by Shane Sody

The State Government is maintaining a veil of secrecy over arrangements that restrict entry to a one-hectare vegetable garden, run for charitable purposes, within your Adelaide Park Lands.

The Roma Mitchell Garden, at the rear of the old Adelaide Gaol, has been used for more than 30 years to grow food for charities. It has an on-site live-in caretaker, and is tended by volunteers from the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons. Food grown here is not only for Day Centre clients, but also donated to several other charities for disadvantaged, poor people.

Although it's a full hectare in size (10,000 square metres, or two-and-a-half acres) few people know that this Garden exists, because it's hidden from sight behind the stone walls of the old Adelaide Gaol, a railway line, and high cyclone wire fencing, with a locked gate.

This part of your Park Lands is the legal responsibility of the Heritage branch of the Department of Environment and Water.

Accordingly, the Adelaide Park Lands Association wrote to the relevant Minister, Deputy Premier Susan Close, to find out the terms and conditions of the licence.

Dr Close replied on 18 June 2024 (PDF, 1 page) advising that, to gain access to the terms of the licence, it would be necessary for APA to submit a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act 1991, but that, even if access to the licence document were to be granted, “some information” would be redacted.

It’s understood that the licence was renewed in January 2024. The licence cannot be considered “commercial in confidence” because there is no suggestion that these are commercial arrangements. Likewise, it’s no secret that whatever rent is paid is merely a “peppercorn” or token amount.

Therefore, the supposed need for secrecy remains a mystery.

What’s in the Garden?

This land has been a garden since the early 1930s, when it was established by prisoners at the old Adelaide Gaol. Since the 1990s, the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons has helped and encouraged homeless and disabled people to work productively in the garden.  

Co-ordinator Joyce van der Sman describes the arrangement as "a model for rehabilitation, healing and promoting health."

The garden includes fruit and nut trees, vegetable patches, chicken sheds, bee hives, flower beds and hedges. In the past, there’s been a resident goat or two.

It's maintained by volunteers, at no cost to taxpayers, as a State Heritage site.  

Read more about the Roma Mitchell Garden and see other historical photos from inside the Garden here: https://www.adelaide-parklands.asn.au/blog/2024/4/27/92-years-hidden-a-locked-garden

Can you visit the Garden?

On most days of the year, the answer is no. However you can make a special request, to the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons, to make an escorted visit inside the gates.

There will be a one-off opportunity to go behind the gates, during our scheduled Guided Walk in Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli (Park 27) on Sunday 4 August. Book here: https://events.humanitix.com/2024-guided-walk-bonython-park-tulya-wardli-park-27

Will it ever be open to the public?

The Deputy Premier advised in her letter that her Department was “not considering any plans to return the site to the public at this time.”

However the Draft Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy "Towards 2036" includes, as a medium-term priority, (i.e. 5-10 years, after construction of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital) :

• “Investigate opportunities to return to City of Adelaide and increase of public accessibility [of the] old Adelaide Gaol and the historic Powder Magazine” [which is within the Roma Mitchell Garden compound.]

The author of this article, Shane Sody, is the President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".

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