Walkley Heights, South Australia

Walkley Heights is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The suburb is located on land formerly comprising the prison farm for Yatala Labour Prison, and includes fifty-five hectares of land formerly owned by R. M. Williams which was compulsorily acquired during the time of former State Premier Sir Thomas Playford. The suburb (and one adjacent main road) is named after John Walkley, an early pioneer in South AustraliaThe suburb had a population, in 2001, of only 713 increasing to 3,224 by 2006.A small shopping centre at the end of Homestead Avenue has a Foodland supermarket, a pizza shop, a bakery, a Salvation Army opportunity shop, a beauty salon and a doctor's surgery. Also there is a childcare centre and kindergarten.EnvironmentThe suburb occupies 1.5 square kilometres of land either side of the Dry Creek linear park which features mature river red gums, recent landscaped plantings, and the remains of an old stockman's hut. Within the linear park is the Walkley Heights reserve where mallee box grassy woodland is actively being conserved under the Urban forest biodiversity program.