South Australia

Title: Development & Construction

My dad was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1968. He grew up in the inner city suburb of Norwood, not far from the city centre. When he was younger, he remembers going for walks not far from his house along creek beds, and bike paths, with huge parks full of massive trees and natural forests. Even though there were homes all around, they were not built on top of each other like they are today. A small block of land was 1/4 acre in size. His house block was 1 acre. His family grew vegetables and had fruit trees, and they had 30 chickens for eggs. Nature was plentiful all around his house…up the street was a huge open area of natural parks and a creek that was fed from the Adelaide Hills.

Since that time there has been a housing boom. Demand for land has never been higher. Instead of an average house block being set on 1/4 acre, they are now fitting four or five homes on that same size of land! Many of the old homes where he grew up, including his own, were bulldozed to make way for flats or villa homes (2 - 4 homes in a group adjoined by the carports). Parks have been sold to developers who have built high density living estates, knocking trees down and diverting natural creeks and water ways in the process. The result is a heavy price on the environment, and our natural resources!

The population has expanded rapidly in Australia. When my Dad was young, the population in Australia was around 12 million (1970), now it is reaching around the 20 million mark – that's a growth of almost 50%. So the demand for housing and land is greater than ever. Because of this, parks have been taken, natural forests, and large open areas – all gone in the wake of the housing boom.

It makes my dad feel sad. He says that the best memories he has of his childhood are of the times that he would be walking on the creek beds, fishing for yabbies, and having fun with his brothers in the natural parks around his house. He says that exploration of these places is what made up their entertainment and would usually last an entire day - TV was the last thing on his mind, he says (not that he had one)! Now when he looks around the area that he grew up in, he sees no children playing, no creek beds and natural parks to explore, in fact there are just homes after homes. The place that he knew as a child doesn't exist any more, and that is sad.