Wet weather doesn’t deter Park explorers
by Carla Caruso
An enthusiastic group braved the elements for a guided walk through King Rodney Park/Ityamai-itpina (Park 15) last Sunday (September 12).
APA ambassador Elizabeth Rushbrook, wielding an umbrella, led the stroll through “an arguably under-appreciated and sometimes overlooked part of the eastern Adelaide Park Lands”.
Park ambassador Elizabeth Rushbrook guides the keen walkers.
Park 15 sits between Bartels and Wakefield roads. Known in the 19th century as Bartel’s Park, its dual name today - in Aboriginal and English - honours a Kaurna elder from the time of European settlement.
Ityamai-itpina was also known to the first European settlers as ‘King Rodney’.
“King Rodney had a connection with the Adelaide plains as a general area, not necessarily this Park alone,” Elizabeth said. “He was a Kaurna elder with whom the colonists supposedly ‘negotiated’ occupancy of the Adelaide plains. Little did he know what would happen to Kaurna land over the next few decades.”
Unfortunately, there are no known photos or even sketches of King Rodney.
Park 15’s pathways were laid out in the early 1900s by the then city gardener, August Pelzer.
A plaque beneath one of the park’s largest trees recognises the Japan Australia Friendship Association.
Elizabeth also spoke of another Indigenous Australian identity, Tommy Walker, who frequented and camped in the eastern park lands in the second half of the 19th century.
“He was a renowned mimic with a sharp wit and acid tongue,” Elizabeth said. “His begging was popular with the public because it was like street theatre. He would recount his most recent arrest and jokingly send up the latest magistrate who had sentenced him. Tommy died in 1901 and his death was marked by The Advertiser with a large obituary.”
A nine-hole course for disc golf was installed at the park in 2020. It’s free to use.
In recent years, the Park has been a centrepiece for three popular annual sporting events: cycling’s Tour Down Under, the former Adelaide 500 motor race, and the international equestrian three-day event each November.
Elizabeth’s Guided Walk also took in the East Terrace Glover Playground, playing fields used by Christian Brothers College and others, its disc golf course, basketball courts, and skate park.
Tennis courts were removed in 2016 to accommodate a temporary skate park. A new skate park is being built in Park 25.
The cricket nets are for public use when not being used by students from Christian Brothers College. The college has used these sports fields since 1908.
Other park features highlighted during the walk included the olive grove dating from 1872; the blue gum trees and avenue of pepper trees from the early 1900s; and the century-old, wooden bridges over Botanic Creek. The waterway only flows after rain, so those walking got lucky.
Before European settlement, the creek was used as a meeting place by the Kaurna community.
To find out about APA’s upcoming guided walks, click here.
Rain meant the creek was flowing during the walk.
Park trees, such as this one, provide habitat for wildlife.