Park Poetry: "Glover Playgrounds"

by Alex Robertson

There are ten children’s playgrounds within your Adelaide Park Lands.

Three of them, each named after the early 20th century Lord Mayor, Charles Glover, have inspired this contribution from poet, Alex Robertson. It’s an ode to the playgrounds of your Adelaide Park Lands.

Glover Playgrounds

Early 20th Century moves

To encourage outdoor play

Young children being active

Swings and roundabouts

without connotations

Now upgraded many times over

Post war enthusiasm

South Terrace exposure

Shelters adjoining equipment

in a fenced juvenile property

Like grandfather’s axe

in changes over time

Wakefield Street access

East Terrace frontage

Original furniture dismantled

Shelters & play areas remain

CBC’s campus proximity

No separatism here

A disc golf course juxtaposed

North Adelaide focus

Purpose built toilets as a later addition

Worn equipment

The Witch’s Hat no longer present

Activities aplenty

WH&S giving life chances…

Marshmallow Park

An honourable mention for fun

Adventure enough in Moreton Bay Figs

Glen Osmond Road access

Car parking for eastern suburbs access

Now a nature play space

With sporting facilities attached

Updated from a ‘70s perspective

lawnmowing Arcadian fields

Now part urban, part wildlife-based

In manicured microcosm quarters

This pic: City of Adelaide. Other photos, above: Shane Sody / City of Adelaide archives

Alex Robertson is an award-winning poet with pieces published in local, interstate, and overseas anthologies, including Adelaide: Mapping the Human City.

Alex has been the co-coordinator of Gawler Poets @ the Pub, since 2013, and a workshop facilitator since 2014. He has also been a past judge for the Adelaide Plains Poets Poetry Competition. Alex has been a secondary educator and now works as a Financial Counsellor.

In his own words:

Growing up in the Adelaide suburbs (about 5kms out) of the city, I experienced the Park Lands as a distinct separation between the suburbs and the city. Travelling through them, from my earliest memories in the 1970s, and the need to access other areas of the city over time, the greenery was a pause, or signal point between detached houses and the multilevel storeys of the city, proper. How times have changed!

I have fond childhood memories of the attraction of Marshmallow Park on Glen Osmond Road and the treehouse associated with the Moreton Bay Figs in this location. Having a love of the environment and greenspace, my career in education meant telling the history of Adelaide and South Australia.

My attachment to the Adelaide Park Lands greenery continued while attending Aquinas College, North Adelaide when at Uni, as a part of sporting events on playing fields whilst teaching, and bringing family members to the Glover Playgrounds over time.

My inspiration as to the Glover Playgrounds looked at a bit of the Park Lands past and present, as well as my own (childhood) experience.