Historically the Wakefield reserve was donated by Dorothy Wakefield for community use, with the proviso that it would not be built on. When the Stanvac Primary School (later John Morphett) opened in 1970 it soon became apparent that there was a need for a kindergarten, as the area was populated with young families.  

At that time the then District Council of Noarlunga approached the neighbourhood and asked for donations towards the bricks for this building, as they did not have the money to build it. As the need was great we had had no problem paying the $20.00 donation requested (including myself). The only place that it could be built on was on one end of the reserve. The community was also approached for their consent as this as it was contrary to what Dorothy Wakefield had stipulated.  

                The community would like to put forward to the council two options,

1.       Update the building for community use i.e. the boxing club or some other club who have the community in mind. (currently the Morphett Vale boxing club is working out of a shed with no amenities)

2.       Demolish the building and put it back as the reserve it was intended for.

It is quite clear from the community that removing further land that was donated to the community for community use and building what will initially be four townhouses and maybe more is extremely unpopular. Also the new houses that were built on the old Stanvac Primary School are quite densely packed places, therefore further removal of the communal greenspace would be detrimental to those residents.

We believe that it is important that you are aware of the feelings of this community and feel it is imperative  that all counsellors are aware of how important this reserve is to our community and how detrimental building further houses will be.

After all we contributed to the establishment of the community building and feel that at the very least it should be made available to community clubs or it be knocked down and restored to a greenspace for the community as Dorothy Wakefield intended when she donated the land..

This would support the community consultation that concluded earlier this year by the Onkaparinga Council with the results that the number one unprompted area for council to focus on was outdoors/open spaces. Outdoor open spaces came in at number three after environmental management and waste and recycling for the prompted responses.

Therefore we would like the Onkaparinga Council to take the community's wishes into consideration and either maintain the old kindy building for community use, or return the land to the community for all to enjoy, as intended by Dorothy Wakefield when she originally donated it