Regency Park is an inner-northern suburb of Adelaide, 8km from the City Centre, in the state of South Australia, Australia. It is located in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, and is adjacent to Wingfield, Angle Park, Ferryden Park, Kilburn, Prospect, Dudley Park and Croydon Park. It is bounded to the north by Grand Junction Road, east by the Gawler train line, south by Regency Road and to the west by Days and South Roads. The postcode for Regency Park is 5010.
Regency Park is essentially an industrial suburb, consisting of factories, but primarily industrial warehouses. Its streets are dominated by semitrailers.
History
The approximate area of Regency Park was originally called "Tam O'Shanter Belt" after the ship Tam O'Shanter which was grounded for several days near North Arm in December 1836. The ship passengers walked to North Adelaide and saw the ship behind them over a distinct belt of trees. The southern half of today's suburb of Regency Park was acquired in October 1838 by John Wright, a wealthy English banker, and was subsequently sold to the Tam O'Shanter Land Company. The village of Tam O'Shanter was created and occupied the present area of Regency Park.
Between 1850 and 1860, a school, and The Freshwater Springs hotel was constructed. It was a semi-rural area, producing mainly vegetables and dairy products. In 1879, due to the inexpensive and high quantity of (undeveloped) land in the area, it was acquired by the City of Adelaide for the purpose of constructing the Islington Sewage Farm. The sewage farm commenced operation in 1881. In 1948, a concrete watercourse was extended to North Arm Creek (Port River) and the post-war population boom saw the sewage farm overloaded and raw sewerage diverted to the North Arm Creek. Plans for a new sewerage works for Adelaide commenced in 1960 and the treatment of sewerage was relocated to Bolivar Sewage Treatment Works in 1966. The old Islington Sewage Farm was subsequently closed and the land fell into disuse. The new suburb of Regency Park was created on the site, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II (the regent) on her first ever visit to Adelaide in 1970.
Regency Park was subdivided by the Government for light industry in four phrases between 1975 and 1981. In 1981 Sunnybrae Farm, 1.8 hectares of land remaining from the subdivisions, was transferred to the City of Enfield and declared a Historic Conservation and Recreation Centre. The Enfield & Districts Historical Society was incorporated in 1982 and the old farm buildings at Sunnybrae were restored by the society in partnership with the council. The site now houses a function centre and includes a museum originally created by the historical society.
Commercial, educational and administrative facilities
The largest family owned Australian brewery, Coopers Brewery relocated from Leabrook to the corner of South Road and Regency Road in Regency Park in 2001.
The Regency Campus of TAFE SA (formerly the Regency Institute of TAFE) is located in Regency Park along with a special school for children with a mental disability.
Due to the heavy presence of commercial shipping in Regency Park, there is a Transport SA office in the suburb catering largely for the semi trailers associated with the local industry.
Tourism, sport and recreation facilities
Sunnybrae Farm is the former official residence of the manager of Tam O'Shanter sewage farm. In 1990 the Enfield & Districts Historical Society was given the Sunnybrae Farm property to house a museum celebrating the general history of the area. The Museum was officially opened in June 1995. In 2001, the society built the Sunnybrae Farm Federation Pavilion with the assistance of a $28,000 Commonwealth grant. The society conducted open days and other public activities from 2002 to 2008. The historical society was dissolved in July 2012 and, as of 2013[update], Sunnybrae Estate was a commercially-owned function centre.
A large part of Regency Park west of South Road is occupied by the Regency Park Golf Course and adjoining recreation park facilities.
Transport
The 361 bus serves Grand Junction Road. The 300 bus serves Regency Road its entire length. The 230 and 232 buses only serve Regency Road as far as Days Road. The 239 bus serves Days Road and Grand Junction Road. The suburb is also served by Islington railway station on the Gawler Railway Line.