Duck Flat Community Garden, Mount Barker, South Australia

To start this venture off, I went to a favourite place of mine.  It's Duck Flat, a community garden that is located in the township of Mount Barker, behind the local hospital.  I thought it would be nice to start with something close to our hearts.

Originally, the land had a disused farmhouse on it.  It was acquired in March 1919, for use as a isolation hospital, for people who had contracted Spanish Influenza.  Later that year, a group of local men approached the widow of prominent land owners and locals, the Barr Smith family, for a donation towards the purchase of the property.

This was the beginning of the Mount Barker Memorial hospital, which continues to serve the local community today.

The garden was conceived by the Hills community health service, as a place where people requiring rehabilitation from foot and back injuries could be exercised, close to the clinic. From there, the cow paddock with a sinkhole became a community garden, which is very much loved and used today.

My children and I love this place.  When we enter, we always say it feels like Grandma's garden.  There are sculptures created by local artists, mosaic pathways and murals. Totem poles featuring bright faces, places where people have plots dedicated to the memory of loved ones.  Amazing established vegetable gardens and beautiful paths to follow around.  It is clearly a community garden, filled with the effort of many volunteers and keen gardeners, who give their time, willingly and enthusiastically, to this special place.  There is a sense of spirit here.  One that gives a feeling of belonging, welcome and home. 

My daughter adores the little children's garden, complete with seats, sandpit and chimes to play with. My son loves the boat, and we sometimes sit in it to have a little lunch picnic and enjoy the view. 

This garden is always busy.  No matter what time of year or day we come for a visit, rain or shine, someone is there, building, planting or simply enjoying the nurturing atmosphere.  And if it isn't filled with people, it is filled with birds, all bright and cheery.  It is a place where schools come to visit. Elderly, to relax or slowly walk around the paved paths, perhaps to get their daily dose of nature, or simply to remember their own piece of earth, from when they were younger. And the patients from the hospital, taking time away from their illness, to heal.  Pensioners, middle aged men and women and youth, all gathered together to grow vegetables and nurture the fruit trees and flowers. Families, visiting to enjoy the atmosphere and children, to discover.

Duck Flat is a place where respect for nature, nurturing and the real spirit of the hills
community grows and thrives.

Money does not a garden maketh, and neither does it make for innovation.  Necessity is the 

mother of invention, and if people are responsible for having to think about solutions creatively,

that brings them together. And that's what we do here.

- Tess Minnet, Duck Flat Community Coordinator.