Have your say about the future of South Australia’s oldest national park

Belair Nation­al Park – South Australia’s first nation­al park – is turn­ing 130 this year and its evo­lu­tion is set to con­tin­ue with the prospect of even more ways to enjoy its open space.

Sit­u­at­ed only 25 km from Adelaide’s city cen­tre, the park has under­gone a num­ber of phased upgrades over the past decade and now the site of the for­mer Belair Golf Course and Coun­try Club is set to be reimagined.

The 51-hectare site was reclaimed in 2018 with the vision to increase the array of activ­i­ties already being offered, and to meet the needs of future gen­er­a­tions of park users.

Here’s every­thing you need to know, includ­ing how you can have a say:

What’s already on offer at Belair Nation­al Park?

Not only does Belair Nation­al Park wel­come its local com­mu­ni­ty and its fur­ry friends on a dai­ly basis, for many Ade­laid­i­ans the park is a spe­cial place where friends and fam­i­ly come togeth­er and mem­o­ries are made.

Its unique­ness may well be attrib­uted to it being home to Old Gov­ern­ment House and the State Flo­ra nurs­ery, but it also con­tains 39 ten­nis courts, horse rid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and a diver­si­ty of land­scapes rang­ing from wood­lands, water­falls, lakes, creeks and geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions to discover.

If you’ve not been to Belair Nation­al Park, dis­cov­er it with these 10 things to see and do.

What’s being proposed?

A draft mas­ter plan was released in ear­ly Feb­ru­ary, which guides infra­struc­ture upgrades and access for all in the for­mer golf precinct.

The draft mas­ter plan was devel­oped in con­sul­ta­tion with a Belair Com­mu­ni­ty Ref­er­ence Group to ensure the future use of this precinct meets the community’s expec­ta­tions and the objec­tives for the park.

Key fea­tures of the draft mas­ter plan includes:

• removal of the Belair Func­tion Cen­tre, fol­low­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion of numer­ous unsuc­cess­ful man­age­ment options
• a new home ground to be estab­lished for Sturt Lions Foot­ball Club on up to 10 hectares of the south­ern bound­ary of the precinct
• the short-term lease of a local moun­tain bike hire and skills train­ing busi­ness to oper­ate from the old club­house in the precinct
• a new shared-use trail and propos­ing a moun­tain bike flow and jump trails to sup­port a grow­ing inter­est in this recre­ation­al activity.

An amend­ment to the Belair Nation­al Park Man­age­ment Plan is also pro­posed to facil­i­tate greater enjoy­ment through tourist accom­mo­da­tion, her­itage and recre­ation­al use.

Since the mas­ter plan was released, a large amount of feed­back has been col­lect­ed on the var­i­ous pro­pos­als, pri­mar­i­ly through the Your­SAy web­site.

Your voice counts

The Your­SAy web­site is where you can share your thoughts or find out a bit more about what’s being pro­posed at the for­mer Belair Golf Course precinct.

Every voice counts, so don’t delay – join an online dis­cus­sion, com­plete a sur­vey or get up to speed with the fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions. You have until 5 pm, Tues­day 4 May.

Bet­ter still, head along to Belair Nation­al Park between 1 pm and 3 pm on Sat­ur­day 20 March for the sec­ond com­mu­ni­ty drop-in ses­sion. You’ll be able to speak with park staff to find out more, or share your thoughts of the draft mas­ter plan.

When will I know what has been decided?

Belair Nation­al Park has such a close con­nec­tion with so many South Aussies so care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion and con­sul­ta­tion is being under­tak­en to help guide the next stages of upgrades.

It’s expect­ed that an out­line of what we have heard will be avail­able in late May on the Your­SAy website.

Love Belair Nation­al Park? Plan your next vis­it with thisitin­er­ary, brought to you by ranger Brent Lores.