Warriparinga
Warriparinga, also spelt Warriparingga, is a nature reserve comprising in the metropolitan suburb of Bedford Park, in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Also known as Fairford, Laffer's Triangle, and the Sturt Triangle, Warriparinga is bordered by Marion Road, Sturt Road, and South Road, and is traversed by the Sturt River as it exists from Sturt Gorge to travel west across the Adelaide Plains.
It has historical, cultural and environmental significance as a traditional Kaurna ceremonial meeting place and as a site of early European settlement. Culturally, Warriparinga has particular significance to the Kaurna people through its association with the Tjilbruke Dreaming story and as the beginning of the Tjilbruke Trail. An interpretive museum, the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre is located on the site and recognises this tradition. The area also has historical significance as an early European settlement site, as it was settled in the 1840s soon after the establishment of South Australia. A heritage-listed farmhouse remains on the site, having remained essentially unchanged after modifications were made in the 1920s, and the land contains grape vines and fruit trees planted by the early settlers.
In 1998 the site was redeveloped as a native wetland. Stocked with native vegetation and fish, the wetland was designed to filter water from the Sturt River before it reached the Patawalonga River.
Geography and location
Bounded by Sturt Road to the north, Marion Road to the west, and South Road to the south east, Warriparinga is part of a triangular section of land located in the southern Adelaide suburb of Bedford Park in the City of Marion. The site is traversed by the Sturt River which emerges from Sturt Gorge to enter Warriparinga as it starts to make its way along the Adelaide Plains, eventually joining the Patawalonga River. A portion of the Sturt River's flow is diverted on the site to form the Warriparinga Wetlands, while the river runs along a concrete drain once it leaves Warriparinga and continues in this vein until it joins the Patawalonga in Glenelg North.Pre-European settlement
Prior to European settlement, Warriparinga played a significant role in the traditions of the local Kaurna people – Warriparinga is the gateway to the Tjilbruke Dreaming, which relates the story of how many of the springs south of Adelaide were formed. Warriparinga was also a camping ground for the indigenous population, with kangaroos, emus and wallabies in the area, along with supplies of native food. Evidence of the traditional uses of the land includes a scarred tree, possibly used to make a shield or dish, and a number of scatter sites in the area where archaeologists have found aboriginal implements.Tjilbruke Dreaming
In the Dreaming, Tjilbruke's nephew, Kulultuwi, joined Tjilbruke and his half brothers, Jurawi and Tetjawi, on a hunt. Tjilbruke became separated from his nephews as he followed the tracks of an emu, returning to discover that Kulultuwi had killed the emu that Tjilbruke had been hunting. This was against local law, as the emu now belonged to Tjilbruke. Kulultuwi apologised, and, accepting his apology, Tjilbruke continued on his journey.With Tjilbruke gone, Kulultuwi was slain by his half brothers, on the grounds that Kulultuwi had broken the law by killing Tjilbruke's emu. They then bore his body to Warriparinga, where they intended to prepare it for burial. Tjilbruke came looking for Kulultuwi, and, determining that Kulultuwi had been murdered by his half brothers, killed Jurawi and Tetjawi at the site. Picking up his nephew's body, Tjilbruke carried him south to Patparno for burial, resting at various locations along the path. Where he rested his tears created freshwater springs, and, after Kulultuwi was buried, Tjilbruke's body turned to iron pyrite as his grief led him to choose to give up life as a man. With the death of his body, his spirit transformed into a glossy ibis – a motif that is featured in many aspects of Warriparinga today.
Post-European settlement
After the establishment of the City of Adelaide, the land was granted to George Fife Angas in 1839. Named after a local ford, "Fairford" consisted of land and a single-roomed cottage. In 1843 George Angas leased the site to William Henry Trimmer. Trimmer worked the land for many years, eventually purchasing the site from the South Australian Company in 1862 for the sum of £1,118.Under Trimmer's custodianship, Fairford was developed to include over of vineyards – incorporating Gouais, Verdelho, Black Portugal and Grenache varieties – and various fruit trees. Trimmer became a respected viticulturist, eventually taking on the role of Treasurer for the South Australian Vinegrowers' Association, although his "addiction to his own vintage" was to result in health problems later in life. During this time the house was extended and a coach house was added to the property in the 1860s – it is suggested by Dolling that these improvements may have been designed by colonial architect,, Edmund Wright.
Upon Trimmer's death in 1867, the property was passed to Trimmer's wife, Eliza Catherine Trimmer, and Edward Amand Wright, before being sold to Henry Laffer in 1876. Henry Laffer continued farming the land, although his son, Albert, chose to focus more on fruit trees than vineyards and grazing. The house was also modified during this period, with significant alterations occurring in the 1890s and again in 1923, at which point it took the form that it retains today – that of a 1920s bungalow.
The Laffer family remained on the property for 112 years, earning it the new name of "Laffer's Triangle".
Development
Over the years the property was considered for a number of projects, and parts of the land have been sold to various commercial and government interests. Warriparinga has been considered as the site for a number of major developments, such as the Marion Shopping Centre and Flinders Medical Centre – the latter moved because of concerns regarding a fault line that passes through the property, while the former was repositioned further west at the urging of both the investors and the Highways Department. Projects that did go ahead included a holiday park, a restaurant, call centres, a science park as part of the failed Multifunction Polis project, and the Sturt police station.Three of the recent developments resulted in controversy. The first of these, the 1991 rebuilding of the South Road bridge over the Sturt River, led to the formation of the Friends of Laffer's Triangle when a local resident noticed the damage that the construction had caused to the local environment. Environmental issues came to the fore during the planning of the Southern Expressway, along with concerns that the work would destroy a significant archaeological site at Warriparinga. A similar combination of concerns resulted in changes to the Ansett Australia Call Centre after it was proposed in 2000, as both environmental and cultural issues led to a number of protests against its construction, although, like the other two projects, the call centre was eventually completed on the site.
Renaming
Paul and Naomi Dixon started lobbying the Marion Council to protect the site in 1992, calling for the development of a "Warriparinga Interpretive Centre". Warriparinga, meaning "windy river place", was derived from a number of Kaurna names and variant spellings that have been recorded for the site, including Warri Parri, Warriparri, Warreparinga and Walpari.As a result, in the early 1990s, the Friends of Laffer's Triangle changed their name to Friends of Warriparinga. As the plans developed the name started to be applied to the entire project and, over time, the site as a whole. Eventually the name was formally accepted for the Warriparinga Reserve and the Warriparinga Wetlands, and today the name has almost entirely replaced the earlier terms.
Warriparinga Wetlands
The Warriparinga Wetlands was a combined project by the Marion Council, the Patawalonga Catchment Water Management Board and the Land Management Corporation, who provided the land that was required. Using a $1.7 million grant from the State Government, the wetlands were developed to filter water traveling along the Sturt River before it reached the Patawalonga.While the overall design was conducted by B C Tonkin and Associates, the project involved a number of bodies, and, as no archaeological study had been previously undertaken on the site, one was organised. In addition, given the cultural significance of the site to the Kaurna people, representatives from the Kaurna Aboriginal Community and Heritage Association were included in the reference group.
The final design consists of four ponds that are fed by water diverted from the Sturt River using a strategically placed fallen log. Native vegetation has been planted around the area, and incorporates native food sources and plants that were employed by the indigenous population for their fiber. The ponds were stocked with a number of fish that were native to the area, including southern black bream, bigheaded gudgeon, bridled goby and common galaxias.
Work started on the new wetlands in June, 1998, and was completed by December of that year. The wetlands were officially opened by John Olsen, the then Premier of South Australia, on 16 December 1998.