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Adelaide Park Lands Association

Navigation
Unique
What We Do
* Explore
> Explore - Guided Walks
> Explore - Trail Guides
* Inspire
> Inspire - Park Poetry
* Protect
* Restore
Features of Your Park Lands
Join Us
Contact
Open Green Public
Newsletters
Current Issues
Myth busters
Shop
Volunteer
Blog
Search 🔎︎
Donate
Take Action
13 September 2026
Thilina Gunasekara
Dorothy Dunne: Nearly 80 and Still Fighting for ...

Meet Dorothy Dunne — APA’s Membership Officer, lifelong nature lover and passionate Park Lands advocate. 

From growing up beside Crown land to guerrilla planting, Trees for Life and years of activism, Dorothy has never been afraid to speak her mind. Now approaching 80, she remains as passionate as ever about protecting the Park Lands as free, peaceful public spaces for everyone. 

Meet one of our essential Park Lands warriors. 

Dorothy Dunne: Nearly 80 and Still Fighting for your Park Lands
2 September 2026
Thilina Gunasekara
​​​Have your say on the proposed MotoGP circuit

The State Government is consulting on its proposed MotoGP circuit in Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi — including permanent construction and the removal of more than 400 trees.

Submissions close 11.59 pm, Sunday 20 September.

We’ve put together a simple guide on how to make a submission, what you might raise, and a template to help you get started.

Find out how to have your say.

​​​Have your say on the proposed MotoGP circuit
27 August 2026
Thilina Gunasekara
Adelaide's Park Lands Keep the City Moving

The Adelaide Park Lands aren’t just green space – they’re a vital part of how students, workers and recreational cyclists get around our city. 

Kadaltilla / Adelaide Park Lands Authority says the Park Lands provide around 59 kilometres of continuous walking and cycling paths, connecting major precincts through routes including the Adelaide Park Lands Trail and River Torrens Linear Park. 

And there’s an economic benefit too. Walking and cycling in the Park Lands generates an estimated $196 million in annual economic value, through direct health, transport and environmental benefits. 

As Bike Adelaide Chair David Elliott writes, safe, connected Park Lands paths are critical to cycling in Adelaide – and to keeping our city moving. 

Adelaide's Park Lands Keep the City Moving
25 August 2026
Thilina Gunasekara
Secret State: It Took a Court Case to Reveal ...

It took a Federal Court case to find out what the State Government is actually planning for John E. Brown Park. 

A two-storey driving range, 108 car parks, up to 400 metres of netting, an 18-hole mini-golf course, retail facilities, new roads, water tanks and other infrastructure — all on public Park Lands. 

These are significant changes, yet despite repeated questions, the community has had no meaningful opportunity to see or comment on the plans. 

Why did it take a court case for South Australians to find out what is being proposed for their Park Lands? 

Secret State: It Took a Court Case to Reveal Plans for John E. Brown Park
20 August 2026
Thilina Gunasekara
MotoGP Deemed Too Dangerous for Street Circuits ...

“MotoGP has not raced on a street circuit since 1982, and the reason for that was that riders kept dying.” As Adelaide plans to bring MotoGP back onto city streets, safety concerns could have profound consequences for the surrounding Park Lands. 

MotoGP Deemed Too Dangerous for Street Circuits Since 1982
Shane Sody
17 November 2025

Your Parks, their secrets

Shane Sody
17 November 2025
Your Parks, their secrets

Neither the State Government nor the City Council are prepared to let you know how they deal, in secret, with your Adelaide Park Lands.

A Freedom of Information request about the proposed golf course “re-development” in your Park Lands has produced hundreds of blacked-out pages.

2 Comments
Shane Sody
15 November 2025

Politically unsustainable?

Shane Sody
15 November 2025
Politically unsustainable?

The campaign to Save Festival Plaza remains very much alive. Momentum is building to prompt a Government re-think, even if only for the adverse economic impact of current plans to build over an Adelaide heritage icon.

Comment
Shane Sody
15 November 2025

What bird is that? Masked Lapwing

Shane Sody
15 November 2025
What bird is that? Masked Lapwing

Meet a bird with a notorious reputation: the assertive, sometimes aggressive, and certainly ever-vigilant Masked Lapwing.

Comment
Shane Sody
7 November 2025

What's in a name? - Park 19

Shane Sody
7 November 2025
What's in a name? - Park 19

The names assigned to each one of the Parks within your Adelaide Park Lands are intended to convey not just a geographical location, but also help you to understand each Park’s fascinating story. Find out the stories behind the two names for Park 19.

Comment
Shane Sody
2 November 2025

Turning point for Plaza tower?

Shane Sody
2 November 2025
Turning point for Plaza tower?

After meeting Premier Peter Malinauskas with a high-powered delegation, the convenor of the “Save Festival Plaza Alliance” believes the campaign is at a turning point, and that the Premier is prepared to listen to your concerns.

5 Comments
Shane Sody
2 November 2025

Beach volleyball in Park 26

Shane Sody
2 November 2025
Beach volleyball in Park 26

More than 4,000 tonnes of sand has been delivered to your Park Lands to create playing courts for the world beach volleyball championships.

2 Comments
Shane Sody
2 November 2025

Five-storey golf fences required

Shane Sody
2 November 2025
Five-storey golf fences required

Fences or nets as high as a five-storey building will be required in your Adelaide Park Lands, to safeguard the public from wayward golf balls hit from a State Government driving range.

2 Comments
Shane Sody
29 October 2025

New Park Lands book

Shane Sody
29 October 2025
New Park Lands book

History enthusiast Graham Smith has joined an elite group - becoming only the fourth person to publish a book about your Adelaide Park Lands. Part proceeds from the sale of “Adelaide Park Lands – History Perspective” will go to the Adelaide Park Lands Association.

Comment
Shane Sody
26 October 2025

Racing history in Pakapakanthi

Shane Sody
26 October 2025
Racing history in Pakapakanthi

As V8 super cars whizz around your eastern Park Lands in late November, how many of the motor racing fans will be aware of the long history of both horse racing and motor racing in Victoria Park/ Pakapakanthi (Park 16)?

Comment
Shane Sody
25 October 2025

Park Poetry: "Veale Gardens"

Shane Sody
25 October 2025
Park Poetry: "Veale Gardens"

Here’s the most recent contribution to our series of Park Poetry.

It’s ”Veale Gardens” by Venesha Winter. Are you a Park poet?

Comment
Shane Sody
23 October 2025

Northern Park Lands?

Shane Sody
23 October 2025
Northern Park Lands?

Behind the newly-named ‘Northern Parklands’ lies a new legal framework that risks setting a dangerous precedent for the way all South Australians’ public Park Lands are governed, funded, and developed.

1 Comment
Shane Sody
19 October 2025

Call it in, Minister!

Shane Sody
19 October 2025
Call it in, Minister!

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt is being urged not to rely solely on Walker Corporation to self-evaluate whether its 38-storey tower, under construction on Festival Plaza would be damaging to Adelaide’s national heritage values.

2 Comments
Shane Sody
19 October 2025

Three citizen science opportunities

Shane Sody
19 October 2025
Three citizen science opportunities

There are two opportunities in coming days to be a citizen scientist, recordimg biodiversity and/or measuring plant growth in your Adelaide Park Lands.

Comment
Shane Sody
18 October 2025

Final approval leaves thousands of trees at risk

Shane Sody
18 October 2025
Final approval leaves thousands of trees at risk

The final approval for “re-development” of a huge area of your Park Lands for a professional golf course has contained no conditions that would protect most of the 9,000 trees at risk.

Kaurna heritage protection, announced by the State Government, applies to only a small part of the targeted area, clearing the last legal obstacle to decimation of an urban forest.

1 Comment
Shane Sody
17 October 2025

Hopes dashed for Park restoration

Shane Sody
17 October 2025
Hopes dashed for Park restoration

A State Government promise that its new commercial Aquatic Centre will result in expanded Park Lands have been exposed as a hoax.

With construction nearing completion, the truth is becoming obvious.

3 Comments
Shane Sody
16 October 2025

The Invisible Park

Shane Sody
16 October 2025
The Invisible Park

When you look at the urban forest in the north-western part of your Adelaide Park Lands, do you see value in its biodiversity, its shade, its function as a carbon sink, its peace and tranquility?

Or, like the State Government, do you merely see a business opportunity?

Comment
Shane Sody
8 October 2025

Know your Park Lands plants - Round-leaved moort

Shane Sody
8 October 2025
Know your Park Lands plants - Round-leaved moort

Here’s a trick question. What sort of platypus grows in your Park Lands? They are hiding in plain sight, but in only a very few locations.

Comment
Shane Sody
6 October 2025

Myth-busting #14 - "Losing money"

Shane Sody
6 October 2025
Myth-busting #14 - "Losing money"

If you Love Your Park Lands, like we do, you might occasionally hear criticism from people who have latched onto a Park Lands myth.

In this article, we’re MYTH-BUSTING the claim that State Government investment is necessary to turn around the financial performance of Park Lands facilities.

Comment
Shane Sody
30 September 2025

New plantings for Victoria Park

Shane Sody
30 September 2025
New plantings for Victoria Park

Plans are being drawn up for five hundred new trees to be planted, next autumn, in Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16).

4 Comments
Shane Sody
30 September 2025

Read the room, Premier. Pick another site.

Shane Sody
30 September 2025
Read the room, Premier.  Pick another site.

Pressure is mounting on Premier, Peter Malinauskas, to “read the room”; and choose an alternative site for a new golf course. There’s growing community awareness of the shocking impacts on your Park Lands tree canopy, and Kaurna heritage that would unfold if the Premier were to remain intransigent.

1 Comment
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Adelaide Park Lands Association, c/o Affinity Business Advisers, Level 1, 458 Morphett Street,, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australiasecretary@adelaide-parklands.asn.au

OUR ARCHIVES: Old newsletters, submissions, news releases etc dating back to 2001