Light Electorate

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:33): I would like to use the few moments I have available to talk about a couple of matters relating to my electorate. The first thing I would like to talk about is an initiative being supported by the Munno Para Kindergarten, the Munno Para Primary School, the City of Playford and Renewal SA. We are also working closely with them to initiate a community market in the Munno Para area.

This is the older part of Munno Para, which is on the eastern side of Main North Road, not to be confused with the Munno Para that is part of the Playford Alive project. This area has not had a lot of public or private investment and, as a result, the community is doing it a bit tough. We have been working together as a group to see how we can support this community, as we are supporting a number of initiatives in the north together as well.

The purpose of the market is to give residents a place to meet and chat with other people in their local area while they browse through the various stalls. It is one of those old traditional community markets, often run in the old days by churches and other community organisations. It is designed to bring a sense of community, such as a traditional old town square community, providing a variety of items from fresh produce and home-baked food to bric-a-brac.

In addition, a number of emergency services will set up displays to educate people about community safety. A number of local service clubs will be involved not only to fundraise for their own purposes but also to promote what they do in the community and recruit some new members. The market is organised by the kindergarten, which has taken on the lead role. They are looking for stallholders, and we are working with them to find some for the market that will held on Saturday 2 September.

It will be badged as a Spring Market. The aim is to hold a market at the beginning of each season, so obviously we will then have one in summer, autumn, and winter. As it turns out, the market will be held the day before Father's Day, so it will be an ideal time for people in the community to buy that last-minute gift for dad. We are hoping to have the local Men's Sheds involved, as they make a number of items that can be sold to raise funds for their projects and they also make things available for the community.

I would like to put on record my thanks to the City of Playford and Renewal SA. Both organisations have provided financial support for this event, which is great to see. I would also like to acknowledge Life Church because the community market will be held in their car park in Currie Street. I should also acknowledge the fact that Life Church run a number of community programs without any financial support from the government. They use funds raised from their own church community and run a food event twice a week where they provide food for people who are doing it a bit tough. They run programs for bubs and mums and also men's projects. This project is doing some wonderful work in the Munno Para community, so it did not surprise me when they came on board to support this event.

Another thing I would like to bring to the attention of the parliament is the launch of a new book. I was proud to be invited last week to launch This'll Do. The book is written by Jeff Turner, a local resident, and he was assisted by Ms Anne Richards, history librarian at the Gawler Library. They have written about the stories of migrants who were housed and accommodated in the Williston hostel post-World War II. The hostel was built on an old RAAF base and is now the location of the Williston Oval.

Migrants included those people fleeing persecution in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, first from Nazis and then the Russians. It is interesting that people had to go to a number of countries before they came to Australia. What we collectively know as the ten-pound Poms were also there; I think they were called 'passage assisted migrants'. This book is a wonderful record of the individual experiences of people in the town of Gawler, the first place they visited when they arrived in Australia. I commend the two historians.