The first Green Map in the southern hemisphere was launched in Rundle Mall, Adelaide as part of World Environment Day celebrations on 5 June 1998. Adelaide City Council Lord Mayor, the Right Hon Dr Jane Lomax-Smith, State Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Aboriginal Affairs, the Hon Dorothy Kotz MP and UEA Vice Convener Chérie Hoyle all spoke at the launch, with over a thousand of Adelaide's Green Maps given out on the day.

The Green Map System

Welcome to the Green Map System, a globally designed strategy for promoting and linking environmental resources within cities.

The Green Map charts our City's significant Green Sites, so that we as well as visitors will be able to discover new ways to live more sustainably and together assist progress.

Within communities throughout the world a unique mix of ecologically oriented, socially responsible places, resources, systems, businesses and projects (Green Sites) have begun to flourish. There are more of them right here in our City than you might think!

Our Green Map is not just promoting the signiciant eco-resources in our City, it is linked together with all the other Green Map cities collectively progressing toward sustainability.

People will become aware of resources they never knew existed in their communities, and will see how particular environmental challenges are being addressed in the next town, or in cities across the globe.

Adelaide's Green Map will encourage others to adopt and replicate our City's successful projects and initiatives.

The Green Map System Web Page can be viewed at www.greenmap.com.

The Green Map System and Local Agenda 21

At the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Australia together with over a hundred other countries agreed on Agenda 21 - an agenda for the 21st Century.

Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 requires municipalities throughout the world to work with communities to prepare their own Local Agenda 21.

The Green Map process demonstrates a joint community and government initiative which aims to raise awareness about urban environmental issues.

The Green Map process is an example of the partnerships advocated in the City of Adelaide's Environmental Management Plan - Local Agenda 21, which was adptopted in December 1996. This plan outlines Adelaide City Council's Environment Policy and its vision for the protection and enhancement of the City environment.

Urban Ecology Australia, the registered organisation for coordinating Green Maps in South Australia has been working in partnership with the City of Adelaide and the State Government Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs (DEHAA) to produce the City of Adelaide's Green Map. A series of Community Worshops were held in July/August 1997. People were invited to bring their diverse experiences of the City together in creating the Green Map.

The Kaurna

(pronounced "garna")

The Kaurna people occupied the Adelaide Plains area at the time of South Australia's establishment as a British colony in 1836. At this time the Kaurna people occupied the area from Cape Jervis, south of present day Adelaide, to Crystal Brook in the north, bounded on the east by the Mount Lofty Ranges and in the west by Gulf Saint Vincent.

The Kaurna people did not have a large population when white settlement occurred, but have continued to grow, with several thousand people able to trace their hertiage back to ancestors from the Adelaide Plains area.

In 1989 the Adelaide-based Aboriginal Cultural Institute called the Tandanya Centre was opened. The word Tandanya refers to the site just south of Adelaide associated with the Red Kangeroo Dreaming ancestor. The Tandanya clan of the Kaurna people was named after the red kangaroo and the clan's main totem was the emu. These animals are incorporated in the footpath mosaic created outside the entrance to the Centre by Bluey Roberts.

The Tandanya Centre (site 44) should be contacted for further information on sites of significance to the Aboriginal people.

References:

Tindale, N B. The Aboriginal Tribes of Australia. Canberra, 1974.

Hemming, S. "Kaurna" Identity: A Brief History.

The Design of Adelaide

The Founder of Adelaide - Colonel Willam Light

The founding of the City of Adelaide and the Colony of South Australia occurred in 1836.

Colonel William Light was appointed Surveyor General of the Colony in London, January 1836, and sailed on The Rapid for South Australia.

The position of Surveyor General was extremely important and it imposed on Light the responsibility for choosing the site of the new settlement and particularly that of the capital City. Not only did he have to select the site and lay it out, but he had to conduct the larger task of surveying the country round it. He quickly made his choice and laid out the site in what has been regarded as a pioneering effort in town planning.

The City of Adelaide Plan

The plan Light prepared for the City has left Adelaide with a distinctive pattern of streets, squares and parklands. The plan and subsquent development have contributed to the traditional character of Adelaide, elements of which include:

• the separation of town acres and park lands.
• the street grid pattern.
• the conservation of many early buildings.

There are some 2000 heritage listed properties in the City and North Adelaide.

City of Adelaide Park Lands and Indigenous Fauna

The Adelaide Park Lands are probably the most distinctive feature of the City plan and are of world importance as an urban park system.

The total area of Park Lands at the time of the Colonel Light plan was 930 hectares (2,300 acres). Today, recreational and road access comprise some 807 hectares, while the balance of 123 hectares are used for institutional, service and cultural purposes.

The City Council which has the responsibility for the majority of the Park Lands aims to maintain a balance between the demands of diverse recreation, sporting and cultural activities in the Park Lands and the goal of enhancing the natural environment and restoring the indigenous vegetation to create a habitat for indigenous fauna and flora.

Although the Park Lands environment has been much changed by settlement, the reestablishment of habitats for indigenous fauna has resulted in a large number of bird species returning to the area. In recent years some 65 species have been identified in the Park Lands, 45 of which are believed to breed here.

Only two of the original 24 species of mammal indigenous to the Adelaide region are still found in the City. These are the common brushtail possum and the water rat.

If you are looking for reptiles, you may spot a blue tongue lizard or the eastern brown snake, particularly along the creek lines. Similarly the waterways are home to a variety of frogs, including the marsh frog, the bull frog and the brown tree frog.

The Flora of the City of Adelaide

Historical Records

It is believed that the great Black Forest which covered a large part of the southern Adelaide Plains extended into the site of the CBD. There are several descriptions which are extremely valuable in working out what the forest looked like in the first few years of settlement. These best of these, in the Adelaide Observer, 1 January 1887, reveals the possible extent of the forest.

All accounts agree as to the luxuriance of the kangaroo grass, the native flowers and the fine trees that ornamented the Adelaide Plains. The Black Forest was a dense wood.

It is likely that a low woodland of grey box (the sombre bark of which gave rise to the name Black Forest), South Australian blue gum and drooping sheoak was found in the vicinity of South Adelaide. It is known that a mass of wattles covered the City site. These would have been principally golden wattle (the floral emblem of South Australia). Their abundance may have been due to the firing activities of the indigenous people. Kangaroo grass was abundant at the town site and settlers refer vaguely to a vivid pea (presumably running postman). It is reported that one of the Myoporum species, the water bush, was quite common.

It is also believed that the remaining western areas of the CBD once comprised a low woodland of mallee box, but there could have been some intermingling between the plant species.

Native plants collected in the City of Adelaide by Ferdinand Von Mueller between 1847 and 1852, and by Charles Sturt in 1847 include: orchids - pink fingers and pink fairies; climbing sundew and scented sundew; common cranes bill; clasping goodenia and cut-leaf goodenia; common buttercup; fan flower and the lily - early nancy or bulls eye.

A related group of SA blue gum and river red gum followed the River Torrens through the City, native lilac, common buttercup and billy buttons growing on the banks, with Pragmites australis the predominant reed.

In North Adelaide, river red gums reportedly reached Montefiore Hill. Substantial stands of southern Cypress pine grew to the north of North Adelaide and mallee box extended throughout. A collection of understorey plants included: vanilla and bulbine lillies; milkmaids; variable swainson pea and lavender grevillea.

Contemporary Records

The West Terrace Cemetery still holds examples of the original vegetation. Umbrella bush and golden wattle are still there, as is the quondong and native apricot (not edible). A small number of remnant mallee box and southern Cypress pine are still to be found in the Park Lands around North Adelaide.

The State Herbarium collection (site 77) supports accurate scientific identification and documentation of the original flora of the City. Further information and illustrations can be found in Dashorst and Jessop 1990 Plants of the Adelaide Plains and Hills.

A significant revegetation program of indigenous species is being undertaken by the Adelaide City Council in partnership with community groups.

The Adelaide Plains Flora Association is active in raising community awareness about indigenous vegetation. Association members, partlcularly local resident Michael Sando, are involved in plant survey and identification.

The above information can be found in Darrell N Kraehenbuehl's comprehensive book Pre-European Vegetation of Adelaide - A Survey from the Gawler River to Hallett Cove. The practical educative work of Waldo Bushman, Wirra - The Bush that Was Adelaide, must also be acknowledged.

Waterways in the City of Adelaide

The City of Adelaide forms part of both the Torrens and Patawalonga water catchments. Stormwater from North Adelaide and the northern portion of the City forms part of the Patawalonga catchment through drainage to Keswick Creek and the Park Lands Creek

The Torrens River and Lake

The Torrens Lake is not a natural waterway. Over many years there have been programs to create permanent recreation lakes out of a series of intermittent streams. The Torrens Weir, to the west of the City, was designed and constructed in 1881. A fixed weir of this type checks stream velocity and results in silting. In 1997 the Council commenced a dredging program to clean up the bed of the lake to remove sediment build up and pollutants from the upstream catchment.

Credits for the original paper version of this Green Map

Published June 1998 by the Adelaide City Council.

The City of Adelaide was assisted by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs (South Australia) and Urban Ecology Australia.

The information depicted on the map was correct to the best knowledge of the producers at the time of printing.

The map was printed on recycled paper.