Elder Park: Keith takes a walk through the Adelaide City parklands region of South Australia

Elder Park is only a short walk from the city. We take it all very much for granted these days but 130 years ago it was a place that you would probably want to avoid.

It's difficult to imagine the city without the green swathe of Elder Park at its edge. The refurbished Royal fountain, the ornate rotunda, the angular modern Festival Centre and city skyline beyond is all unmistakably Adelaide.

Before 1836, the indigenous Kaurna people called it Tandanya. In a few careless years, the timber hungry newcomers called it "a dangerous eyesore".

I asked Margaret Anderson, Director of the National Trust about the parks' early days. "If we'd been looking at this in the 1870s we'd have seen a flat plain that was denuded of trees. The banks of the Torrens were badly eroded and very steep. In summertime we would have seen a few pools which were probably stagnant, not running and certainly no Torrens Lake."

But in the 1880s the Mayor of Adelaide dares to dream about a recreational park for the people. Enter the Mayor with a vision: Sir Edwin Smith, brewery king, community benefactor and one of the most energetic civic leaders of the era... any era!

Margaret tells us he saw the need to replace a summer dustbowl and smelly strand of waterholes with 'a thing of beauty - an expansive and noble sheet of water'.

"The lake was a dream of the people of the city of Adelaide from about the 1850s. In the nineteenth century they had two views: one that if you had a large body of water you might actually be able to bring rain and make the climate better. Secondly, that bodies of water were healthy for the people. They provided recreation and a nice place for families to walk and that would be more healthy for the community."

The plan was certainly spurred on when some visiting Victorians cheekily proclaimed they had better swamps in Victoria! Colonial jealousy demanded action!

In 1867, the council commissioned a weir just below the current structure. So the muddy waterholes were transformed into a delightful 12-hectare lake. But not for long - a flood washed the lot away! In1881, a permanent stone structure was built and the makeover was complete.

"They thought that they needed a decent body of water," said Margaret. "In particular they really wanted a river that was wider than the Yarra. So there's the inter-colonial rivalry again..."

The lake and surrounding park became a happy part of Adelaide's way of life... regattas, picnics, even fishing.

In 1882, when horse-drawn trams were clip clopping along King William Road and the plane trees were mere saplings this big tract of wasteland was being transformed into the Elder Park we know and love.

We tracked down a priceless photo from the Adelaide City Archives that shows even while the park was still 'a work in progress' its commanding rotunda was already standing proud as a new flourish of civic pride.

"The rotunda was a gift from Sir Thomas Elder," Margaret said. "He was a great benefactor of the City of Adelaide and of the University. He had the rotunda built in Glasgow and shipped to Adelaide. It opened just after the weir in 1882. They had a grand ceremony where the Adelaide City Council Band played the Rotunda March - especially written for the occasion."

Thanks to the philanthropy of wealthy pastoralist and mining investor, Sir Thomas Elder, the rotunda in the park became a focus of city pride. Built on a mound so it could be seen from King William Road, it represented progress and sophistication - something he and his mate, the Mayor, Sir Edwin Smith knew was important.

"It was lucky that he was coupled with a particularly visionary Mayor who also had a sense of a city and the role that wealthy citizens could play in making the lives of everyone else better..."

Elder Park was named in Sir Thomas' honour in 1907.

And the elaborate cast iron concoction from the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow is still a cultural beacon as events like carols; symphonies, rallies and carnivals are still held here.

So next time you are wandering through Elder Park, don't forget to say happy 125th birthday to the Scottish rotunda and the park. After all, it is 'Adelaide's first park for the people'.

Published 15th July 2007