EDWARDSTOWN MEMORIAL ROSE GARDEN

On the corner of Robert Street and Raglan Avenue, is the Edwardstown Memorial Rose Garden. Next to the Edwardstown Bowling Club.

GARDENS

Historically, gardening/horticulture was an important part of Adelaide's way of life. Schools had gardens which children would participate in – we had what I called Arbor Day – tree planting every year – many trees were planted by school children all over the State.

Gardening clubs were everywhere – most organisations and big businesses had their own garden clubs and competitions were held between them on a regular basis. There were a couple of railway stations near where I lived as a child, and remember the station master's gardens with flowers and fruit trees. New subdivisions, new homes and migrants. People moved into their own homes, or SAHT houses and people were encouraged to plant lawns, gardens, flowers and in the back yard, fruit trees, vegetables and more flowers and vines. Neighbours then began to compete with one another. Largest pumpkin, best tomatoes, most potatoes. I remember when the Italian and Greek migrants came out in the 1950/60s and competition became even fiercer (in a good way) in neighbourhoods, as they also brought with them different vegetables and ways of gardening.

When I first came to live in Edwardstown, I loved walking passed a home in Robert Street where the owners had, a backyard full of towering sweet pea plants. Oh, the sweet smell. I know that another home in Castle Street had huge dahlias which the owner grew and showed. Many older homes had wonderful old rose bushes and shade trees in the front.

Community – not something the government is behind these days, as it prefers subdividing and small blocks with no room for gardening or sport or socialising.

Flowers themselves, have, throughout history, held special significance in peoples' lives, from flowers and plants planted at a birth, to a bride's bouquet, and those at a funeral. An olive branch signifies peace; an oak tree, strength. Medicine originally came from plants and flowers, and most flowers had a meaning – rosemary for remembrance is one.

I have vivid memories of Adelaide's Flower Day when the city was full of colourful floral displays, especially in Victoria Square. Everyone wore flowers and it was so spectacular to me. People would go into the city on the bus or tram and walk around to see the beautiful pictures and stories made with flowers. All done by volunteers, and even businesses became involved and put on their own colourful displays.

It was a shared community event. Finished in 1975 I believe.

Memorial Gardens have been around for generations and in memory of good – the Taj Mahal in India or indeed of the bad. A memorial garden was erected in the late 1800s in memory of those slaughtered in an earlier massacre.

Around the turn of the 19^th/20^th century, and especially after World War 1, the pain and loss of so many people, created in those left behind a need to do something to keep the memories of their loved ones close. All around Australia, people wanted to plant trees, build monuments, design and create large and ornate memorial boards, and from this grew the memorial gardens in all council areas.

EDWARDSTOWN ROSE GARDEN

In the late 1950s Marion Council designated the area on the corner of Robert St and Raglan Avenue, South Plympton to become the Memorial Rose Garden with Memorial Gates facing where the roundabout is now. The 1950s was a time when once again, after a war – this time WW2 – a memorial to the fallen was deemed most appropriate, and since there were already many memorials, councils like Marion found various ways to incorporate new ones.

Mr Ross, of Ross Roses (now of Willunga) designed and planted the area with specially chosen beds of roses, in the centre of a lawned area, with trees at the fence line and at top of mound leading to the oval.

Mrs Ross, to whom I spoke in 2016, told me how her husband had spent so much time planning and planting the area and that the roses were planted in 1958. By the following year it would have become a lovely garden.

When the Gates of Remembrance were finally erected, it was a special place for the local residents.

WHAT IT WAS.

The Edwardstown Memorial Rose Gardens was an area for the people. To walk around and admire the blooms – to sit and contemplate and remember – or talk to people passing by and even have a chat with the gardener. Yes – there was a real live gardener, with his own little shed just behind where the football scoreboard is today. Wayne looked after the whole complex and did a really good job. From mulching to mowing; pruning and planting; cleaning up rubbish and keeping the garden growing well. From the many bottle trees and paper bark trees – most gone now – it was a good place to be. People wandered around; wedding parties had photos taken in the rose garden; mothers took children to crawl on the grass. A welcoming place.

The rose bushes were mainly bush rose types. Full bloomed flowers and big bushes. I have heard that many people would come and get cuttings each year from Wayne while others came by and picked a bunch of flowers. I believe that a couple of the beds were planted with white Peace roses. Not that sure, but the pure white was so bright on a sunny day.

Not a weed in sight, and the scents of the old fashioned varieties of roses was so sweet. There were rose bushes along the Raglan Ave fence and a number of large beds. Seating was at the 'back' of the garden at the edge of the mound leading to the oval. Just the one bench. Sitting in the sun or shade, hearing the cars and people – the players on the oval, and watching the birds and the flowers. Such an inviting area. A couple of my friends who became ill loved to sit there to get the calm they needed. There were many ground cover plants covering other areas and combined with the flowering trees, such a bright place that invited not only people, but birds too.

WHAT IT IS

Now it is all so different. The council no longer had a 'gardener' overseeing the complex and jobs were taken on by contractors or other separate groups. Care did not seem to be a priority and gradually the large fully established rose bushes died off. It became very neglected. A number of trees around the top of the oval were cut down and nothing replaced them. Bare patches and less shade. Weeds grew in between the plants and throughout the lawns. Over forty years of glorious colour, smell and sight gradually disappeared and today there are only a few original rose bushes surviving, and they do not do as well as they should. The watering system was a big failure for some time. No paths for prams or wheelchairs or such. One flagpole with no flag except on Anzac Day.

There was, some time ago, a sort of 'fix up' when concrete borders around each bed and new roses planted. Maybe if they had planted roses to suit the conditions, 'gardeners' not spraying the weeds and vehicles not running over concrete edges and cracking them it may have survived. Every year someone had to contact the council re the Anzac Day services and the council would send out workers who would pour another heap of mulch on an already too thik layer, plant some unsuitable roses, and do a general tidy up. Then leave it for another year. Anything that went wrong would be blamed on 'vandals'.......

As it became less and less like the original garden, people appeared to forget the reason for the garden and it has been treated with disdain, albeit unknowingly. Football players practising on grass and in the rose beds. Now people use it to exercise their dogs.

The complex had been popular for decades for people with dogs, but as cycling became more popular, they 'pushed' out the community from using the oval area, especially dogs running free. So, where do they go – to the lawns.

UPDATE 2019

Rose garden gone.  Just a few rose bushes along the side of Raglan Ave with a few small bushes behind the cement memorial area with the flags and service plaques.
A terrible lawn that is very badly uneven and floods the memorial and surrounds with heavy rain.  There is no easy way for some to get into that area of the complex as the gates are heavy and old.  They have been renovated and look good and the paving in front and back is nice. At least the cyclists can know that they are very important as one of the first things done here was the bike racks.     More needs to be done to make it disabled friendly but I think the council is now actually thinking about those with special needs more.   The footpath around Robert Street end is great now as it has been widened and paved, and with the fence taken down it is now really useable for everyone. 

ANZAC DAY

Once our ex-servicemen marched to the Memorial Gates, and people congregated in the area on Robert St, Raglan Ave and Towers Tce corner while police cordoned off the area for the ceremony. Wreaths were laid in front of the gates. There was even a small band.

Over the past number of years, especially since there have been so many movies, tv programs and education in the schools, the numbers of those attending has increased considerably.

Photo of Dawn Service 2017

 As the older generation fades away, the younger generations are stepping up in numbers to remember and commemorate not only the first two wars, but all wars and skirmishes and peacekeeping. Children come to the dawn service with their parents. Occasionally there have been overnight vigils, when the young hold the vigil. What a credit to our young!

Beginning of one dawn service with young people arriving to begin the vigil.

There has been a little change to the morning service, as finally an area on one garden bed next to the flagpole has been simply planted with rosemary and a few steps placed within so people have been able to lay their wreaths at this spot.

Breakfast after the service has been a yearly ritual for many people and this is held at the bowling club next door.

WHAT IS COMING  To be updated.

Plans are in for the Council to demolish the building on around the oval including the Bowling club and the hall. (2017) The velodrome is going to be updated and sports seem to me, to be the main focus. The 'Rose Garden' area is going to be modernised. What looks like a token place for Dawn Services to be held. Why does history and things that belong with the past have to go. Wish Marion could find a way to allow the past to stay with the modernity of today and tomorrow.     I just hope that the Council never forgets the reason for the whole complex. It was planned, paid for and built by the people for the people. They raised money and cleared the land. They shared the area. It was used for people to get together to celebrate, to have fun and enjoy the outdoors. Impromptu not like the everything has to be planned by committees and ok'd with insurance etc. Now it will become more of a sporting complex, though there have been mention of some educational activities which I cannot fit it with the whole project, but what will be...... Just hope some female sport will be more than a token to the area.