Thebarton barracks for South Australia police since 1917 to go under plan for bigger women's and children's hospital
The heritage-listed buildings at the South Australia police barracks on Port Road, Thebarton, included the South Australian Police Historical Society's museum.
Image courtesy South Australian Police Historical Society
The South Australia police barracks, including 10 state-heritage-listed buildings, on Port Road, Thebarton, would be demolished to make way for a revised bigger new Women's and Children's Hospital announced in 2022 to be built on the site.
The Thebarton police barracks were on previously vacant parklands given to South Australia police in 1917, with the original buildings completed that year. The 10 police buildings at the barracks were added to the state’s heritage list in 1985. The barracks site also was associated with the police greys – the police's horse mounted unit – that had used nearby parklands since 1838.
South Australia Heritage Council chair Keith Conlon said that demolishing the heritage-listed buildings at the barracks would “represent the most dangerous precedent; it would represent the biggest news in heritage since the legislation came in to protect heritage places 44 years ago." The South Australian Police Historical Society. that has its museum at barracks, said the site housed an important range of the state’s policing services.
But police commissioner Grant Stevens welcomed the state government’s decision to build the hospital on the barracks site: “This announcement creates a unique opportunity for SAPOL to consider its operational needs and work with affected staff, stakeholders and the government to acquire modern, fit-for-purpose facilities that will meet organisational needs well into the future.”
The state government announced $2 million for the police to plan a move out of the barracks. It also commited that there would be no loss of operational capability as a result of the relocation.
The barracks site for the hospital was decided after a review by former state coordinator-general Jim Hallion, who considered six potential within Adelaide city’s biomedical precinct. The government would have to legislate for planning changes – raising the approved height limits for buildings from two to nine/10 storeys – to get the hospital built on the barracks site. One of the strongest opponents in parliament to those changes was the Greens party on the ground of heritage and parklands protection.
