Discover how and when to visit our city’s most interesting places, from parks and gardens to historic homes, galleries, museums and arboretum.
Belair National Park and Old Government House
Belair National Park is South Australia’s oldest national park and is home to Old Government House, a significant heritage building set in pristine bushland. Just 25 minutes from Adelaide city centre, it’s the ideal place to get active in the great outdoors, with lakes, walking and mountain biking trails to explore. It’s also one of the few less-disturbed areas of native vegetation in the Adelaide hills, making it an important refuge for native plants and animals.
Carrick Hill
You can find the historic property of Carrick Hill in the foothills suburb of Springfield. This magnificent historic home is surrounded by 40ha of manicured gardens and native bushland. The property’s open to the public and offers incredible views over Adelaide.
Colebrook Reconciliation Park
Colebrook Blackwood Reconciliation Park, located on Shepherds Hill Road (next to Karinya Reserve) at Eden Hills, is where the Colebrook Home once stood. Colebrook Reconciliation Park is now a memorial to the Aboriginal children and their families of the Stolen Generation and their families. Through the efforts of the Colebrook Tjitji Tjuta, the Blackwood Reconciliation Group, the Aboriginal Lands Trust, and other groups and agencies, to remember the Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generation, the 'Fountain of Tears' and the 'Grieving Mother' statues, sculpted by Silvio Apponyi, have been created.
For information on Colebrook Tji Tji Tjuta and the Blackwood Reconciliation Group please email blackwoodreconciliationgroup@gmail.com, visit @BlackwoodReconciliationGroup or contact Yvonne Caddy 0421 857 471.
Gardens
Our city is home to many beautiful gardens offering recreation and volunteering opportunities for the community.
Originally owned by the Gamble family, the Gamble sisters gave the Cottage to the City of Mitcham in 1982 for public use. Managed by the Friends of Gamble Garden, the garden is open at all times to the public. Gamble Garden is located at 296 Main Road (cnr Dorham Road), Blackwood.
The Scented Gardens was opened in 1986 as a South Australian sesquicentenary (150 years) project. The garden has raised beds and wide paths to provide easy access for disabled people to enjoy the aromas, flowers and foliage of the plants. A nose sculpture, created by Neil Cranney, is a distinctive feature of the garden.
Located behind the Mitcham Memorial Library at 150 Belair Road in Hawthorn. The garden is open at all times and is accessible for wheelchairs and specially designed for people with a visual impairment. Free carparking is available behind the garden.
Nellie's Garden is located at the Mitcham Railway Station, Belair Road, Lower Mitcham (opposite the Council Civic Centre).
A carpark is available or visitors can travel by train to the Mitcham station.
The garden is open at all times and admission is free. The garden is maintained by enthusiastic volunteers working together. New volunteers are welcome call 8372 8802.
Sutton Gardens is located on the corner of Albert Street and Old Belair Road next to Mitcham Reserve in Mitcham. The garden is open at all times and admission is free. A carpark is available for parking.
Fourteen Carrara marble sculptures depicting the Stations of the Cross form the centrepiece of the Sacred Garden at the Glen Osmond Monastery at 15 Cross Road, Urrbrae.
Wittunga Botanic Garden is a popular place for family gatherings, and the shady lawns next to the lakeside make it a perfect place for picnics.
Located in Blackwood off Shepherds hill Road Wittunga was established by Mr Edwin Ashby in 1902. It was generously given to the State by his son Mr Keith Ashby and family in 1965, and was first opened to the public in 1975.
Visit the Botanic Gardens of South Australia to discover more about the garden
Historic sites and locations
The historic Mitcham Water Works are located on Ellison Creek, within the Brown Hill Creek catchment. Built in 1879, these Water Works supplied water to the village of Mitcham and supplemented the water supplies of Unley and Adelaide. Today the Mitcham Water Works are a rare example of mid-nineteenth century technology for harnessing and reticulating water.
The Water Works were rediscovered in 2002 during a heritage survey by the Hills Face Zone Cultural Heritage Project.
An excavation by students from the Department of Archaeology, Flinders University and volunteers from the City of Mitcham's Mitcham Heritage Research Centre, during National Archaeology Week 2010, documented the 137,000 litre brick well, value tank and settling pond. The weir was not located.
Four kilometres of six inch iron pipe imported from Scotland connected the Water Works to the Mitcham Tank, a large water storage tank at the end of Fullarton Road, Springfield. Exposures of pipe along this route were recorded in 2002 by A. Ash, during a Flinders University student project and new exposures resulting from heavy rain during 2010 were documented in April 2011.
Read the Mitcham Water Works field work summary
The Mitcham Tank is listed on the South Australian Register of Heritage Places, but the rest of the complex, including the brick well, valve tank and pipeline are not included on either the state or local heritage registers. In 2010 the Mitcham Water Works were nominated by the City of Mitcham for inclusion on the South Australian Register of Heritage Places.
The small tin building between the Community Shed and the Mitcham Heritage Research Centre at the Mitcham Cultural Village contained the original Mitcham Police Station cells.
It is believed that the police cell and a stable building (demolished many years ago) were relocated from Belair Police Station to the Mitcham Police Station’s rented premises in 1883. The cell was relocated again when the new police station in Princes Road opened in 1892. In 1920 it was divided into two single cells.
Police cells at district police stations like Mitcham and Belair were mostly used for overnight or weekend holding before court appearances. Arrests were for petty crimes such as drunk and disorderliness and theft. Following arrest, prisoner’s details were entered in the Charge Book and belts, shoelaces, ties and matches were removed from offenders. Offenders too drunk to walk were carried to the cell and then searched. As the cells were in close proximity to the police residence, drunk and abusive prisoners would often shout out and bang on the cell door for attention.
Police cells at the rear of suburban and regional police stations were common in Adelaide at that time and were built to a standard design. Cells were sometimes relocated to different sites as needs changed. The Mitcham Police cells were strengthened with two layers of galvanised iron to prevent damage from disorderly offenders; the timber floor boards were laid directly on the ground and a crude built-in wooden bench served as the bed. Offenders were issued with one thin grey blanket during their stay.
The police cells were restored by removing many layers of paint, installing a new heritage galvanised steel roof, removing non-original shelving and reinstating the internal galvanised steel dividing wall. The cells were painted in their original colours, revealed once the paint layers were removed. Mitcham Community Shed volunteers John McLean and Uber Karsens spent many hours restoring the original cell doors, damaged by weather exposure. As much of the original timber as possible was retained, with new hardwood sections spliced in.
The police cell is open for display Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm and other times by arrangement.
Windy Point offers views of the Adelaide hills and coast, and is a favourite with tourists and locals. You can access Windy Point from the main road, which provides excellent photo opportunities.
Museums
You can find Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) on the main Flinders University campus at Bedford Park, 12km south of Adelaide. The museum hosts one of the state’s largest public art collections, with a program of exhibitions showcasing historical and contemporary works by Australian and international artists. FUMA presents thematic and solo exhibitions on the Bedford Park campus and in regional and national venues, regularly featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and curators.
The Museum is an enduring reminder of veteran history and culture of the Daw Park Repatriation and General Hospital through the preservation and exhibition of objects of historical importance to the hospital and veterans. Fascinating curios include the padlock from the gate at Changi Prison, World War II food rations, and Cheer Up Club memorabilia.
Built in 189, Urrbrae House is the historic heart of the University of Adelaide's Waite campus and an accredited museum. It’s the first home in Adelaide to have electric lights, and a refrigeration system installed in 1895. The heritage-listed house was originally the home of Peter and Matilda Waite, who gifted the house to the University.
Winn's Bakehouse was built in 1860 and operated as a bakehouse until the 1940's (with breaks at the end of World War I and in the 1920s). Today it is an historical museum owned by the City of Mitcham and managed by the Coromandel and District National Trust. It features artefacts and photographs illustrating the lifestyle of the Valley from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s. Artefacts include clothing, tools of trades, glassware and china.
Waite Arboretum
The Waite Arboretum occupies 27 hectares and contains about 2,500 specimens. It represents more than 800 species in 200 genera, growing under natural rainfall of 624 mm per year. You can wander around the Waite Arboretum; it’s free to the public and open every day of the year from dawn to dusk, except on fire ban days in the metropolitan and Mt Lofty Ranges fire districts.