Национальный парк Белаир: История и современность

Belair National Park (formerly known as the National Park and as Belair Recreation Park) is a protected area in Belair, South Australia, southeast of Adelaide city centre; it covers an area of It was proclaimed in 1891 and was the first national park in South Australia, second in Australia (after Sydney's Royal National Park which was proclaimed in 1879) and the tenth in the world.

Belair was originally inhabited by the Kaurna Aboriginal people. The area was called Pradli, which means “baldness”, because the appearance of the area when looking south from the Adelaide Plains was “bald like the moon.” The first Europeans to set foot in the area were crewmen from the Coromandel in 1837. In 1840, South Australian governor George Gawler set the land aside for a government farm, for the South Australian Archives. His predecessor was Ebenezer Jarvis (c. 1829–1897), who left to take a post as manager of Government House, Adelaide. Two great bushfires occurred during their time; in 1866/1867 and 1877, when many old trees were destroyed. Proposals in 1881 to sell off parts of small portions of the land were opposed by Walter Gooch, James Page and the Australian Natives Association, which led in 1883 to an Act of Parliament prohibiting its sale. In 1888 further agitation by Gooch, Arthur Falconer Robin (1867–1906) and Samuel Dixon of the Royal Society of South Australia led to a parliamentary decision that the Government Farm be established as a public park, and after some delays the National Park Act received the Governor's assent in January 1892. Another person given partial credit was William Henry Selway of the Field Naturalists' Section of the Royal Society. A nine hole golf course was constructed in the southwest corner of the park in 1934 in an attempt by the state government to raise money for the park's maintenance during the Great Depression. The course was expanded to 18 holes in 1941, redeveloped in the 1970's, and sold to a private operator in 1982. The Belair Park Country Club ran the course until it went into administration in January 2018. The state government proposed to repurpose part of the golf course and build a seven pitch soccer field for the Sturt Lions Football Club, but this proposal met with backlash from the local community during the public consultation period, with more than 8,000 people signing a petition opposing the development. The day after the consultation period ended, Environment Minister David Speirs announced that the plan would not go ahead, and in October 2021, the government announced that high impact development in the former golf course would be banned and that parts of the land would be re vegetated and returned to the rest of the park. In 1987, the nearby National Park railway station was closed.

The first European people traversed the Belair area in 1837. In 1840, Governor Gawler raised a government farm on which sick horses and bullocks from government departments could be agisted. In 1881, a proposal was put forward for small agricultural holdings and also, the national park was dedicated, making it the first National Park in South Australia. Many exotic and non indigenous plants were introduced and are now found in the park as weeds. Numerous native plants, such as Cootamundra wattle, have become environmental weeds after being introduced into areas outside their natural range. The Belair National Park has suffered major disturbance to its natural ecosystems and natural vegetation communities through the accidental invasion of non indigenous plants as well as the deliberate introduction of exotic and non indigenous plants to certain zones within the park. In spite of these problems, several remnant stands of rare native plant species endemic to the Mt Lofty Ranges can be found there in season, mostly along tracks in less visited areas of the park's walking trail system. Both Donkey Orchids and Spider Orchids are among several diminutive flowers usually seen late winter each year.

Belair National Park is situated 13 km south east of Adelaide city centre in South Australia, in the suburb of Belair, and is one of the few remaining areas of relatively undisturbed native vegetation in the Adelaide Hills.