Belair National Park celebrates 125 years

SOUTH Australia’s oldest National Parks is celebrating 125 years. We take a look back at the history of Belair in these extraordinary photos from the State Library.

Picnic group at National Park, Belair [B 56641] NATIONAL PARK, BELAIR: A group of young people at a picnic in Belair National Park 1911 - State Library of South Australia

IT was a more innocent, genteel time – a time when the women wore long dresses and lacy wide-brimmed hats. A time when the men wore suits and sucked on tobacco pipes. A time when the mode of transport was a horse and dray.

For those who ventured to the Belair National Park at the turn of the last century, a typical outing meant packed sandwiches, a tipple of wine, a game of tennis or even running races.

Fast-forward 125 years and much has changed – barbies and beers, music booming out of cars, kids in the playgrounds.

The Simpson family having a picnic in about 1899- State Library of South Australia

A group of taxation officers at their annual cricket match in 1904.- State Library of South Australia

Senior ranger Jen Pitman said the park had been a central part of SA life since its creation, attracting about 250,000 people each year.

“It’s the history as well as the natural environment which makes this park hold such a special place in the hearts of the people of Adelaide,” she said.

It was also an important area for the Kaurna Aboriginal people.

The park has some of SA’s most significant heritage attractions, including Old Government House and the State Flora Nursery. Old Government House was built in 1858 as a summer house for the governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, and used by his successors Sir Anthony Musgrave and Sir William Jervois.

A group of young people in the park in 1911. - State Library of South Australia

Belair National Park was proclaimed on December 19, 1891 – 12 years after Australia’s first National Park, the Royal National Park near Sydney – and covers about 835ha of the Mount Lofty Ranges.

There were proposals in 1881 to sell off parts of the park, but they were opposed by merchant and conservationist Walter Gooch, which led to an Act of Parliament prohibiting its sale in 1883.

“The park became popular as an early pleasure resort for tourists ... and early photographs depict park visitors dressed in their Sunday best, sporting top hats and hoop dresses,” Ms Pitman said.

For information on Belair NATIONAL PARK’s 125th anniversary celebrations go to the Parks SA website and search Belair.

Women who worked for Coles Adelaide at a work picnic in 1932.

Belair Entrance, National Park, 1900. Photo courtesy State Library of South Australia