Fletcher's Slip - Before the Fall

For a brief moment in its post-invasion history, the area of the Gawler Reach portion of the Port River (now being developed and sold off as "Fletcher's Slip"), was a quiet open space, filled with grasses, flowers, insects and birds. For the purposes of our blog post, we're talking 2016-2020. If one goes WAY back, before the europeans showed up, the area was an untouched swampy wilderness, full of wildlife, as it had been for hundreds of thousands of years. From the 1830's onward, it got developed into a properly dredged and obviously named Port River, and it saw amongst the many industries on its wharves, a sugar refinery, an automative factory, railroad yards and sheds, and various ship building and shipping related sheds. Our post today will not struggle to relate the complex history of those 180 years. We are only concerned with the brief moment after the industries were gone, but before the private home developers showed up. The empty, abandoned, post-industrial lots were a beautiful open space. The post-industrial area along the Port River, stretching from the Cumberland Hotel in Glanville to the Birkenhead Bridge, is now being redeveloped, and the "green space" that existed due to the empty lots is now gone forever. In this post we pay tribute to that "Paradise Lost"...

Jenkins Street looking west. On the right is the empty lot that was the Holden factory.

The Anna Rennie Loop Path allowed walkers and cyclists to trek the river's edge from the Jervois Bridge to Semaphore Road.

The big sawtooth building "Shed 26" was the most iconic structure of the post-industrial landscape. When it was torn down in 2020 there were big protests. Let's hope the new development doesn't totally suck.

Probably the biggest loss will be the unimpeded view of Port Adelaide from the Glanville station platform. No longer will we be able to gaze across an open green field at Hart's Mill. I doubt we'll be able to see anything other than legoland (go stand on the Ethelton platform and you'll see what its gonna be like). This is a MASSIVE loss to those of us who use the train regularly.

As part of the redevelopment, the Glanville station carpark is gone. Apparently the entire station will get a makeover? We hope the gum trees that surrounded the old station and its carpark will be preserved and maintained. In these photos one can see the simple footpaths, primitive carpark and natural beauty of the old station.

As one can see from the above photos, the walk from the Glanville platform to the head of the Anna Rennie Loop Path was a pleasant one, through green grass and gum trees. Let's hope that Cedar Woods doesn't totally ruin it.

Shed 26 was a big beautiful relic.

Shed 26 has been torn down, but there are other, older buildings which we hope will be preserved and maintained.

There are other features, such as the Gallery Yampu and the Giant Croc... will these survive the redevelopment?

Our biggest complaint is the loss of open, green space. The loss of solitude. The new development will bring more houses, cars, people, dogs, cats, rubbish, noise, crime, etc... Take a look at these open lots. They are quiet, they are full of nature, they maintain normal climate... The new development will only add to global warming.