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With French grapevine cuttings in hand Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold journeyed to Australia from England in 1844. The Penfolds purchased land in Makgill (now Magill) and built a small stone cottage known as the Grange. Christopher planted the fruit, initially using the wine to treat his patients. While her husband was on rounds, Mary tended the vineyards.

The business grew in popularity and after Christopher’s death in 1870, Mary assumed total responsibility of the vineyards. Mary passed away in 1896, but her grandsons were determined to continue the company. Penfolds went on to become a leading Australian winery.

The grange vineyard in Magill is smaller today, but the cottage, buildings and some of the vines remain as a reminder of its early history.

Aerial view of Penfolds in 1928

The Pepper Street Arts Centre is celebrating 25 years this week! The Arts Centre is a valuable community space that promotes local artists and hosts workshops for budding creators to develop new skills.

The Arts Centre building is a little bit older than 25, in fact, it is 138 years old!

Built in 1882, the site was originally the Magill village primary school and accommodated 150 pupils. By 1924, the school was overcrowded and some classes were moved to the Brougham Street community hall. Two years later, a new classroom was constructed on the corner of Penfold Road and Adelaide Street.

Junior students continued to attend classes in the ‘old’ school building until 1963. The site was then used by the Art Faculty of Wattle Park Teachers’ College and later by the Kent Town Special School. In 1988, Burnside Council purchased the building and launched the Arts Centre in 1995.

Photograph: Magill Primary School 1882

Prem Dwivedi is a big supporter of the Know Your Neighbours campaign. He saw it in the recent Focus newsletter, delivered to his letterbox in Penfold Road Magill. “My wife Arti and I and our son Prakhar invited our neighbours over,” he says. “We decided to provide Indian as well as Australian food for the afternoon tea by keeping to the old philosophy that you can ‘reach to some one’s heart through their stomach’. My wife is an excellent cook also in addition to her profession.”

Prem is a scientist who has lived in Adelaide since 1995 with his wife and two children. He has lived in various councils but says his neighbours in the Burnside Council are the best. “I do not need to say that Burnside is full of multicultural residents,” Prem says. “I have said hello to several other residents in Magill and other parts of Burnside council but it was hard to fit everyone in our home and they can’t all be invited due to restrictions.”

He was very happy with the excellent outcome of this get together with neighbours. They started at 3 pm and followed social distancing due to pandemic issues.

“We may plan a Christmas get together in Penfold Park which is a two minute walk from our home,” he says. He hopes a Christmas get together can be done with extended neighbourhood residents.” He also wants to invite council officers who are involved in the Know Your Neighbours Campaign.

Pictured L - R: Prem with his wife Arti and neighbours Flo and Cameron and their children.

In a joint statement the City of Burnside Mayor, Anne Monceaux, and CEO, Chris Cowley, announced today that Burnside is now a Small Business Friendly Council.

"We are pleased to announce that in line with our new Strategic Plan to support the local economy and our small businesses, the City of Burnside has been formally accepted as a Small Business Friendly Council (SBFC) by the South Australian Small Business Commissioner, John Chapman. This is an important initiative that will foster an equitable and more supportive environment for local businesses, " the Mayor and CEO said.

The SBFC Initiative aims to assist Council in enabling economic development, enhancing local relationships, boosting networking and encouraging business opportunities. Burnside Council will work towards meeting specific goals of the SBFC Charter and staff will have access to information sharing and networking between Councils across the State – including workshops, newsletters and case studies.

Mayor Monceaux said that as leaders in the community Council recognises the invaluable contribution local businesses make to the City’s economy, in creating employment opportunities and providing a sense of community. Local government has an important role to play in stimulating economic development, for when you buy locally, your money stays locally.

“We intend to support them through the challenges of starting, running and growing their ventures. We want to provide every opportunity for COB businesses to succeed, reduce red tape and provide for initiatives to help small business owners feel less isolated and access training that is focused on their needs,” the Mayor said.

The City of Burnside will also continue our partnerships with business organisation Propel SA and the Eastern Region Alliance (ERA) Economic Development Group to provide invaluable networking and mentor services to our businesses.

“With the right support, small businesses will thrive in our prosperous, adaptive and much valued City, and overcome the many challenges that have presented themselves during this difficult year. This new affiliation will provide support and incentives for success in the future,” the Mayor said.

What does being a Small Business Friendly Council mean?

That the City of Burnside is committed to supporting our local small business community through the Small Business Friendly Council Initiative by:

• recognising the small business community as an important stakeholder and consulting regularly with it
• understanding how small businesses operate and their needs, goals and key challenges
• providing clear and concise service standards, which set out what we will do to support local small business
• taking reasonable action to limit unnecessary administrative burdens
• reviewing our policies to check for 'small business friendliness' on a regular basis
• implementing activities to improve the operating environment for small business within our area
• establishing a business advisory group to assist us in understanding the needs of local small business
• implementing a procurement policy which recognises that local small business is a significant contributor to economic development in our area
• ensuring prompt payment of small business invoices
• managing disputes in a timely and cost effective manner.

Find out more about what it means to be a Small Business Friendly Council and the Small Business Friendly Initiative at these links.

Can you spot any changes 90 years later?

The Clark family immigrated to Australia circa 1853 and purchased 45 acres of land in the area that is now Hazelwood Park. They moved into Hazelwood House, which stood near the corner of Olive Grove and Hawthorn Crescent. The home was named after the school ‘Hazelwood’ in Birmingham, England. In 1915, the state government purchased the area for the people of South Australia. The park was given to the City of Burnside in 1964.

Council will launch a new look website on Wednesday 21 October. The change will see a fresher use of colours and fonts; and a new look layout for the home page www.burnside.sa.gov.au

The changes include:

- ensuring the website is usable and understandable for the majority of people with or without disabilities.

- updating the content on the home screen so that users can find they information they need at first glance using icons.

- a new 'What's Near Me?' search to quickly look up parks, venues and shopping precincts.

- improvements to the main menu in mobile view - so it is easier to navigate on a mobile device.

(Please note that the bin icon in Top Tasks is reused for example only. New icons will be displayed once the page is live.)

At the start of the recycling crisis of 2018, the City of Burnside's waste management provider East Waste sought to safeguard the integrity of the recycling stream that it collects for its member councils - Cities of Burnside, Mitcham, Prospect, Campbelltown, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters, Adelaide Hills Council and the Town of Walkerville.

East Waste entered into a recycling contract with a local council-owned resource processor, the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority (NAWMA). This means that everything delivered to NAWMA by East Waste is processed without stockpiling, and the majority of the material is sold for secondary reprocessing in Australia. Burnside's recycling material does not go to landfill.

East Waste collects your recycling from the kerbside and delivers it to the NAWMA facility in Pooraka.

NAWMA have created this video that explains what happens to your recycling.

More information on East Waste can be found here https://www.eastwaste.com.au/

If you want to find out more about NAWMA visit https://www.nawma.sa.gov.au/

In late 2012 the City of Burnside introduced the very successful 3 Bins and a Basket kerbside service. Since this introduction residents have been highly successful in diverting waste from landfill.

By mid-June 2020 the cumulative total of the reduction in waste-to-landfill volumes achieved in one year was 208 tonnes, the equivalent weight of almost 100 Toyota Landcruisers!

The kitchen basket and green organics bin combo has been a big contributor to this success. Designed to be stored on your kitchen bench, or in the cupboard under the sink, the basket is an easy way for you to collect your kitchen scraps, using compostable bags, and disposing of them in your green lid organics bin.

The organic waste is then used to make organic compost.

Two new baskets have been added to the suite and residents may now choose which bin they would like. All of the baskets are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic.

Burnside Council provides the tools to help you put your kitchen scraps in your green bin. Kitchen organics baskets and compostable bags (150 free bags per household per year) are available at the Civic Centre.

(Click on the 'New kitchen baskets' heading above to see the new look baskets)

Do you remember this Adelaide landmark?

‘Bolton’s Corner’ was a motor workshop and service station on the corner of Greenhill and Fullarton Roads built by George Bolton Snr.

George Bolton was Mayor of Burnside Council from 1952 to 1954, then again from 1962 to 1967. Bolton entered the motor business in 1924 and a year later built Bolton’s Corner in Dulwich. It was the first drive-through petrol station in Australia. In 1939, the station was remodelled in art-deco design, and then in 1970, it was converted into a motorcycle showroom.

Bolton passed away in 1977 and his son took over the business, which eventually moved to Keswick. In 2012, the business merged with Bill’s Motorcycles.

Photograph courtesy of the Bolton Archives, 1971

Trees are an integral part of the City of Burnside. The trees along our streets and in our reserves and gardens provide natural character and shape our experience of the area. Trees provide many benefits, from cooling the urban environment to providing habitat for wildlife. Trees can also inspire us and be part of memorable experiences. Residents and visitors of the City of Burnside have shared their experiences of trees on our website.

Some of the captions are displayed on bus shelters around the City of Burnside, as depicted here.

This project was supported by Amongst It.

Tree Stories Urban Forest Interactive