by Shane Sody

Do you ever wonder how it came to pass that a world-unique resource on your doorstep became so vulnerable? How did we get legal and political mechanisms that allow it to be plundered and chipped away; year after year?

Are you curious how vested interests get approval, time after time, to take away slices of your Park Lands? How did we get to the stage where it seems that no laws offer any protection?

How and why do politicians regard your Park Lands as vacant building allotments for their pet projects rather than a treasure to be protected?

The answers to these questions would fill a book - in fact two books. And now, those books have been published. What’s more, you can read them for free.

Journalist, author and Park Lands advocate John Bridgland has spent decades analysing how your Park Lands are legally whittled away, utilising opaque, ineffective laws; and secret negotiations.

He’s now set up a website https://adelaideparklandssecrets.com/

to host downloadable copies of his two meticulously-researched books; a short one, and an expanded one.

Secrets?

Explaining why he’s used the word “secrets” in his website’s address, John has two explanations:

“The first is that the management tiers in charge of the park lands … have demonstrated a poor record of openly and transparently sharing how and why the task has been managed. As a result, many South Australians today have a poor understanding of the legislative and administrative features and complexities.

“A second perspective is that many South Australian citizens have no understanding of a long-established legal ‘culture of confidentiality’ that has influenced many administrative and land-use determinations made about the Adelaide park lands.”

You might want to dive, first, into the shorter book: All about the Adelaide park lands - A guide for 21st century novices (PDF, 136 pages, 6.3 Mb)

For those wanting to explore the matter in more detail with an historical perspective over two recent decades, there is the full-length “Pastures of Plenty” (PDF, 858 pages, 6.8 Mb)

These books in PDF format are free to download. They are not available in printed form, unless you want to print a copy from either of the PDF files.

You can contact the author, John Bridgland through his website: www.adelaideparklandssecrets.com

Previous Park Lands Books

There have been very few books published about your Adelaide Park Lands. The first, to our knowledge, was:

Decisions and Disasters - Alienation of the Adelaide Parklands (1987, Bland house) by Jim Daly.

This book is long out of print, although copies are held in several SA libraries.

Jim Daly’s work provided the spark for the founding, in 1987, of what was then known as the Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association. Jim Daly was part of the steering committee, in 1987 that led to the founding of the Association.

In 2024, for the first time, a digital copy of Jim Daly’s book has been made available, through John Bridgland’s website. (PDF, 222 pages, 132 Mb).

The Adelaide Park Lands - a Social History (2011, Wakefield Press) by Patricia Sumerling.

This lavishly illustrated, 283-page book is also out of print, but is found in many libraries and it can be obtained through second-hand booksellers.