Adelaide Park Lands - History

History

Adelaide is a planned city, and the Adelaide Park Lands are an integral part of Colonel William Light's 1837 plan. Light chose a site next to the River Torrens, (which runs through the park lands), and planned the city centre on a grid south of the river, with the residential enclave of North Adelaide north of the Torrens on a gentle hill overlooking the river, its flood plain, and the central business district. Influenced by William Penn's design of Philadelphia, Light set out the city of Adelaide on a grid of one square mile, interspaced by wide boulevards and incorporating five large public squares. Light, recognising the importance of public parks, surrounded the entire city with the Adelaide Park Lands, a green-belt and the "lungs of the city".

By 1839 the parklands were threatened by extensive timber cutting, rubbish dumping, quarrying, squatting, and grazing. To check this, a body of special constables was instituted on 9 October 1839 by George Gawler and Superintendent Henry Inman. Inman appointed Nick Boys Bull (c.1800-1846), formerly a police sub-inspector, as Keeper of the Parklands. Bull led an initial team of six park rangers, most being convalescent migrants thrown on government support. This dropped to two by 1840, then back to four by June 1841. Pay and rations were provided by the police department.

Since 1852, the parklands have been managed and maintained by the Adelaide City Council. Public use of the parklands was controlled by a ranger who patrolled the parks, regulating sporting and recreational activities in the parks and supervising the depasturing of stock grazing there.

The parklands saw very little development during the 19th century. Extensive felling of trees, quarrying and dumping of rubbish continued, which combined to give the parklands an unsightly appearance. In the late 19th century J.E. Brown, the government's Conservator of Forests, was commissioned by the City Council to prepare a blueprint for the beautification of the parklands. Brown presented his report in 1880, but it was not acted upon until the turn of the 20th century when A.W. Pelzer became the City Gardener. Major progress was made in planting and landscaping the parklands during his tenure (1899–1932) and further improvements such as creation of new gardens and boating lakes were carried under the authority of W.C.D. Veale, the Town Clerk (1947–1965).