Greening Henley and Grange

immediately opposite her home in Jeanes Street. We had already dug the hole that morning without Mary knowing. That tree still stands proudly on that corner of Menkens Reserve and is known as 'Mary’s Tree'.

One big problem we had with the reserve was that it did not have irrigation to keep the trees alive. Residents would carry out buckets of water and provide at least 20 litres a week to every tree. Further deputations to council resulted in an agreement that council would install irrigation, not only to the trees but to plant a lawn. After the amalgamation of Henley and Grange Council to become part of the City of Charles Sturt, additional work has taken place on the reserve to install a shade, seats and a playground.

John Behenna was a councillor in the Henley and Grange Council who supported our request, and soon after Menkens Reserve was planted and landscaped John volunteered to officially set up the Henley and Grange Greening Group. His story starts from here.

Greening Henley and Grange

John Behenna

I attended meetings at the Henley and Grange Residents’ Association in 1990. In 1993 I ran for Henley and Grange Council and was successful. Later that year I formed a greening group. I have always had an interest in trees and bushes around the district. We had a series of productive meetings in the Henley and Grange Council with local people, including Jim Douglas who later became WACRA’s president. Tree supplies were organised and once a month the group planted. Steve Davey, the council’s gardener, supplied the plants and worked collaboratively with us. While we were in harness, we planted about 800 trees. Menkens Reserve, William Atkin Reserve, Henley High School (several planting sessions), the banks of the River Torrens (several times), the park bicycle path running off Marlborough Street, John Mitchell Reserve and a couple of streets in Fulham Gardens, Sunset Crescent near the Grange Railway Station, all were planted between 1994 and 2000. Enthusiasm was infectious. Trees and bushes were mainly Australian natives; they were salt and sea air tolerant. By the time Henley and Grange Council had merged to form Charles Sturt Council, group size had dwindled and council was not as enthusiastic.

This is the way it happened. In 1994 the Weekly Times Messenger carried an article about tree planting in our local area. I contributed to that article, telling readers that I was planning a tree planting work group. I said: ‘Could all those interested come along, and we will have a cup of tea and a yarn about growing trees.’ The press was good because it supported my view that we needed to do more about some of the ugly streetscapes in the district, showing a photo of Seaview Road, Henley Beach, that was devoid of trees. Up to 16 people attended that meeting, and the same at subsequent gatherings. When I thought we had talked enough, I said: ‘Let’s get out there and plant’. It started at Menkens Reserve. Sixty plantings, every Saturday morning. We got things done. It was called direct action.

Our greening movement reflected the community spirit of that era. We knew the gardeners and the councillors; it was a different ethos. In the 1990s we did things. I attended Henley and Grange Residents’ Association meetings. I was never a member but I knew this