Karrawirra - In Context

Text

We start this walk at the corner of Victoria Drive and Frome Rd, where we put Kjarrawirra (Park 12) in context. The Adelaide Park Lands are unique - the only circle built inside a park. The Park Lands are not a loop or circle, but a figure-8 wrapping around Adelaide & North Adelaide.

The Park Lands are divided up into 30 named and numbered Parks and 6 named squares. The Park numbers are based on the old 'land section' numbers.

Karrawirra (Park 12) usually refers to the area north of Victoria Drive but historically, much of the University precinct between North Terrace and Victoria Drive was once Park Lands as well. Land to the south-west of this corner, back to North Terrace gradually disappeared as Park Lands after the Adelaide University was founded in 1875.

The Mawson building on this corner was not opened until 1952. A Park Lands map of 1927 shows an oval here.

In the Kaurna language Karrawirra means Red Gum Forest, and the River Torrens is identified as Karrawirra Pari which means Red Gum Forest River.

Before European settlement the river (Karrawirra Pari) was important for the Kaurna people, providing food and hunting resources and in terms of its association with the Red Kangaroo Dreaming. One of the early survey maps refers to “crayfish found here.”