Kingston Park is a small beachside suburb, south of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Adelaide l ...

. Kingston Park is within the City of Holdfast Bay and flanked by the neighbouring suburbs of Marino to the south and

Seacliff Seacliff comprises a beach, an estate and a harbour. It lies east of North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. History The beach and estate command a strategic position at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, and control of the area has been conte ...

to the north and east. There is a

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

site of significance, the

freshwater spring A spring is a natural exit point at which groundwater emerges from an aquifer and flows across the ground surface as surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere, as well as a part of the water cycle. Springs have long been important fo ...

known as Tulukudangga, which is part of the Tjilbruke Dreaming Track. There is also a coastal reserve, a

caravan park Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel * Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop * Caravan (tra ...

and a kiosk. The plant life of the cliff face includes a number of

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

History

The

Kaurna people The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

inhabited the area before European settlement. As per the Aboriginal oral history and

dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

mythology, the creator ancestor,

Tjilbruke Tjilbruke (also Tjirbruki, Tjilbruki, Tjirbruke, Tjirbuk or Tjirbuki,) is an important creation ancestor for the Kaurna people of the Adelaide plains in the Australian state of South Australia. Tjilbruke was a Kaurna man, who appeared in Kaurn ...

, carried his dead nephew, Kulultuwi, from the spring, known as Tulukudangga, to

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village in the Jervis Bay Territory and on the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay, known as the Jervis Bay Terri ...

. Above the spring on the cliff top is a lookout with views across the

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

, featuring the Tjilbruke Monument by South Australian sculptor John Dowie. The Kingston family, the namesake of this suburb, were early landholders in this area. George Strickland Kingston was deputy surveyor in command of the ''Cygnet'' which landed at

Holdfast Bay Holdfast Bay is a small bay in Gulf St Vincent, next to Adelaide, South Australia. Along its shores lie the local government area of the City of Holdfast Bay and the suburbs of Glenelg and Glenelg North The colonial settlement at Holdfast Ba ...

on 5 November 1836. His son, Charles Cameron Kingston was instrumental in drafting the Commonwealth Bill of Federation.

Location

The suburb is south of the Adelaide city centre, within the City of Holdfast Bay and flanked by the neighbouring suburbs of Marino to the south and Seacliff to the north and east.

Flora and fauna

The Kingston cliff face is home to 80 indigenous plant species, including harlequin mistletoe ('' Lysiana exocarpi'') and sticky boobialla ('' Myoporum viscosum''). A third of the indigenous coastal cliff vegetation is

or vulnerable. Bird, animal and insects include the

mistletoebird The mistletoebird (''Dicaeum hirundinaceum''), also known as the mistletoe flowerpecker, is a species of flowerpecker native to most of Australia (though absent from Tasmania and the driest desert areas) and also to the eastern Maluku Islands ...

(''Dicaeum hirundinaceum''), the shingleback lizard (''

Tiliqua rugosa ''Tiliqua rugosa'', most commonly known as the shingleback skink, stumptail skink or bobtail lizard, is a short-tailed, slow-moving species of blue-tongued skink (genus ''Tiliqua'') endemic to Australia. It is commonly known as the shingleback ...

'') and the

trapdoor spider Trapdoor spider is a common name that is used to refer to various spiders from several different groups that create burrows with a silk-hinged trapdoor to help them ambush prey. Several families within the infraorder Mygalomorphae contain trapdo ...

Facilities

The cliff face has three walking trails with a good level of fitness required and not accessible by wheelchairs. The northern rocky beach area to the south is ideal for fishing and exploring rock pools, while the beach at Kingston Park is usually calm and shallow for some distance. The Kingston Park Coastal Reserve, a small park with tennis courts, swings, barbecue and toilet facilities are located above the beach, with views out to the sea. The Brighton Caravan Park and Holiday Village is located in Kingston Park right next to the beach, and there is a road parking and café adjacent to this.

2019: Repatriation of Aboriginal remains

On 1 August 2019, the remains of 11 Kaurna people were laid to rest at a ceremony led by elder Jeffrey Newchurch at the Coastal Reserve.

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultur ...

Head of Humanities John Carty said the museum wanted to work with the Kaurna people to repatriate their ancestors, and would also be helping to educate the community about what it means to Aboriginal people.

References

External links

* (1'46") {{City of Holdfast Bay suburbs Suburbs of Adelaide