FOCUS On Burnside - the news hub

Today is the beginning of National Volunteer Week (NVW), Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteers. From today until Sunday 23rd May 2021, NVW will celebrate the significant contribution of Australia’s almost six million volunteers. Each year these volunteers dedicate over 600 million hours to help others.

The theme for NVW 2021 is Recognise. Reconnect. Reimagine. This theme acknowledges that it is time to:

RECONNECT to what is important by giving our time to help others and ourselves.

In a year when many of us have experienced increased loneliness or isolation, mental health or financial stress, volunteering can help. Evidence shows that volunteering connects us to others in our local communities, to better mental well-being or to potential pathways to employment. When we help others in our community or give our time to a cause we value, we also give back to ourselves. Explore volunteer opportunities by visiting www.GoVolunteer.com.au

REIMAGINE how we better support volunteers and communities they help.

Since 2014, Australia has seen a 20 per cent decline in the number of hours volunteers give. During COVID-19, two-thirds of volunteers stopped working and a recent study highlights that social purpose organisations continue to lose one in four volunteers due to illness or caring responsibilities. In the current changing environment, where Australians are time-poor and experiencing higher degrees of uncertainty and stress, we need to reimagine how we do things. We need to collaborate more and adapt our volunteering practices and programs so we can better support and engage volunteers to continue the necessary work that they do.

National Volunteer Week is supported again in 2021 by Aon Australia.

For more information about National Volunteer Week 2021, please email Volunteering Australia.

Mayor Anne Monceaux presents Burnside Highlights.

Any Linden Park alumni out there? Pictured here is the school circa 1956.

Linden Park Primary School opened on 7 February 1950 with seven teachers and 250 students. Built on seven and a half acres of farmland, students and teachers planted 112 trees in the schoolyard to beautify the grounds.

Linden Park Primary School now has approximately 1,000 students.

The City of Burnside’s Council Assessment Panel (CAP) has rejected a request to demolish a Local Heritage Place located on Bevington Road, Glenunga. The 1923 ‘Interwar’ sandstone house was constructed on land once known as Glenunga Farm. The dwelling is an example of the change in style taking place in the 1920s, from the more traditional domestic architecture common in Adelaide before that time.

In 1999 the Burnside Local Heritage Review identified the home as a potential Local Heritage Place. It was listed as a Local Heritage Place in 2005.

The CAP, that comprises four Independent Members and one Elected Member, assessed the application to demolish the house on Monday 3 May. The application was rejected based on its heritage value however the applicant has a right to appeal the decision in the Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Court.

To reduce the amount of leaf litter entering our waterways and to ensure that our streets and footpaths are clear, Council runs an annual Autumn Leaf Collection Program. If you wish Council to collect leaves that have fallen from Council street trees in front of your property, please rake them into piles and place them on the Council verge near the gutter. Branches will not be collected.

To register for a leaf pick up for the following week, call Council on 8366 4200 no later than 3 pm on Friday afternoon.

This week is National Volunteers Week and each day we profile one of Burnside's wonderful volunteers.

Michael Sachsse arrived in Australia from war-torn Germany in 1952 aged 10 with virtually no English. After mastering the language he went on to complete a Master of Education and became director of a number of TAFE Institutes in SA. In the late ‘90s he moved into consultancy work and travelled the world as a project manager in a number of post-conflict countries, including Ethiopia, the Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, Indonesia as well as nine missions to Afghanistan.

In his late sixties Michael phased out of paid consulting work and took on much safer voluntary community work. He become more active on the Board of the Royal Association of Justices including serving as its President. He was appointed as a Special Justice and sat on the bench as an Honorary Magistrate in several metropolitan courts.

Michael has fond memories of working as a Justice of the Peace in the Burnside Council JP Signing room. Over 15 years in that role, he has met many hundreds of Burnside residents who have come to have their various documents witnessed.

“I see volunteering as a two-way street,” Michael says. “I provide the community with an important service, which in itself is very satisfying. In turn I maintain my interpersonal skills while at the same time benefitting from the social interaction and mental stimulus that comes with witnessing documents.”

As Chair of the Royal Association of Justices Professional Development Committee, Michael played a key role in establishing a team of accredited trainers who conduct regular training sessions for the 25 Justice of Peace groups located around the State.

In 2016 Michael was awarded an OAM (order of Australia medal) for services to vocational education and the community.

Michael is married to Rosalyn Sachsse, an accomplished potter, whose work can be seen in the Burnside Council’s Pepper Street Arts Gallery.

In the summer of 2019/20, large areas of both the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island experienced devastating bushfires. The City of Burnside assisted both the emergency response and clean-up of both areas through contribution of staff, equipment and expertise.

To assist in the replanting and provision of wildlife habitat, Council’s Biodiversity nursery program, managed by Dr Mark Ellis and assisted by a team of dedicated nursery volunteers, collaborated with the non-government organisation Trees For Life Inc (TFL), through their Bushfire Recovery project.

Mark said that such an initiative had to be part of a coordinated response to landscape restoration. “It was important that we were in partnership with an organisation that had links to landholders and volunteers in the affected areas,” he said. “Trees For Life already has the established networks in these areas and very importantly could provide the locally sourced seed that we used to grow the trees. Replanting local native species is essential to ensure they are adapted to the local environment.”

The nursery grew 500 trees, indigenous to the Adelaide Hills, for distribution to Adelaide Hills landholders in fire affected areas.

TFL managed the program linking landholders who order the trees, undertake preparation works, plant and maintain the trees. TFL also have a program of providing volunteer assistance to landholders to undertake planting.

Kensington Oval was purchased in 1874 by a group of local residents. Seven years later some of the land on the perimeter was sold, the revenue funding a pavilion, fences and a scoreboard.

South Australia’s first inclined cycle track was also built there in 1888. Between 1898 and 1920 the oval fell into disuse and was for a time used as the Council’s works depot.

In 1920 the Kensington Cricket Club leased it and in subsequent years the oval was replanted and other improvements were made. Sir Donald Bradman was a playing member of the Kensington District Cricket Club from 1935 until the late 1940’s and was on the club’s Committee for more than 20 years. His highest score was 303 scored in less than 5 hours at the Kensington Oval against Port Adelaide in 1939.

During World War 2 the army used it for troop training. After the war the South Australian National Football League also used it for league football.

In 1963 the oval was leased to the South Australian Amateur Athletics Association and the South Australian Soccer Federation. A synthetic running track was laid and the oval was renamed for a time as the Olympic Sportsfield.

For many years it was Adelaide’s principle athletics stadium, and was used for soccer until 1990. A portion of the land has since been licensed to nearby Pembroke School, but is still available for public use.

Did you participate in the 2021 City Nature Challenge? Over the past four days, 150 people have recorded more than 900 species in Adelaide on an app called iNaturalist. The app also has a webpage for observations made any time in the City of Burnside (see below).

Council’s Coordinator Environmental Sustainability, Philip Roetman, took a stroll in Wyfield Reserve at Skye after work and captured this beautiful sunset as well as a variety of birds.

Our Conservation and Land Management Program has done a huge amount of work in Wyfield Reserve with both biodiversity contractors and volunteers. They have restored the Mallee Box Grassy Woodland, ridding it of woody weeds and protecting and establishing numerous wildflower and understory species, not to mention maintenance and upgrade of the trails.

Scroll through our photo gallery on the top right.

City of Burnside iNaturalist Page

Mayor Anne Monceaux presents Burnside Highlights.

Burnside Highlights 4 May 2021