by Carla Caruso

While most people are sleeping, our president is out hitting the bitumen.

In between advocating for the Park Lands, Shane Sody is a keen road cyclist.

There are “four reasons” why the 65-year-old rides. “I do it mainly to keep fit. It’s also more efficient for travelling in peak hour. 

“I can’t believe how many people sit in their cars at traffic lights, cursing the other traffic. You are not in traffic; you are traffic, just being in your car on the road. Cycling is also environmentally-friendly, and it’s cheaper.”

It all started with a New Year’s resolution 12 years ago to ride an average of 20km a day. He’s since “ratcheted this up” to 55km per day, or 20,000km over a year. 

He regularly rides with an informal group, the Red Berries, who meet at Red Berry Espresso in Glenside.

Shane’s passion for cycling also feeds into his advocacy work. “I make a point of visiting all the parks as part of my exercise routine, and because I’m always cycling through the parks, I see the changes day-to-day. The CBD has gradually extended northwards towards the Torrens, and nobody realises.”

APA work

The father-of-one was asked to become an APA committee member by Ian Gilfillan in 2014. Ian (then a politician for the Australian Democrats) was APA’s president at the time. Shane had worked for Ian 13 years prior as a researcher and media advisor. 

“My first inclination was I need to do this because I owe Ian a debt,” Shane confesses. “Without him, I would not have been able to complete my law degree. He was very, very gracious in allowing me to fit my part-time work hours around my studies.” 

The political work Shane undertook also complemented his honours dissertation in law. 

He began on the committee as a self-confessed “lurker” but soon the issues got under his skin. He instigated an emailed newsletter to members, rather than a mailed one, and got active on social media, widening the Association’s reach. In 2017, Ian passed the baton of presidency on to Shane. 

“There is no other city in the world garlanded by Park Lands and that fact is underappreciated in Adelaide,” Shane enthuses.

“Despite the fact that it’s world-unique, there is no brake to the extent to which Park Lands can be lost.

“The area, which was originally allocated as Park Lands, has been dwindling over 184 years and there’s nothing to stop it dwindling more year-on-year.

“We keep arguing to the State Government that the law – the Adelaide Park Lands Act, which only came in, in 2005 – needs to be changed to protect the Park Lands. Because it doesn’t. There’s nothing in the Act that can stop the gradual chipping away.”

A varied CV

Shane’s diverse career has helped him lead APA. “I was a journalist, so I’ve got lots of practice in writing stories. I was a newsreader, so I’ve been able to use my radio voice to narrate all the APA videos.” (By the by, he also narrates audiobooks under Sody Audio Books on the side.)

“I have been a media advisor to different politicians,” Shane continues, “and working in radio news [for 2UE, 5AD, the ABC, and more], I’ve seen thousands and thousands of news releases. 

“So, I know how to capture the attention of journalists - and having a law degree is really helpful in being able to analyse the effect of government decisions and planning rules.”

Looking towards 2022

Next year, Shane says people can expect:

• “more guided walks than ever before from APA”; plus

• a Kaurna heritage walk, for the first time, in association with Frank Wanganeen and the Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation;

• two park Clean Up days;

• two loop walks “around the entirety of the CBD on Park Lands”;

• entries opening for the 2023 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize; and

• more lobbying.

Another important project will be re-greening a patch of bitumen car park in Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli [Park 27]. 

“We have to submit a project plan to the Council to describe how we propose to re-green the site, but provided they are happy with the specifications, we’ve got in-principle support.

“If we do this well, we’ll hopefully get approval to turn more hard-surface bitumen into greenery.”

2022 will also be a triple election year across local, state, and federal governments. Shane says: “We intend to make the Park Lands an election issue for each level. If anything, I’d like the political parties to be competing with each other to better protect the Park Lands. Protecting them should be something that’s bipartisan.”

And in between? Expect to find Shane clocking up more kilometres from his bike seat, keeping a watchful eye over our parks.