The residents of Eudunda and District are very proud of their multi award winning gardens and the volunteers who maintain them.
One of the highlights in the gardens is the bronze sculpture of Colin Thiele AC with one of the characters in his book, Storm Boy “Mr Percival” the Pelican. This magnificent life like sculpture was beautifully crafted by Chris Radford (RIP).
HISTORY:
The Centenary and Memorial Gardens were designed, constructed, planted and cared for by Mr. B. H. (Bert) Aesche, Council Overseer, in 1946.
Both gardens are on land originally leased from the S.A. Railways and then purchased by Council in 1987.
A plaque was installed in 1992 in memory of Bert Aesche for his dedication and hard work in establishing the gardens.
CURRENT:
The gardens have had an extensive redevelopment in more recent years, with the erection of a stone shelter by local artist Jim Dunstan, and various other stone furniture, seats, games, walls, which have been attractively added to with tiles of images and stories made by local people for the Centenary of Transport which was in 2020.
They tell stories of transport in the area during the last 100 years, and you will find the stories, comments and art well worth a stop, in fact you may find you can spend ages reading the stories and admiring the artwork.
A central figure in the gardens is the bronzed sculpture of locally born, Mr Colin Thiele AC with Storm Boy’s “Mr Percival” the Pelican. There is an interpretive sign, about Colin and his works, and it has since been redone in 2017 with the words of his great friend Mr Max Fatchen after Colin’s passing. While in Eudunda, visit the Eudunda Family Heritage Gallery where you will find more information about Colin Thiele’s Family History and other items, and you can even go on a ‘Colin Thiele Drive’, designed by the Gallery to follow Colin’s local roots.
There is a lovely covered and fenced playground and a sheltered area with free electric BBQ and seating nearby.
Kids Scrub
The ‘Kids Scrub’ is where kids can venture into a scrubby, semi shaded area exploring the interesting structures, investigate it’s winding and hidden paths, solving the puzzles and creating their own stories along the way.
In the redevelopment the Eudunda War Memorial Gardens were merged with the Centenary Gardens with a striking yellow climbing rose covered arched wall and the names of locals who served in the various armed forces. Check out the Eudunda RSL activities here.
The gardens are used year round, for various functions, sometimes used for “Wedding Photos”, and community gatherings such as the Australia Day Breakfast, and the Eudunda Christmas Street Party and also ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day Services.
The Town of Eudunda and the Eudunda Gardens is also a ‘Trail head’ for the Lavender Federation Trail and the Lavender Cycling Trail. A fantastic walking or riding trail starting from Murray Bridge and traversing hills and plains on the East site of the Mount Lofty Ranges with a destination at Clare in the Mid North. Eudunda is a great place to make a base to fan out in either direction to walk or ride the trail. Check out our Tourism Links page to see what else you can do.
The gardens are an absolute treasure, a highly valued asset for the township, and considering that they are maintained by volunteers we should all be very proud of their continuing efforts, and thank them for their great work.
We urge you to spend some time enjoying our Eudunda Gardens. We estimate that if you want to have a good look around, read the stories and artwork on the tiles and let the kids play on the various games and in the scrub that you would be here for a minimum of 1 hour. If you don’t have that sort of time – perhaps you are just passing through Eudunda in a hurry, have a quick look, because we feel you will make plans to come back later.
Oh! We should mention that the gardens also have good modern toilets.