History of Burnside - New Era

New Era

By the turn of the 20th century, Burnside was becoming more urbanised. Paddocks were still scattered throughout the area but the villages were steadily growing. Toorak Gardens, Dulwich and other near-city villages were gazetted and made open to settlements and advertised now as suburbs, moving on from earlier times. By 1920, the District Council had a population of 17,000, living in 4,000 houses. Ten per cent of the £60,000 budget consisted of commercial enterprise payments, while the rest was made up of ratepayer fees. The South Australian Government had enacted more laws in relation to local government, in particular, the Town Planning Act 1920 and the Building Act 1923. These assigned more responsibility to councils, but at a time of necessity; Adelaide was gradually expanding. Burnside councillors advised the State Government to acquire and manage pleasure resorts; a kiosk was opened at Waterfall Gully and the Morialta Conservation Park established on this advice. Burnside was treated with high regard by Adelaide newspapers in response to its elaborate greening and tree planting schemes. "Beautiful Burnside: Picturesque Streets" was the headline of The Chronicle on 24 March 1928. The council was preserving old trees and planting approximately 500 a year. A Burnside councillor, HES Melbourne, was adored in this period; he spent his own money acquiring reserves and land for residents due to a lack of funds during the Great Depression. He presided over lean but reasonable budgets and oversaw the planting of trees and foliage to beautify the city. Gordon Allen, a local resident who succeeded Melbourne as a councillor, described Melbourne: "No Council ever had a better man." Melbourne also oversaw the building of the Mount Osmond golf course, but his vision of constructing a Country Club was never realised.

Development restrictions preceding the Hills Face Zone were established in the 1920s; the council was obligated to adhere to strict guidelines. 1928 saw the building of grand new Council Chambers at the corner of Greenhill and Portrush Roads; they are still in use today. Floods devastated Waterfall Gully in 1931. Burnside continued to grow; in 1935 the District Council of Burnside became the Municipality of Burnside. By 1941, only 401 acres (1.6 km2) remained under cultivation. In 1945, much of the area that forms today's Cleland Conservation Park was purchased by the State Government, in large part because of the lobbying efforts of Professor Sir John Cleland. Most of this land, including the Waterfall Gully area, was later combined in 1963 to create the park that extends eastwards up into the hills to the summit of Mount Lofty and northwards to Greenhill Road. During 1943, the Municipality of Burnside was proclaimed the City of Burnside.

Many of Burnside's sons fought in World Wars I and II; on their return they were honoured with memorials, and in particular, the name of Burnside's first community hospital. The Burnside War Memorial Hospital was opened on April 1949 in Toorak Gardens, built in a house donated by a local resident, Otto van Reiben. The present name was adopted in 1956. Memorials to the fallen can be found all over Burnside; in Hazelwood Park opposite the swimming centre, at schools and churches, in reserves. Like much of Australia, Burnside held true to the phrase "Lest We Forget", which is emblazoned on many of the community-erected memorials. In Rose Park on Alexandra Avenue, there is a large monument and statue of an Australian Imperial Force soldier with its plaque stating: "In Memory of the Fallen: World War II, Korea, Vietnam". Upon their arrival home the servicemen formed several Returned Services League clubs in the City of Burnside.