Graduates from the course at Adelaide University are well represented and this will contribute to stronger links between the profession and educational institutions. Damian Andrews brings experience in public and private practice with Warwick Keates providing a critical eye from an overseas perspective. The new executive aims to raise the profile of the profession both from within and without through a regular but varied program of formal and informal social events.

There will be an inaugural committee meeting on Thursday October 4th at the Prince Albert Hotel in Wright Street. AILA (SA Group) has gone from strength to strength over the last few years with the establishment of the course in landscape architecture at the University of Adelaide being a major catalyst.

A strong attendance at the State Awards held last year was an indication of the profession 'coming of age' in South Australia. There has been an influx of members from interstate which brings new energy to the fold but there have also been some faces which have become less familiar at recent events. Some people have moved interstate with others appearing to have fallen of the edge of the earth! In 2002 we should see the consolidation of the AILA SA Group in an effort to present an expanded and united front of landscape architects to other allied professions and the wider public.

In the coming 12 months the Executive aims to bring all members and friends together to contribute to the discussion of the emerging and evolving role of the profession of landscape architecture in the 21st century.

Congratulations to the new SA State Executive

President : Paul Harding
Vice President: Warwick Keats
Treasurer: Damian Andrews
Secretary: Simon Lee

National Councillor: James Hayter (until new Council in October)

Student Representative: Paul Herzich
Non-Office Bearing Member: Amy Ford

Kompan Unique Playgrounds recently invited industry professionals and designers from Australia and New Zealand to a playground seminar and presentation in Sydney. It was a long day for the group of six from South Australia that included: Valdis Zvaigzne from City of Salisbury, Gordon Sykes from City of Marion, Hugh Fraser from Hassell, Ann-Marie Pisani from Taylor, Cullity, Lethlean, Amy Standish from Hemisphere and David Sadler from James Hayter + Associates.

The morning began with a presentation from Jeanette Fich Jespersen from Kompan. She talked about the central idea of Play Value and providing opportunities for children that are enjoyable, interesting and possible. The design of each playground or use of individual pieces of equipment should be tailored to the physical and social needs of the child consistent with their age group. Up next was a visitation from CAPT Equity. The 'Quantockian' individual, otherwise known as Jim Conner from Access Audits Australia, expanded on the Continuous Accessible Path of Travel (CAPT) that should be a central component of all playground design. He stressed inclusion not isolation and kept his seafaring hat on throughout the duration of his presentation. Clive Dodd, a consulting engineer specialising in playgrounds, was of great interest to those of us who have tried to weave our way through the Australian Standards, the BCA and the DDA.

The good news is that a new national Australian Standard for playground design is being put together and is expected out as a draft in the next 6-12 months. This standardisation and central point of referral for all things playground will make design work clearer and easier than it has been and hopefully remove a lot of the grey areas that currently exist.

The new Galaxy system from Kompan is a funkier set of play components geared to the 6-12 year olds and after a presentation by the Kompan Technical Manager Niels Julskjaer we left the Sydney Football Stadium and headed out to the 'Arena on Bent Restaurant' in the Fox Studios complex for lunch. After lunch it was on to the play equipment where the dizziness from luncheon refreshments was blurred into the spinning and sliding components of the Galaxy. Our thanks to Fiona McConchie and Dave Morgan for making the day a busy, informative and enjoyable one.

For More Information on KOMPAN Playgrounds see http://australia.kompan.com/company.html

This is my last report to Earthquake as National Councillor. My 2-year term as National President closes at the next National Council meeting to be held in Melbourne in October. Two members have nominated for Council from South Australia - Debbie Saegenschnitter and David Jones - and both are likely to be included on the new Council. Apart from a short period when Ray Sweeting and I were on Council, it is unusual that South Australia has had 2 members due to the much larger membership (and therefore voting power) from the eastern States. At this stage there will not be an election for Council as the nominations received match the numbers on Council. Good luck to Debbie and David - I'm sure both will contribute in a positive and energetic way to AILA at an executive level.

The meeting agenda for National Council will conclude some of the important issues Council has been working on over the last year, including a consolidated approach to sponsorship, discussions on Landscape Australia and the widening of the membership base, update of the professional scale of fees and guidance for salaries, updating of the accreditation and education policies, and further discussions on the establishment of a Landscape Foundation. Information on these issues can be found on the Institute's web site and in Landmark.

Finally, I would like to thank Hilary Hamnett and other members of the SA Group who have helped and encouraged me during my term as National President. Help that was much appreciated. A word of thanks too to Jared Wilson - our Earthquake editor and producer - who has 'supported' AILA in many and varied ways!

The AILA SA website has had some new features added in the last couple of weeks.

- The entire website is now searchable via a search box on the main page this will make it easier to find information if you dont know the exact page its on.
- A geobutton has been added to the main page. This feature enables us to work out where all of the hits are coming from and what search engines we feature on.
- The breakdown of the current statistics are:

- The old hit counter has been removed due to the zcounter downtime over July/August. At last count we were approaching 700 hits (since March 2001).

*Remember if you have information you would like on the website email me at jwilson@rusyel.mtx.net

Congratulations to Dave and Susie on the arrival of 'Jonathon William Sadler' on Tuesday 18th September.

Congratulations to Stuart Heseltine on the arrival of Lucie on Saturday 15th September

A come and meet the new State Executive gala event will be held soon. Presentation of new associate members with their certificates will also take place on the auspicous occasion. Stay tuned for more detials...

Victoria Square Redesign

The Chinese Art of Geomancy

innovation arts-media-design

AILA SA Go-Karting
Adelaide Fast Karts
142 Cavan Road, Cavan 8262 1215.
Tuesday 9th of October @ 6:30pm
Package deal for $30.00 includes - 2 warm up laps, 15 lap race, 16 lap final race with the winner receiving the AILA SA KartMaster Trophy.
Meet at TCL at 6pm or at the track at 6:30pm
RSVP Paul Herzich by 2nd October

Final Year Exhibition
The end of the year is fast approaching, an event not to miss, to mark into your diary for November, is the 2001 graduating landscape architects (and architects) Final Year Exhibition. This year the event will be held at: 12 Hindley Street (in the old Millers Andersen building)
Opening night is on the 9th of November, there will be an influential speaker on the night which has not been announced. The exhibition goes through until the 17th of November.