about a trip to the SA Art Gallery with students for the English as a Second Language courses.

“Fourteen students studying English at the Burnside Community Centre spent a glorious October Friday afternoon with their Volunteer Teachers (Barbara, Sue and I) at the South Australian Art Gallery soaking up Indigenous Art at the Tarnanthi Exhibition*.

A tour was conducted by the Art Gallery especially for our students. The tour started with selected pieces from the permanent collection in the Elder Wing of the Gallery on North Terrace followed by the main event – Tarnanthi - downstairs in the Atrium. Here we were lucky enough to meet a sculptor from the WA/SA/NT border who talked to us about her unique pieces - decorated miniature cars made out of old car oil sumps and pram wheels. This is the first year the exhibiting artists were invited to attend Tarnanthi and you couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces.

With our heads full of wonderful impressions and fascinating stories it was a welcome relief to relax over lunch on the Art Gallery lawns and de-brief in the sunshine. Just as well, as it was soon time for us to exercise our creativity in the Tarnanthi Studio.

The theme of the Studio was the work of John Prince Siddon, who uses Boab Tree Nuts in the Kimberly as his canvass. Prince would have been proud of our paper cut-out Boab Nuts adorned with our favourite animals and favourite natural spaces. Some of us even tried our hand at dot painting, mistakenly thinking “it can’t be that hard”. It was…. but it was also therapeutic for the happy fourteen, but by this time, gallery-weary students!”

*Tarnanthi (tar-nan-dee) from the language of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains means “to appear, to rise, to spring up, to emerge”. It signifies “new beginnings”. The Tarnanthi Exhibition is a festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art held annually in Adelaide which showcases Indigenous Australian culture and history. Tarnanthi 2021 will be showing until 31 January 2022.

This photograph of a natural rock dam in Magill was taken circa 1870. It offers a glimpse of what the landscape once was.

The village of Makgill was founded in 1838 by Robert Cock and William Ferguson, who named it after Scotsman Sir David Maitland Makgill. Later, the 'k' was dropped and the village was known as Magill. There have been many other variations on its spelling including, Macgill, Mackgill and McGill. Early on, the village's nickname was ‘World’s End’ due to its location at the end of the plain.

Mayor Anne Monceaux shares this week's Burnside Highlights from last night's Council meeting.

Summary:
✅ Brock Reserve toilets approved
✅ Mayor's Christmas Card competition open until 17 November
✅ 88% of Burnside residents over 15 have received their first COVID-19 vaccination shot, 72.3% have received both
✅ Market at the Hub open this Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm
✅ Community information session at Bell Yett Reserve this Saturday from 9.30 am to 11 am
✅ Garage Sale Trail coming to Burnside on 13-14 and 20-21 November
✅ Successful working bee at Laurel Avenue Pirkurna Wirra/Peter Bennett Organic Community Garden last Saturday.

This is just a summary of some of the things happening within the City of Burnside. You can read the full minute's from yesterday's meeting at bit.ly/BurnsideAgendasMinutes

The redeveloped Laurel Avenue community garden has been named Laurel Avenue Pirkurna Wirra / Peter Bennett Organic Community Garden

The City of Burnside has been embarking on a journey of reconciliation. This has involved partnering with the Kaurna reference group on various projects and efforts, which includes consideration of Kaurna names for local places when possible.

The name Laurel Avenue Pirkurna Wirra was provided by Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi, the leading group dedicated to Kaurna language revitalisation and maintenance. Pirkurna loosely translates as ‘communities / group of people’, while Wirra translates as ‘forest of trees / garden’. While the site no longer has access from Laurel Avenue, the site’s address is 31 Laurel Avenue, Linden Park. Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi nominated the full name to include Laurel Avenue.

Peter Reginald Dane Bennett (1928 – 2010) was a resident of Wattle Park and a pioneer of organic gardening in Australia. He also showed leadership in promoting ecology, sustainability, pollution awareness and the plight of the River Murray. For more than 30 years Peter Bennett operated the Organic Gardening Centre, educating the community in good gardening practices. He achieved this through communicating over his shop counter as well as via radio and television. He was also an accomplished author, with multiple editions and reprints of his book Organic Gardening. In recognition of this, Peter Bennett was awarded as City of Burnside 2007 Citizen of the Year.

As a past local resident with a passion for organic gardening and community gardens, the new community garden is named to recognise his contributions. The garden would operate as an organic garden, to reflect his teachings.

His widow, Sandra, said she and her family were “thrilled, honoured and humbled” to have the garden named after Peter. “He was an entrepreneur,” she said. “He would be very happy about putting the Indigenous name first.”

Sandra Bennett with the newly erected sign at the garden.

A Council grant is being used to install and paint totem poles in Kensington Gardens Reserve, near the Preschool, as part of the Kensington Gardens Reserve Project. The grant of $15,000 was provided to Marra Dreaming, as part of Council’s Community Public Art Fund.

Marra Dreaming is a cultural community centre located in Salisbury. It was established in 1999 by predominately Aboriginal women from various regions of Australia. It was initially set up to provide a space for Aboriginal people to develop their artwork and is now a thriving meeting place for community to experience and explore the Aboriginal culture.

Preschool Director Catherine Honeychurch says Council has kept staff and the children involved in the redevelopment of the Reserve. “We have had site visits and talks from elders about Indigenous culture. The children keep a journal of construction activities and work they see happening on the project,” Catherine says. “I am really pleased that Council has taken these steps.”

Marra Dreaming and Kaurna have worked together on designs for the totem poles that complement the area and the work is being undertaken by artist Raylene Snow and her children Thomas and Samantha.

Raylene says the paintings depict the story of the River Torrens and the animals, birds, berries and fruits that grow and live nearby. Each pole takes approximately two days to complete.

Marra Dreaming are also working closely with Kensington Gardens Preschool and their students throughout the works, including cultural activities such as traditional basket weaving that they are able to learn about and practice.

Students Ben, 5, Skye,4 and Nick, 5 with some of the totem poles and in the background a mural by artist Scott Rothman.

Indigenous artist Tom Snow paints one of the totem poles with his sister Samantha Egan in the background.