Pollies’ favourite places in South Australia
Several of South Australia’s political and design heavyweights have shared their favourite spots in the state ahead of next month’s Place SA Festival.
Organised by the Australian Institute of Architects SA chapter, the festival will celebrate the state’s great places and explore what makes them so meaningful for the people who live here.
It features a number of thoughtful and thought-provoking events, including talks by architecture experts on the importance of art to our urban fabric, and an art installation at a South Road tram stop.
To promote the festival, the AIA is running Take Your Place, a competition calling for people to submit a three-minute video about their favourite place in South Australia. Below, Premier Jay Weatherill, State Opposition Leader Steven Marshall, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects SA president Tanya Court and Australian Institute of Architects SA president Steve Grieve tell InDaily Design their favourite SA Places.
Premier Jay Weatherill
There is place just out of Penola in the south-east I quite enjoy visiting; it has a beautiful old forest of gum trees.
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In the late afternoon the sight of the trees and the birds is really beautiful and soothing.
It just feels simultaneously magnificent and beautiful, and is somewhere I really enjoy going with the family for walk.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall
A family tradition for many years is to take my two children to Kangaroo Island during the summer holidays. It really is a South Australian gem where we can unwind and relax in the natural surroundings.
It’s a place where I can get together with family and friends and spend quality time with them – whether it’s at the beach, on a bushwalk or in the kitchen cooking up a seafood feast.
Whenever I’m at Kangaroo Island I feel so much more connected to nature. The pristine beaches and native bushland offer endless daytime activities. It’s a place that’s so close to home, yet when I’m there it feels like I’m a world away.
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Many international tourists describe Kangaroo Island as a world-class destination and I agree. The wilderness and coastline have been carefully preserved, and there are so many great things to do on the island. You can get a close look at the penguins, sea lions and seals, koalas and, of course, kangaroos.
Australian Institute of Landscape Architects SA president Tanya Court
Port Noarlunga is my favourite beach close enough to Adelaide for a day trip. The recent redevelopment provides greatly improved facilities for beachgoers. The new surf club is one of the best spots to eat on the gulf with that amazing outdoor deck. My daughter Eloise and I have had many great summer beach days here but have also experienced how the beach really comes alive during surf lifesaving carnival days.
Once you get there, you never want to leave. You can never get bored. The beach character has many aspects and provides for a variety of activities including snorkelling on the reef, walking up to the mouth of the Onkaparinga, exploring the geology, just hanging out in the shade of the jetty on a really hot day or watching the wedding parties having their photos taken. It is so well connected to the township that we usually end the day grabbing fish and chips, and watch the sun go down before heading back into the city.
Australian Institute of Architects SA president Steve Grieve
My favourite place at the moment is probably Ebenezer Place – particularly the small piazza outside Nano’s in the east end. It has taken a long time for Ebenezer to work well but now it’s improving weekly, with new owner-managed businesses adding to the vitality.
It’s important to me because I’ve been banging on about what makes great urban spaces for years and this one ticks many of the boxes. It’s sunny, reasonably well sheltered and its edges are really well activated – one, in particular, by one of the cleverest businesses in the CBD, Nano’s.
Having lived, worked and played in the east end a lot during the last 30 years and seen the incremental changes, the highs and the lows, this place is important because it’s become a great meeting place. It’s not that I arrange to meet people there as such, it’s just that whenever I go there I always meet someone I know.
To submit your own video go to http://www.placesa.com.au/take-your-place-2013/. Submissions close 30 September.
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