The home base of one of the first Australian poets to be internationally recognized has largely been closed to the public in the past five years in the midst of a Stoush over a former DOT-Com-Boom Millionaire offer to install Glamping tents.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service of South Australia will reveal its plans for the Dingley Dell Conservation Park next month, which contains Adam Lindsay Gordon’s house.
Gordon was born in England in 1833, moved to Australia in 1853 and bought Dingley Dell, near Port MacDonnell, in the far southeast of the state, in 1862.
A statue of Adam Lindsay Gordon near the Parliament House in Melbourne. ((Lever: City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection))
His poems that romantized Australian bush and especially horse races were first published locally in 1864.
His most famous work, Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes, was published in 1870, only a day before he died in Melbourne.
He is the only Australian poet who has a bust in the corner of the poets in the London Abbey Westminster.
Plan for glamping delayed
Apart from a few open days, the Dingley Dell Cottage is usually closed to the public since the operators gave their lease agreement in 2020.
In 2021, Stephen Moignard, in the midst of a push to find more innovative use for parks during the COVID-19 Pandemie, was given by the previous state government $ 233,000 to set up 20 Glamping tents in the 6-Hectare Dingley Dell Park.
Mr. Moignard Davnet’s company brought high-speed internet to Australia before he failed in 2001.
Glamping tents are set up in the Coonawarra Bush Holiday Park of Stephen Moignard. ((Delivered))
He has also run several other companies based on the internet and now owns the Coonawarra Bush Holiday Park, which also offers Glamping in the southeast.
The work on Mr Moignard’s project was delayed while a new park management plan was being developed.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service said last year that it would be completed at the end of 2024, but has since said that it should be released in June.
Dingley Dell is named after a gum with the same name that produces pink flowers. ((ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert))
Balancing different views
The Adam Lindsay Gordon Commemorative Committee held an open day in Dingley Dell on Saturday.
Treasurer Lorraine Day said she wanted the house to be open more often.
“We hope so, but we have to attract the right person with the right interest in … Wearing the house ahead with what it should be,” she said.
Lorraine Day reads a poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon on the open day. ((ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert))
She was skeptical about Mr Moignard’s plan.
Asked if she approved the proposal, she said, “Not special, no”.
“It must be done well and certainly not the amount [of glamping tents] That was planned to be founded there, “
she said.
Mr. Moignard told the ABC that he was frustrated by the time that the national parks and the nature service had taken to develop the plan and allow his operation.
“But we’re coming up with it now,” he said.
Adam Lindsay Gordon loved to compete with steeplechases. ((Lever: State Library of South Australia))
The manager of the service on the limestone kisses, Nick Mcintyre, said he was still trying to make everyone happy after last year’s consultation.
“There were some community interests that were announced by that process and then of course it becomes a matter of trying to participate and relate and continue working through those different issues that have been discussed to work out what is best in the plan and what does not fit in the plan and just tries to get a good match of some of the ambitions for the site,” he said.
The previous plan for the park was approved in 1994.
It noted that the presence was low.
Stables are reconstructed in Dingley Dell. ((ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert))
Mr. Mcintyre said that open days worked better than regular opening times to seduce visitors interested in the life and poetry of Gordon.
“It not only builds a consciousness of history and the heritage associated with Dingley Dell, it keeps the memory and spirit of Adam Lindsay Gordon alive,” he said.
“It is probably also a pretty good use of time, because you get a good number of people who make the most out of the opportunity to participate in the advertisements.”
Popular open day
About 70 people attended the open day on Saturday.
Peter O’Rourke visited from Mount Lonarch, near Ararat, in Victoria.
He said the house and the garden gave a real feeling of what it would have been when Gordon lived in the house.
“I think something like Glamping or similar development would really spoil it,” said Mr. O’Rourke.
Angela Goode is the Limestone Coast ambassador for the History Festival of South Australia. ((ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert))
Angela Goode, from Mount Gambier, has written a film script about Gordon.
She said his poetry was then popular, but now “beyond the date used”.
She said his life as an “eccentric toff” who became a police officer in South Australia and later a politician and rider was more interesting.
“He was a very strange confused mix of many different qualities and I think a mystery character that we might have learned something from or admire or sorry,” she said.
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