by Shane Sody

This Sunday, 4 June 2023, you can play a defining role in your Adelaide Park Lands history, in just 30 minutes.

This Sunday will, we hope, mark a turning point in the battle to protect your Adelaide Park Lands from a State Government onslaught that has included six Park Lands attacks in a year.

This Sunday, 4 June, show the State Government that you (and many others) Love Your Park Lands and that you have got them “covered” (symbolically) with your umbrella. All you need to do is show up, with your umbrella, about 1.00pm, to be part of a huge group photo at 1.30pm.

*Imagine it’s a shield! Bring your umbrella to Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21W) this Sunday, 4 June from 1pm in time for a group photo at 1.30pm*

After this Sunday, we hope the State Government will belatedly wake up, read the room, and start to Love Your Park Lands too.

Why? What’s the issue?

The State Government is set to make an announcement, soon, about where it proposes to build a semi-industrial SA Police security-fenced compound to include stables for 40 horses, offices and meeting rooms for 30 staff, a kitchen, change-rooms, showers, toilets and lockers, horse “tack” rooms, a veterinary suite, fodder stores, a secure gun room, garaging for horse floats, staff car parking and more.

Although Premier Peter Malinauskas says other options are being considered, his so-called “consultation” is secret. In the meantime, this site in Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21 West) is still being promoted by State Government MPs as the preferred site.

*A view from the south-west. eight hectares: larger than the Adelaide Oval Stadium, larger than the current Thebarton Police barracks.*

Such an industrial workplace does not belong anywhere on your Adelaide Park Lands, and certainly not in this Park, which is now, thanks to a decade of work by Bush for Life volunteers, a rare trove of biodiversity; a fragment of the original eco-system of the Adelaide plains.

*Artist’s impression of new SAPOL barracks, fencing off your Open Green Public Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21W)*

A show of umbrellas

Take just 30 minutes out of your Sunday, and stand with us, holding your umbrella, to form a human protective shield around the 8-hectare site that the State Government is threatening to take from your Park Lands.

Looking south, across Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21W) with Whitmore Square and South Terrace in the foreground and Greenhill Road and the Wayville Showgrounds in the background. This is an artist’s impression of how the proposed SA Police compound would dominate your Park.

You and your umbrella will be included in an iconic image; a powerful aerial photo filled with hundreds of people, hundreds of umbrellas, symbolising your love and protective cover for your Park Lands.

When and where?

On Sunday 4 June, please arrive any time from 12.30pm, for a picnic, if you want, alongside the Princess Elizabeth playground. Most importantly, start spreading out from 1.15pm, so that by 1.30pm we will have this huge area surrounded by umbrellas, ready for our aerial photographer.

The eight hectares; (80,000 square metres as measured by Google Maps) will be temporarily surrounded by red witches hats; to give you a guide on where to stand with your umbrella.

This event: “Provide Cover for Mirnu Wirra” is supported not only by the Adelaide Park Lands Association, but also by Trees for Life, the Conservation Council, the Nature Conservation Society, and the Butterfly Conservation Society.

What else is on that day?

**Digital Drawing - Mirnu Wirra Living classroom**
Earlier on Sun 4th Jun 2023, 10:30 am to midday.
Click or tap on the pic for details and/or to book.

**Guided Walk thru Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21W)**
Later on Sun 4th June 2023 - 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm (immediately after the group photo)
Click or tap on the pic for details and/or to book.

What Else Can You Do?

If you are on Facebook, please share this event with your friends. https://www.facebook.com/events/551865857128078/
Write directly to the Premier. Here is a draft of a suggested email.
Write to the two members of SA Best in the Legislative Council (Connie Bonaros and Frank Pangallo). These two hold the balance of power and can determine whether the Liberals and the Greens can force a Parliamentary Committee into the Government’s multiple Park Lands attacks. Here is a draft of a suggested email to them.
Write your own letter to the Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek. Here’s her email address and a suggested email.
Write to the National Park City Foundation in London. When the Foundation named Adelaide a National Park City in 2021, they said that the status would create “higher expectations” for Park Lands protection. Clearly those expectations have been dashed, so Adelaide’s status should be at least reviewed, if not revoked. Here’s a suggested email to the National Park City Foundation.