Eugene Boisvert: Debate over Glenelg jetty has gone on for 160 years
THERE have been some big ideas for a major redeveloping the Glenelg jetty but the debate has been going on for 160 years.
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SOME big ideas have been put forward for a major redevelopment of the jetty at Glenelg but as Eugene Boisvert reports, it’s debate that has ebbed and flowed for 160 years.
GLENELG’S first jetty was completed in 1859 after two years of work. And nine years of debate.
There had been worries about its cost, as 31,000 pounds was a lot of money at the time, but Governor Sir Richard MacDonnell said benefits would flow not just for Glenelg, but for all of South Australia.
“It may be expected to confer not only on the inhabitants of the surrounding country, but on the community at large advantages which it is impossible at present correctly to appreciate,” Sir Richard said.
Glenelg’s importance as a port was soon overtaken by Port Adelaide, but with tea rooms, public baths, an aquarium, a police shed and a three-storey kiosk, the 381m jetty soon became “the place to go” in a growing young city.
South Australia’s own Luna Park opened at the foot of the jetty in 1930 but closed in 1935 because of difficulties in the economy, a disagreement with the Glenelg town council over rent, tension with local residents and pressure from church groups not to run rides on Sunday. Much of it was packed on to a ship and moved to a new site in Sydney, where there’s still a Luna Park today.
The rest of the fun came to an end in 1948, when the jetty was hit by a freak storm – some called it a hurricane – and Glenelg was without a pier for the next 20 years.
The new 215m jetty – the one we know now – opened in 1969.
The Superflyte ferry ran from the Patawalonga and then the jetty to Kangaroo Island from 1994 to 1997 but failed because of a lack of poor berthing facilities at Glenelg, according to businessman Con Makris, who proposed reviving it in 2013.
He gave up a year later to focus on other projects.
The Jetty Road Mainstreet Committee noticed a decline in visitor numbers in 2013 and with retail vacancy rates as high as 15 per cent on Jetty Rd in 2014, it decided something needed to be done.
Committee members came up with the idea of a hotel on the jetty and since then it and the council have spent $115,000 so far on concept plans, a flythrough video and a yet-to-be-seen cost-benefit analysis.
The $110 million project would need substantial public support, as well as investment from a private hotel operator.
Yesterday, the state Liberals threw their support behind the proposal, which as well as a hotel now includes public baths, a marine research centre, a docking area for seaplanes and a dock for a Kangaroo Island ferry.
Opposition leader Steven Marshall promised to contribute $20 million to it, if backed by the Federal Government and business, and of course if he is elected to run the state.
Local Liberal MP Duncan McFetridge, however, admitted it would take some convincing to get the public behind it.
“Some people will say it will spoil the views, but from what I’ve seen of the design put on the table, I think it’s a very pleasing low-profile change to the jetty that will not only benefit locals but the state,” Dr McFetridge said, somewhat echoing the sentiment and vision of Sir Richard a century-and-a-half ago.
Although the Labor Government has dismissed the Liberal push for development as a “thought bubble” it says it will consider any proposals, if and when they are put on the table as solid plans.
The Jetty Road Mainstreet Committee chairman until two weeks ago, Mark Faulkner expects the hotel and the new jetty will help Glenelg become more of a high-end destination.
“It’s the last piece in the puzzle,” Mr Faulkner said.
Also much like the governor in 1857, Holdfast Bay Mayor Stephen Patterson said the latest proposal was different to others that had failed in the past or those that had divided the community, such as Holdfast Shores, because its benefits would stretch much further.
People would want to come from overseas just to stay at the new hotel.
“It will not just be an SA tourism icon but an Australian one as well,” Mr Patterson said.
THE HISTORY
1857 – Construction of Glenelg’s first jetty began.
1859 – The 381m jetty opens. Used to accept ship cargo, including a mail service, until Port Adelaide replaced it as our main port.
1872 – A lighthouse is built at the jetty’s end, but a year later it catches fire and is cast into the sea to save the rest of the structure.
1874 – A replacement 12.1m lighthouse built
1859-1948 – For almost a century it was “the place to go”. People would come down for the day, walk along the jetty and visit the tea rooms at its end. Also had public baths, aquarium, police shed and three-storey kiosk. Luna Park carnival rides operated between 1930 and 1935.
1943 – Kiosk wrecked in a storm.
1948 – Jetty destroyed by freak “hurricane”. Most of the structure washes away.
1969 – Construction of the new 215m jetty finished.
1991 – New Grand Hotel opens.
2006 – Holdfast Shores apartment and hotel complex complete.
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