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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-26 Daily Xml
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MILLSWOOD SUBWAY

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (16:27): I would like to talk about a project that I have been involved with for quite some time in the Ashford electorate. This has been initiated by constituents in the Ashford electorate, particularly in the suburbs of Goodwood, Millswood and Clarence Park. They mentioned to me that they would like to see some improvements to the appearance of the Millswood subway or underpass.

The subway is a significant local landmark that has needed some visual improvement. There have been a number of commendable efforts by locals to make decorative improvements to the site. In the north-west corner, on Lonsdale Terrace, above the subway, a small garden has been established, complete with garden seats and flowering plants. The garden is obviously well looked after. On the north-east corner, on Vardon Terrace, a watering system has been established to assist the number of bougainvillea bushes planted a short distance from the edge of the subway with the hope, I think, of establishing a Hanging Gardens of Babylon effect.

In efforts to look at what we could do with the subway, I have been greatly assisted by former Unley councillor Les Birch, community arts officer for Unley, Matthew Ives, and Mark Thomson, probably best known for his role at the Institute of Backyard Studies but also a former Clarence Park resident. According to the Unley staff, the efforts that I have just mentioned were initiated and maintained by private local people. These efforts indicate to me a sincere desire of people of the subway's vicinity to improve the aesthetic amenity of the area.

The centenary of the subway's construction takes place in 2015, which creates a good time frame for local people and others interested in making the subway into a distinctive and exciting landmark. I need to mention the support I have received from the member for Unley, David Pisoni. He has, with me and local councillors, attended community meetings to talk about where we could go with the subway. We have decided to create a series of graphic panels along the pedestrian walkway above the road on the western side of the subway. These panels will encourage discussion and feedback by suggesting a wide range of options we could pursue. In doing so, we are asking people to keep their minds open about some of the possibilities that exist on this site.

One strong theme is that the subway—the only deviation on the whole length of Goodwood Road—is a natural transition point or, to use the current language, a gateway into and out of inner southern Adelaide, Goodwood and the showgrounds zone. A public art and design project around the subway could help create a more distinctive marking of the precinct.

Just a little about the background to the subway: the research that Mark Thomson has done shows that the Millswood subway (or the Goodwood subway as it is sometimes known) was officially opened on 2 March 1915. The subway's construction, in part, had been motivated by a spectacular and tragic car/train collision on Goodwood Road on 11 January 1913. In the collision between the train known as the Clapham Dodger and Mr Padman's Vulcan motor vehicle, Mrs Dora Leach and her son of Hyde Park were killed and several others were injured. The crossing had been a problem for quite some time as the train line and a horsedrawn tramline—we had trams on Goodwood Road all those years ago—met diagonally across Millswood Station. There was a lot of debate about what needed to happen, and an over-way for the train and a subway for the traffic, including the horsedrawn traffic, was drawn up.

When you look at that particular structure, you can see the engineering magnificence of it, but these days it looks quite dreary and ugly, and we are very keen to get local submissions about how we can make the subway into an art space. This has been greeted with a lot of enthusiasm by local people so I look forward to reporting back to the house about some of the decisions we may make.

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