Fabulous heritage fashion parade

200 years of glamourous gowns

Saturday 15 May • Ayers House Museum Join

See pages 18-19.

DR DARREN PEACOCK

With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, life is returning to a new normal at many of our places and visitor numbers are particularly strong in regional areas.

We marked the New Year with the completion of major restoration works on our newest property, the North Adelaide Baptist Church. In celebration, we staged our first music performance within the church, with the amazing Artaria presenting a stunning program that showcased the brilliant acoustic of the space to the delight of a sell-out crowd. We have now also resumed weekly lunchtime concerts in the church hall, presented in conjunction with Recitals Australia.

New events at Stangate House in the Adelaide Hills, including monthly open gardens and a special Valentine’s Day picnic celebration, have introduced this magnificent garden to many first-time visitors. Collingrove in the Barossa Valley hosted its second wellness weekend retreat in February and will host further music events including a special Mother’s Day performance.

Widespread community outrage over plans to demolish the former Waite Gatehouse lodge at Urrbrae finally led to a backdown from the State Government after more than 1,000 people rallied to prevent its demolition and to force a rethink by the transport department. Thank you to those who supported the cause and reminded the government of its responsibilities to protect our heritage.

Regrettably, in March the State Government proceeded to implement its new Planning and Design Code, which will impact everyone, without genuine public consultation on its provisions. The lax regulation of development and the weakening of existing heritage protections under the code threaten further losses of historic buildings, trees and open space to make way for high density development, as well as removing community rights to know about or to appeal proposed developments.

The consequences will be felt for decades to come as our urban environment loses more of its historic character, trees and greenspace and the community loses its voice in planning policy and development decisions. The Trust will continue to campaign for better heritage and tree protections, and for restoration of community and landholder rights in planning and development decisions.

May brings South Australia’s History Festival, with events across the State that encourage people to get out and explore our history and heritage. Our Pioneer Women’s Trail Walk from Hahndorf to Beaumont is an annual highlight, but you can find dozens more events in the What’s On section of this issue. We look forward to seeing you out and about enjoying our heritage!

Contents

4 HERITAGE AT RISK

Saving the Gatehouse

The battle to save Urrbrae gatehouse lodge

6 TREES South Australia’s 2021 Tree of the Year Help save our trees

8 URBAN

9 HERITAGE AT RISK

10 HERITAGE TOURISM

12 AUSTRALIAN ARTISAN TRADES ACADEMY Capturing a heritage painting masterclass