Dismay as historic SA school house faces bulldozers
A 19th-century schoolhouse in the eastern suburbs faces the wrecking ball – only months after locals were told it was safe from demolition.
An 1840s schoolhouse in Kensington is set to be knocked over after the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters assessment panel approved its demolition, despite the same panel having rejected its demolition just months earlier.
Those lobbying for it to be saved claiming it was a case of “demolition by neglect”.
Built in 1847, the property is the oldest existing example of a Congregationalist school. In 1856, school master Septimus Webster occupied the building and advertised for students at Kensington Elementary School.
It comes after around 30 people attended a free history talk about the schoolhouse at The Rising Sun Inn last night, hosted by historian and cultural heritage consultant Denise Schumann and Dunstan Greens state election candidate Dr Christel Mex.
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A demolition application to bulldoze 69 High Street, Kensington, which is a local heritage building, was lodged on 17 February 2025, with the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters assessment panel considering the application on three occasions.
On May 19, 2025, the panel deferred deciding to seek additional information.
Then, on October 20, 2025, the assessment panel rejected the demolition application.
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The decision came despite engineers and town planners claiming the render-clad double brick building had become so dilapidated that it should be razed.
On December 15, a “compromise proposal” was approved but remains “in confidence” as it was part of an appeal process to the Environment, Resources and Development Court.
There has been widespread concern among the local community over the imminent loss of the historic building.
Kensington Residents Association members were among six objectors to the original demolition application.
Roger Bryson, who is president of the Kensington Residents’ Association, was not optimistic that the schoolhouse could still be saved.
He was unsure when the schoolhouse would be demolished but believed it was imminent.
Bryson said the Kensington Residents’ Association led the charge to save the building and claimed it is an example of demolition by neglect.
“Very, very sadly, no significant work of any kind had been done on the property; it has not been cared for, and it has just slowly run down over the years,” he said.
Bryson told InDaily that he wanted to see the protection of local heritage alongside grand state heritage buildings.
“It’s all part of Adelaide’s history, and Kensington has a large number of local heritage buildings, and we want all of them cared for,” he said.
Asked about the decision to grant approval “in confidence”, Bryson called for equal rights between those wanting to demolish a heritage building and those opposed.
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Greens Dunstan candidate Christel Mex agreed, saying there must be a balance between protecting heritage and the rights of property owners. Mex has been advocating for the protection of the schoolhouse alongside community groups.
“It’s a tension between the common good – heritage protection – so that everybody can enjoy it and appreciate it versus private property rights, and I believe the new planning laws are skewed towards the rights of property owners,” she said.
Mex, who is on leave as a councillor at the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters, said she excused herself from the assessment panel which made the decision on the building’s fate, adding that she believes councils have been locked out of the planning system.
“I think heritage protection keeps South Australia’s history in the forefront, and it shows people the architecture and the way of life of the past,” she said.
“Kensington is very unique. It was the first settlement outside of Adelaide that was approved, a little bit older than Norwood, even.
“Much of its high street is still intact, and 69 High Street, it was built in the 1840s, and it’s one of the earliest schoolhouses in the colony.”
A spokesperson for the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters said the Council Assessment Panel’s decision was informed in part by a series of engineering reports relating to the structural adequacy of the existing dwelling.
“As with any application, the Council Assessment Panel gave detailed consideration to the compromise proposal, which consisted of further information,” she said.
“Ultimately, when considered against the relevant provisions of the Planning and Design Code, the panel determined that the application warranted planning consent and advised the Environment Resources and Development Court of its position accordingly.”
Dunstan Liberal candidate Anna Finizio, who recently shared concerns about the demolition online, claimed Labor has “taken a wrecking ball to our park lands and heritage buildings”.
“Only the Liberals have a plan to save the character of our suburbs, which includes re-establishing and maintaining the Heritage Conservation Grants Fund, introducing powers to require the remediation of derelict local heritage buildings and restoring funding for greener neighbourhoods,” she said.
“We will seek World Heritage Protection of the Adelaide Park Lands and invest $10 million in the environmental restoration of Linear Park. These environmental assets are the heart of our community.”
Dunstan Labor MP Cressida O’Hanlon said her community “is home to a significant amount of heritage sites” and that she had been “a fierce advocate for character preservation across Dunstan”.
“I’ve been staunchly opposed to the demolition of the old schoolhouse in Kensington and have been fighting alongside the Kensington Residents Association to try and block this,” she said.
In response to Finizio’s advocacy for the schoolhouse, O’Hanlon claimed that “this is another example of my Liberal opponent arriving late to the party on an issue I’ve been working to address with my government colleagues”.
“Both the Premier and the Planning Minister Nick Champion have met with the Kensington Residents Association to identify ways to protect heritage in our suburbs,” she said.
“As a result of my advocacy and the advocacy of our community, Minister Champion has written to the State Planning Commission to investigate tougher heritage controls for buildings like this.”
She also noted that the Malinauskas Labor government has provided significant funding for the inter-war heritage code amendment, which has seen 30 more properties in Dunstan receive heritage protection.
