by Carla Caruso

Olives were the central theme of our most recent Guided Walk last Sunday, June 20.

Thirty-five people – and one beagle – joined APA President Shane Sody for a meander through the ancient Olive Groves in Parks 7 and 8 (Kuntingga and Parngutilla) between lower North Adelaide and Gilberton.

The two tiny parks are just four hectares collectively – less than one per cent of the entire Adelaide Park Lands. However, what they lack in size, they make up for with history.

Attendees learned how horticulturist John Bailey was awarded a government contract in 1856 to plant these and other olive trees, now on the South Australian Heritage Register.   

John had a business associate named George Francis. “George had the idea of pressing Bailey’s olives to make olive oil,” Shane said.

In those days, the oil was used by industry and for pharmaceuticals rather than on cuisine.

“Some of the olive oil was sent to the Great Exhibition in London, in 1851, in the famous Crystal Palace. The South Australian olive oil got an honourable mention, so you would think it must have been good for business.”

But no more olive oil was produced in SA for almost two decades. “It was the plantation near the Adelaide Gaol, where the olive oil comeback was launched in 1870, and the proximity to the Gaol was no coincidence. The Gaol superintendent had a ready workforce. He put prisoners to work picking olives.”

Pickers were also brought in from the nearby asylums and orphanages. Then, In the late 1800's the City of Adelaide also joined in with olive oil production, producing its own branded oil.

Alas, “it’s been out of stock for a while" Shane told the walkers. "More than 100 years in fact.”

Other interesting titbits uncovered during the walk include that:

• The City of Adelaide issues free permits for those wanting to pick olives for domestic use. A permit lasts four months and is subject to conditions, including not climbing, shaking, beating, or damaging the trees.

• While the groves have heritage protection, elsewhere in SA, olives are an invasive species. “If you have a tree in your backyard, it helps if you can collect every single olive to prevent the birds taking any and spreading the seed,” Shane advised.

• The Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy envisages turning the groves into “a formal park setting” in future and installing more walking trails and interpretative signage.

• Other trees among the groves include kurrajong, river red gums, Aleppo pines, Moreton Bay figs, and Port Lincoln wattles.

APA's next Guided Walk is in Park 11 (including Mistletoe Park, Botanic Park, and the Botanic Garden) on Sunday, July 11, at 2pm.