West Park Walk

 
Be careful what you ask for.  At the beginning of the days walk, Carol asked for something different; and different she got.

We walked to the West Parklands.

Take a step back to the earliest days in Adelaide and explore West Terrace Cemetery and Adelaide Gaol, both steeped in history.  The West Park Lands is not just about the past, people of all ages use the play spaces, environmental trails, fitness trails and stations, and myriad sporting fields and courts for Aussie Rules, cricket, lacrosse and tennis.

We enter Gladys Elphick/Narnungga Park 26 and pass by Karen Rolton Oval. We pass more ovals before taking an overpass across Henley Beach Road into Ellis/Tampawardli Park 25.  A sign of the effectiveness of Stay At Home in South Australia was the paucity of vehicles on this busy artery and later when we crossed Sir Donnie, an even busier road.

CJ has the lead and the plan, Carol has no idea where we are headed. Between my back and her foot, we're both soldering through one step at a time.  It's easier for me, I know where we're going.

The walk across Park 26 is a pleasant wooded winding walk along a pathway through ancient (some dead or dying) trees. The western boundary is the north-south train tracks. Toward West Terrace are Adelaide High School, sports fields, tennis courts, and a fitness park.

After crossing Sir Donald Bradman Road, we enter G S Kingston/Wirrarninthi Park 24, the southernmost of the western parklands. We get a taste of the Wirrarninthi Environmental Education Trail.  We resolve to return and explore it on a future walk

Our destination is the West Terrace Cemetery. On his bike the road into it seemed very short.  Walking, it appears a lot longer.  It is half way across Park 24.

West Terrace Cemetery is part of the original City of Adelaide Plan laid out by Colonel William Light in 1836.  The earliest gravesite we discover is from the 1860's.

The West Terrace Cemetery is South Australia's oldest cemetery, first appearing on Colonel William Light's 1837 plan of Adelaide. The 68 acre site is located in the Adelaide Park Lands just south-west of the Adelaide city centre, between West Terrace, Anzac Highway, Sir Donald Bradman Drive and the Seaford and Belair railway lines. Originally known as the Adelaide Public Cemetery, it is divided into a number of sections for various communities and faiths, including two Catholic areas, as well as Jewish, Afghan, Islamic and Quaker sections.

We zigzag through the cemetery taking in the sights. Italian tombstones are the largest and most ornate.  Greek tombstones with their Greek writing the most interesting.  From afar, the rows of identical headstones identify the military section. One of the more interesting sections to us was the Afghan section, primarily camel drivers from the last century.

 

 

 

 

Now we must return.  The walk is already over 2.5 miles.