Adelaide Park Lands

The Adelaide Park Lands are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide from the surrounding suburbia of greater Metropolitan Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. They measure over 2,332 acres.The Park Lands were laid out by Colonel William Light in his design for the city. Originally, Light reserved over 2,332 acres for a park, including 32 acres for a public cemetery, and planned reserves for Government House, a hospital, market, school and storehouse. Part of the Park Lands are managed by the Adelaide City Council and, since February 2007, the Adelaide Park Lands Authority has advised council and government.On 7 November 2008 the Federal Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, announced that the Adelaide Park Lands had been entered in the Australian National Heritage List as "an enduring treasure for the people of South Australia and the nation as a whole".In fact, large areas of the Adelaide Park Lands along the north side of North Terrace were excluded from the Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout National Heritage Place listing, from the Adelaide Botanic Garden to the Thebarton Police Barracks.HistoryAdelaide is a planned city, and the Adelaide Park Lands are an integral part of Colonel William Light's 1837 plan. Light chose a site spanning the River Torrens, (which runs through the Park Lands), and planned the city to fit the topography of the landscape, 'on rising ground'.