The city park celebrating culture and cricket

One of the 30 parks within the expansive Adelaide Park Lands has been given a makeover, a meaningful new name honouring an inspiring Adelaide woman and, in 2020, will host a series of warm-up matches in the lead-up to the Women’s T20 World Cup.

Located in the west Park Lands – across Port Road from the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, Gladys Elphick Park / Narnungga (Park 25) now officially honours the life and work of Gladys Elphick (1904 - 1988) - pictured below.

Aunty Glad (as she was known) was a Kaurna and Narnungga woman. Born in Adelaide and raised on Point Pearce Reserve, her maternal great-grandmother was Kudnartu (after whom North Adelaide’s Wellington Square is named).

Like all the open spaces within the Adelaide Park Lands, Gladys Elphick Park / Narnungga continues to be an important place for people to meet and connect – even more so following a $7.3 million upgrade in 2018 of both its built and natural amenities – made possible through a partnership between the City of Adelaide and South Australian Government.

In March 2018, the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA)* took the covers off a new $10 million three-level community sporting pavilion located in the centre of Gladys Elphick Park / Narnungga. A coup for South Australian cricket, the new facilities offer six changerooms, including state-of-the-art women’s facilities, tiered seating, sculptured viewing terraces, a function room and player viewing areas. The upgraded main ground honours another inspiring local woman, Karen Rolton.