Beyond the Edge: Australia's First National Peri-urban Conference La Trobe University Oct 2013

1. McLaren Vale - south of Adelaide:
changing identities of a peri-urban,
premier wine region
Prof. Andrew Millington, Robert Keane
School of the Environment, Flinders
University, Adelaide
Prof. Britt Dale
Department of Geography, Norwegian
University of Science and Technology,
Trondheim
Beyond the Edge Conference, Melbourne, Oct 2nd 2013

2. Setting the scene
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South of Adelaide: “double edge effect”
 City of Onkaparinga: southernmost council in the Adelaide
Metro Area – sharp suburban and rural divide
 McLaren Vale: southernmost part of City of Onkaparinga –
the rural part (former Willunga Rural District Council)
 South of McLaren Vale: Fleurieu Peninsula (rural)
Premier wine region
Iconic coastline
Highly vulnerable to suburban expansion

4. The approach
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Place and community very strongly identified
Sense of place, cognitive mapping and perceptions of change:
underline the importance of the concept of identity
McLaren Vale variously defined [cognitive mapping]
Recent land-use actions adding layers onto the construction of
sense of place [discourse analysis]
Importance of identity concepts:
 Do differences provide opportunities to be exploited and promote
urban growth?
 Do they they have a role in countering urbanisation

7. 
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McLaren Vale is…
 a township
 different areas
 old wine growing district centered on McLaren Vale township
 a more extensive area synonymous with Willunga Basin
 a Wine Australia GI: bigger than the McLaren Vale area
definitions
 a legally defined Protection District: bigger than either of the
McLaren Vale area definitions, different to Wine Australia GI
Conflicting and contested geographical concepts in play

8. Changing landscapes and identities
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Landscape elements and events create the concept of “McLaren
Vale/Willunga Basin” as a place
“working rural landscape”
 common descriptor
 objective of character preservation legislation
Working landscapes change (will continue to change as new local
and international markets emerge in response to local sustainability
and resilience concerns, and export drivers)
 suburban (housing) encroachment
 cropping: cereals, almonds, sheep and hay, vines, olives
 landscape aesthetics

9. Changing landscapes
Crop
Location
Change
Cereals
adjacent to coast
mostly lost to housing
Almonds
around Willunga
township
mostly lost to vines
Sheep-Hay
south and east
mostly lost to vines
Vines
around McLaren
Vale township
expanded: greatest proportion under
vines of all SA wine regions
Olives
scattered
expanded

10. Landscape aesthetics important in constructing identity:
land use actions have changed seasonal colour palettes

11. Re-invention as a premier food and wine producer and destination:
Role of Willunga Farmers Market pivotal.
WFM was most quoted characteristic event in interviews

12. Remarks moving forward…
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McLaren Vale is a “working rural landscape” at the fringe
Identity build around landscape aesthetics and cultural aesthetic:
echoes of past working rural landscapes
 Change in land-use influenced colour palettes, Willunga Almond
Blossom Festival
New actors and resilience concerns re-inventing as a premier food
and wine producer and destination through new markets
 Local (amenity value)
 Rural-urban (Adelaide) connection (production and amenity)
 National/International (production)
Capturing the Fleurieu Peninsula “rural” to the south
 “Triple edge effect”?
 Needs a regional approach?

13. Acknowledgements
Southern Knowledge
Transfer Partnership
Willunga Environment
Centre
Friends of Willunga Basin
City of Onkaparinga
source: almondblossomfestival.com.au

14. 
Cognitive mapping [interviews and a focus group]
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Is there an agreed upon geographical space?
 McLaren Vale is…
Are there confusing geographical concepts
Discourse analysis [In-depth, open-ended key informant
interviews]
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Changing landscapes and identities

15. Boundary definitions: Willunga Basin