Watercourse Management
The Burnside area could be called 'The City of Creeks'. Burn is the Scottish word for creek.
The Kaurna people, the traditional owners of the Adelaide Plains, called the Burnside area 'Karrayerta', which means River Red Gum Place. These trees usually grow close to creeks.
The Burnside area is crossed by a series of watercourses or creeks that flow out of the Mount Lofty Ranges foothills and across our urban areas. Park Lands Creek, First Creek, Second Creek and Stonyfell Creek wind their way through our City, sometimes as open channels and sometimes enclosed in pipes and culverts.
Our urban creeks provide stormwater drainage for you, your neighbourhood and for upstream catchments. A healthy waterway will help clean the water naturally, provide habitat for native fish and wildlife, be resistant to erosion and the build-up of sediment and, of course, offer recreational amenity. A well managed watercourse will also help prevent against flooding. For more information, please read the A Property Owner's Guide to Managing Healthy Urban Creeks(PDF, 502KB) brochure.
History
In 1839, Alexander Anderson, a young Scot, emigrated to South Australia. He was soon followed by his father, brother Peter, wife Marion and their two children.
The Andersons took up land somewhere along Second Creek (Hallett's Rivulet back then). They built three stone cottages, grew barley and wheat, raised cattle, pigs and poultry and sold vegetables and wood.
The Andersons called their creekside property 'Burnside'.
Watercourse Management
Clearing land and urban expansion leads to increased flow in creeks, which can lead to erosion of the bed and banks.
Sometimes engineering solutions have to be employed to manage erosion. Often however, local native watercourse plants can be planted strategically to halt erosion and help create natural habitat for native creatures, like tiny tadpoles, fish and birds.
The publication A Property Owner's Guide to Managing Healthy Urban Creeks(PDF, 502KB) gives good information about watercourse management in the Burnside area.