Belair National Park

Hot­ter months, Day­light Sav­ing Time: 8:00 am — 9:00 pm (Closed on Christ­mas Day)
Cold­er months, stan­dard time: 8:00 am — 7:00 pm

Clo­sures and safety

This park is closed on days of Cat­a­stroph­ic Fire Dan­ger and may also be closed on days of Extreme Fire Danger.

You can deter­mine the cur­rent fire dan­ger rat­ing by check­ing the Fire Ban Dis­trict map on the CFS website.

Check the CFS web­site or call the CFS Bush­fire Infor­ma­tion Hot­line 1800 362 361 for:

• Infor­ma­tion on fire bans and cur­rent fire conditions
• Cur­rent CFS warn­ings and incidents
• Infor­ma­tion on what to do in the event of a fire.

Lis­ten to your local area radio sta­tion for the lat­est updates and infor­ma­tion on fire safety.

Infor­ma­tion Office

Mon — Fri: 8:30 am — 4:30 pm
Week­ends and pub­lic hol­i­days: 9:00 am — 4:30 pm

Old Gov­ern­ment House buildings

Open the first and third Sun­day of each month and pub­lic hol­i­days, from 1 – 4 pm. Closed Christ­mas Day and Good Friday. 

State Flo­ra Nurs­ery in Belair Nation­al Park

Mon — Fri: 9:00 am — 5:00 pm
Week­ends and pub­lic hol­i­days: 10:00 am — 4:00 pm
The nurs­ery is closed Good Fri­day, Christ­mas Day, New Year’s Day and on days of Cat­a­stroph­ic Fire Dan­ger (Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District).

Belair Kiosk at the Adven­ture Playground

Open week­ends, pub­lic hol­i­days and school hol­i­days: 10:30 am — 3:30 pm
(times list­ed are approx­i­mate and are weath­er dependent)

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, book­ings and park management:

Belair Nation­al Park Infor­ma­tion Office
Phone: (+61 8) 8278 5477
Email: BelairNationalPark@​sa.​gov.​au

Emer­gency contacts:

Med­ical, fire (includ­ing bush­fire) and police emer­gency sit­u­a­tions
Phone: Triple Zero (000)

Police Assis­tance
Phone: 131 444 for non-urgent police assistance

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA – Emer­gency After Hours Duty Offi­cer (voice mes­sages only, text mes­sages are unavail­able to be received)
Phone: 0427 556 676 

Injured wildlife:

With­in the park
Please con­tact Belair Nation­al Park Infor­ma­tion Office on (08) 8278 5477 or the Region­al Duty Offi­cer on 0427 556 676.

Out­side of the park
Please con­tact a local wildlife res­cue group

After hours region­al duty offi­cer: 0427 556 676

In the warmer months, the park is a per­fect spot for fam­i­ly pic­nics, bar­be­cues and rid­ing, with spring being the per­fect time to vis­it if you love orchids and oth­er wild­flow­ers. Win­ter is the best time to view the water­falls and attempt the more chal­leng­ing hikes, it is also a good time of year for fun­gi. Vis­it morn­ings and evenings for the best chance to view most wildlife. For sport­ing activ­i­ties, Belair Nation­al Park is great at any time of year.

The park is locat­ed 13km south east of Ade­laide. Access is via Upper Sturt Road, Belair.

If you’re in your own vehi­cle, you can find this park on the map.

• Park map

There is also pub­lic trans­port to this park from the Ade­laide city cen­tre. Bikes can be car­ried on trains, but restric­tions apply. Please refer to Ade­laide Metro web­site for fur­ther details.

• Ade­laide Metro bus and train services

Parks are for all to enjoy, we would love to hear from you about your expe­ri­ence in nature. You can share your com­ments, pic­tures and videos with us and oth­ers by tag­ging @NationalParksSA on Face­book, Insta­gram or email us.

• Belair Nation­al Park — Acces­si­bil­i­ty map

Social Scripts

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Aus­tralia have cre­at­ed social scripts to help peo­ple on the Autism Spec­trum vis­it parks. These social scripts may be able to assist with less­en­ing anx­i­ety and stress when indi­vid­u­als are vis­it­ing a new place. The scripts below include spe­cif­ic and illus­trat­ed infor­ma­tion about what an autis­tic per­son can expect when vis­it­ing one of South Australia’s nation­al parks.

Vis­it to Belair Nation­al Park — Social Script 

Adven­ture Play­ground — Social Script

Her­itage Tree Walk — Social Script 

Facil­i­ties

Park­ing

There are many acces­si­ble park­ing spaces in Belair Nation­al Park. We are cur­rent­ly work­ing on get­ting acces­si­ble facil­i­ties added to all of our park maps for Belair Nation­al Park. See the Belair Nation­al Park — Acces­si­bil­i­ty map for loca­tions of facil­i­ties in the main entrance area. For infor­ma­tion about facil­i­ties in oth­er areas of the park, please ask for facil­i­ty loca­tions at the vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion cen­tre at the entrance to the park. 

Acces­si­ble car parks are avail­able at fol­low­ing loca­tions (num­ber available)

• Belair Nation­al Park Infor­ma­tion Office (1)
• Cor­ner of entry and exit road — near infor­ma­tion cen­tre (1)
• Main ten­nis court area — near coun­try club (1)
• Gums Oval — west­ern side (1)
• Pines Pic­nic Area 1 (1)
• Gov­ern­ment Farm Pic­nic Area 1 (1)
• Gov­ern­ment Farm Pic­nic Area 2
• Gold Escort Pic­nic Ground — pro­vides access to Adven­ture Play­ground (1)
• Wal­nut Pad­dock — pro­vides access to Adven­ture Play­ground (1)
• Joseph Fish­er Pic­nic Area (2)
• Kar­ka Pavil­ion (2)

Toi­lets

There are many acces­si­ble toi­lets in Belair Nation­al Park. We are cur­rent­ly work­ing on get­ting acces­si­ble facil­i­ties added to all of our park maps for Belair Nation­al Park. See the Belair Nation­al Park — Acces­si­bil­i­ty map for loca­tions of facil­i­ties in the main entrance area. For infor­ma­tion about facil­i­ties in oth­er areas of the park, please ask for facil­i­ty loca­tions at the vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion cen­tre at the entrance to the park. 

Acces­si­ble toi­lets are avail­able at fol­low­ing loca­tions (num­ber available)

• Main Oval (1)
• Main ten­nis court area — near coun­try club (1)
• Gums Oval — west­ern side (1)
• Pines Pic­nic Area 1 (1)
• Gov­ern­ment Farm Pic­nic Area 2
• Adven­ture Play­ground (2)
• Wil­lows Pic­nic Area (1)
• Joseph Fish­er Pic­nic Area (2)
• Kar­ka Pavil­ion (1 — right hand opening)
• Play­ford Lake (1)
• Old Gov­ern­ment House and State Flo­ra Nurs­ery (1)
  

Acces­si­bil­i­ty trike

Allow­ing increased access to explore exten­sive trail net­works. The acces­si­bil­i­ty trike is avail­able, free to hire, from Belair Nation­al Park. The MT Push is an all-ter­rain assist­ed wheel­chair, offer­ing com­fort, safe­ty and ease of use. The push han­dle, oper­at­ed by the rid­er’s bud­dy, con­trols the steer­ing and brakes. Moun­tain bike-style tyres and air sus­pen­sion pro­vide a com­fy ride and hydraulic disc brakes give excel­lent all-weath­er control. 

Pick-up from the Belair Infor­ma­tion Office, 9am – 4:30pm every day. Please note the MT Push is only to be used with­in Belair Nation­al Park. Upon hire a valid Driver’s License or Proof of Age Card is required and a con­di­tions of use form must be com­plet­ed. A com­pan­ion bud­dy will be required to assist in push­ing the all-ter­rain trike, book now.

See and do

Trails

Wood Duck Walk (1km)

The trail starts at the car park and pic­nic area at Play­ford Lake. The major­i­ty of the trail is bitu­men with a few short sec­tions of hard packed grav­el. In places the edge of the bitu­men path has bro­ken away and there are occa­sion­al rip­ples in the sur­face due to tree roots under the sur­face. Between the lake and the car park area the trail has a short sec­tion of bro­ken bitu­men with a small lip that may require assis­tance. The trail is best to be com­plet­ed in a clock­wise direction. 

Lori­keet Loop Walk (3km)

It is rec­om­mend­ed to start the walk from Old Gov­ern­ment House and should be done in an anti-clock­wise direc­tion. The trail is a mix of hard packed grav­el sur­face and bitu­men. Some assis­tance may be required on the climb back to Old Gov­ern­ment House from the adven­ture playground.

Dogs on a lead are also welcome. 

An impor­tant update on acces­si­bil­i­ty at Play­ford Lake:

The Play­ford Lake Trail meets Dis­abil­i­ty Dis­crim­i­na­tion Act 1992 (DDA) stan­dards and is pro­tect­ed by a loose mate­r­i­al over­lay dur­ing its cur­ing peri­od.
Con­trac­tors will return in Jan­u­ary 2025 to finalise the sur­face. DEW will mon­i­tor the trail as part of reg­u­lar audits to ensure accessibility.

Pic­nic areas 

Enjoy an open-air lunch at the acces­si­ble pic­nic ground at Play­ford Lake and at the far end of the Pines Pic­nic Area 1.

Ten­nis courts

Ten­nis courts 1, 2, 32 and 33 are acces­si­ble. Book and pay for your ten­nis court online before you arrive. 

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves. Assis­tance dogs must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times while in a park or reserve.

As per the dogs in parks and reserves pol­i­cy, if the dog is not an accred­it­ed assis­tance dog, they must be trained to assist a per­son with a dis­abil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate that dis­abil­i­ty and meet stan­dards of hygiene and behav­iour appro­pri­ate for a dog in a pub­lic place. How­ev­er, refusal may be giv­en if the per­son with the dis­abil­i­ty is unable to pro­duce evi­dence the dog is an assis­tance dog with the appro­pri­ate training.

Before tak­ing your assis­tance dog into a park that does not nor­mal­ly allow dogs, it is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact us so we can pro­vide you with the lat­est infor­ma­tion on any poten­tial haz­ards with­in spe­cif­ic parks that may affect your dog. Please con­tact the park via the con­tact details pro­vid­ed under the con­tact tab or con­tact the vis­i­tor ser­vice cen­tre via email or on Face­book.

Dogs are wel­come in this park.

Please ensure you:

• Keep your dog under con­trol and on a lead no more than two metres in length.
• Stick to des­ig­nat­ed walk­ing trails.
• Bring dis­pos­able bags to clean up your dog’s fae­ces (please be aware there are no bins in nation­al parks).

Dis­cov­er oth­er parks you can walk your dog in on our find a park tool or read 12 dog-friend­ly walks in Ade­laide Parks by Good Liv­ing for inspiration.

Free facil­i­ties

You can find many infor­mal pic­nic areas tucked away off the sides of roads and nes­tled in sur­round­ing bush­land. There is no fee to use these. There are also free bar­be­cues and pic­nic tables next to the Adven­ture Play­ground, at Play­ford Lake along­side the very pop­u­lar Wood Duck Walk and between Wil­lows and the Kar­ka Pavilion.

Hire­able facilities

Ten­nis courts, ovals, and pavil­ions (pop­u­lar for school sport­ing events, excur­sions, wed­dings and cor­po­rate events) are avail­able for hire online. The gas bar­be­cues and for­mal pic­nic areas around the park can also be hired online.

Hire­able facil­i­ties can be booked up to 12 months in advance. Pop­u­lar facil­i­ties such as ten­nis courts adja­cent to the play­ground are often booked up to six months in advance. To avoid miss­ing out on the facil­i­ties you would like to hire, ensure you book in advance if you are plan­ning a large group gathering. 

• Book before you go

Ovals

Main oval
Full size oval with crick­et pitch and Aus­tralian Rules Foot­ball goals. Facil­i­ties include BBQ, toi­lets (includ­ing one acces­si­ble toi­let), car park­ing for 70 vehi­cles and capac­i­ty up to 200 peo­ple on grassed area.

View on Google Street View

Gums Oval 1 (half oval)

Half oval with two BBQ shel­ters that have space for up to 30 peo­ple under shel­ter. Grassed area has capac­i­ty for up to 150 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include pic­nic tables and bench seat­ing in shel­ter, acces­si­ble toi­lets and car park­ing (includ­ing one acces­si­ble park) for 55 vehi­cles. It can be hired in con­junc­tion with Gums Oval 2.

Gums Oval 2 (half oval)

Half oval with two BBQ shel­ters that have space for up to 40 peo­ple under shel­ter. Grassed area has capac­i­ty for up to 150 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include pic­nic tables and bench seat­ing in shel­ter and car park­ing for 65 vehi­cles. It can be hired in con­junc­tion with Gums Oval 1.

Gums Oval (full oval)
Full oval with crick­et pitch and Aus­tralian Rules Foot­ball goals. Four BBQ shel­ters that have space for up to 70 peo­ple under shel­ter. Grassed area has capac­i­ty for up to 200 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include pic­nic tables and bench seat­ing in shel­ter and car park­ing for 120 vehicles.

View on Google Street view

Pavil­ions

Kar­ka pavil­ion
Ful­ly enclosed her­itage pavil­ion with large open grassed area. Pavil­ion has capac­i­ty for 100 peo­ple inside and 200 peo­ple on grassed area. Facil­i­ties include toi­lets (with two acces­si­ble toi­lets), car park­ing for 42 vehi­cles (two acces­si­ble parks), four tres­tle tables, some bench seat­ing plus access to water and power.

Main pavil­ion
Large enclosed her­itage pavil­ion locat­ed on the east­ern side of the Main Oval. Pavil­ion has capac­i­ty for 100 peo­ple inside. Facil­i­ties include toi­lets (with one acces­si­ble toi­let), car park­ing for 10 vehi­cles, four tres­tle tables, some bench seat­ing plus access to water and pow­er. Can be hired in con­junc­tion with the Main Oval.

Open space pic­nic areas

Gold Escort Pic­nic Ground
Grassed area with a large dou­ble shel­ter. The dou­ble shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 40 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, two pic­nic tables with bench seat­ing, access to bore water and car park­ing for 20 vehi­cles. Toi­lets (includ­ing two acces­si­ble toi­lets) are locat­ed near the Adven­ture Play­ground approx­i­mate­ly 150 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Gov­ern­ment Farm Area 1 Pic­nic Ground
Grassed area with a large dou­ble shel­ter. Book­ings include the hire of ten­nis courts 57 and 58. The shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 40 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, two pic­nic tables with bench seat­ing, access to bore water and car park­ing for 25 vehi­cles (includ­ing one acces­si­ble car park). There is an addi­tion­al nine car parks avail­able adja­cent to courts 57 and 58. Toi­lets are locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 200 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Gov­ern­ment Farm Area 2 Pic­nic Ground

Grassed area with a large shel­ter. The shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 30 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, one pic­nic table with bench seat­ing, access to bore water and car park­ing for 28 vehi­cles (includ­ing one acces­si­ble car park). Toi­lets (includ­ing one acces­si­ble toi­lets) are locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 75 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Joseph Fish­er Pic­nic Ground
Grassed area with a large shel­ter. The shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 30 peo­ple and the grassed area has capac­i­ty for 50+ peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, access to bore water and car park­ing for 22 vehi­cles (includ­ing two acces­si­ble carparks). Toi­lets (includ­ing two acces­si­ble toi­lets) are approx­i­mate­ly 50 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Kar­ka Pic­nic Ground
Large open grassed area with capac­i­ty for 100+ peo­ple. Car park­ing is avail­able for 12 vehi­cles. Toi­lets (includ­ing two acces­si­ble toi­lets) are locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 150 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Long Gul­ly Pic­nic Ground
Large open grassed area with capac­i­ty for 100+ peo­ple. Car park­ing is avail­able for 10 vehi­cles. Toi­lets are locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 150 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Pines Area 1 Pic­nic Ground
Grassed area with a large shel­ter. The shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 30 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, one pic­nic table with bench seat­ing, access to bore water and car park­ing for 11 vehi­cles (includ­ing one acces­si­ble car park). Toi­lets (includ­ing one acces­si­ble toi­let) are approx­i­mate­ly 20 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Pines Area 2 Pic­nic Ground
Grassed area with a large dou­ble shel­ter. The shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 40 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, two pic­nic tables with bench seat­ing, access to bore water and car park­ing for 10 vehi­cles. Toi­lets (includ­ing one acces­si­ble toi­let) are locat­ed at Pines Area 1 Pic­nic Area, approx­i­mate­ly 100 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Wal­nut Pad­dock Pic­nic Ground
Grassed area with a large shel­ter. The shel­ter has capac­i­ty for up to 30 peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, one pic­nic table with bench seat­ing, access to bore water and car park­ing for 17 vehi­cles (includ­ing one acces­si­ble car park). Toi­lets are locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 250 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Wil­lows Pic­nic Ground
Large open grassed area with small her­itage shel­ter. The grassed area has capac­i­ty for 150+ peo­ple. Facil­i­ties include two BBQs, fixed bench seat­ing in shel­ter and car park­ing for 28 vehi­cles. Toi­lets (includ­ing one acces­si­ble toi­let) are locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 100 metres away.

View on Google Street View

Old Gov­ern­ment House
The Friends of Old Gov­ern­ment House often offer after­noon tea (cof­fee, tea and scones) for $5 dur­ing open­ing hours (open the first and third Sun­day of each month and pub­lic hol­i­days, from 1 – 4 pm). 

The Kiosk
The Kiosk at the adven­ture play­ground is open on week­ends, pub­lic hol­i­days and school hol­i­days. Open dur­ing busi­ness hours. 

The Goat Shed
Come and pick up a bike, and grab a cof­fee and cake to go!
Open­ing hours and location.

Please note, to com­ply with the Emer­gency Ser­vices Act, on days of total fire ban, fixed BBQ’s will be turned off and portable BBQ’s will not be per­mit­ted. Some hire­able pic­nic grounds may be used on total fire bans. Wood or coal BBQ’s are not allowed at any time through­out the year. 

Call the Infor­ma­tion Office between 9.30 am and 4.30 pm on week­days for more infor­ma­tion.
Phone: (+61 8) 8278 8279

• Impor­tant: Col­lec­tion of fire­wood with­in Nation­al Parks is prohibited.
• Mobile phone cov­er­age can be patchy and unre­li­able in this park, espe­cial­ly if you are in low-lying areas.
• 10 things to see and do at Belair Nation­al Park from the Good Liv­ing Blog. 
• Go behind the scenes and dis­cov­er a Insid­ers Guide to Belair Nation­al Park. 
• Check out these 5 trea­sures in Belair Nation­al Park from the Good Liv­ing Blog.
• Check out Nature Play SA’s 40 things to do in Belair Nation­al Park.
• Explore what oth­er nature and out­door activ­i­ties are avail­able in this area on the South Aus­tralia Tourism website. 
• Parks man­age­ment plans
• Trails SA
• SA Marine Parks

For­mer Golf Course Site: The Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water con­tin­ues plan­ning works to inte­grate the for­mer golf course into the wider reserve to ensure all new pro­pos­als com­ply with the man­age­ment plan and enhance the vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence. Find out more. 

Our rangers love hav­ing schools in the park, learn­ing in nature. While we update our online infor­ma­tion and resources to assist teach­ers and oth­er learn­ing providers, we sug­gest vis­it­ing the Green Ade­laide nature edu­ca­tion pages for resources. Addi­tion­al­ly, please con­tact the park office to book one of our facil­i­ties for your next school excursion.

Belair Nation­al Park — a view from above

Take a vir­tu­al tour of this park

See what Belair Nation­al Park has to offer with beau­ti­ful autumn foliage, ten­nis courts, oval facil­i­ties, Old Gov­ern­ment House and more avail­able to explore!

• Geo­ra­ma vir­tu­al tour

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​‘Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​‘Flo­ra Tools’ or ​‘Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps.

Phy­toph­tho­ra (fy-TOFF-tho­ra), oth­er­wise known as root-rot fun­gus, is killing our native plants and threat­ens the sur­vival of ani­mals depend­ing on plants for food and shelter.

This intro­duced fun­gus can be found in plant roots, soil and water. Help stop the spread by using hygiene sta­tions, stay­ing on tracks and trails and by com­ply­ing with all Phy­toph­tho­ra man­age­ment signs.

• Phy­toph­tho­ra brochure

The Kau­r­na Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple have lived in the area for thou­sands of gen­er­a­tions. The Kau­r­na peo­ple referred to the area now known as Belair as Piradli, which means ​‘bald­ness’. This was in ref­er­ence to the area’s appear­ance when look­ing south from the Ade­laide Plains – ​‘bald like the moon’. The descrip­tion pro­vides an insight into the fire stick farm­ing activ­i­ties of the Kau­r­na people.

Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples have occu­pied, enjoyed and man­aged the lands and waters of this State for thou­sands of gen­er­a­tions. For Abo­rig­i­nal first nations, cre­ation ances­tors laid down the laws of the Coun­try and bestowed a range of cus­tom­ary rights and oblig­a­tions to the many Abo­rig­i­nal Nations across our state. 

There are many places across the State that have great spir­i­tu­al sig­nif­i­cance to Abo­rig­i­nal first nations. At some of these places Abo­rig­i­nal cul­tur­al pro­to­cols, such as restrict­ed access, are pro­mot­ed and vis­i­tors are asked to respect the wish­es of Tra­di­tion­al Owners.

In places where pro­to­cols are not pro­mot­ed vis­i­tors are asked to show respect by not touch­ing or remov­ing any­thing, and make sure you take all your rub­bish with you when you leave.

Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples con­tin­ue to play an active role in car­ing for their Coun­try, includ­ing in parks across South Australia. 

• DEW Park management
• DEW Abo­rig­i­nal partnerships

Belair Nation­al Park has impor­tant nat­ur­al, cul­tur­al, his­tor­i­cal and recre­ation­al val­ues and is the birth­place of the nation­al parks sys­tem in South Australia.

The first Euro­pean peo­ple known to have vis­it­ed the Belair area were crew­men from the ship Coro­man­del in 1837. Gov­er­nor Gawler lat­er set this land aside as a gov­ern­ment farm in 1840 upon which sick hors­es and bul­locks could be agist­ed. A few years lat­er the gov­ern­ment gained legal title to the farm and pro­ceed­ed to grow hay and take care of stock belong­ing to the sur­vey and police departments.

Between 1849 and 1852, the Com­mis­sion­er of Police took charge of the farm and used it for hors­es employed in the Gold Escort and oth­er police services.

In the ear­ly 1880s, an attempt to sub­di­vide the land was reject­ed and a bill was passed stat­ing the farm could not be sold. While the farm could not be sold, there were no restric­tions on what the land could be used for, so, in 1886, 202 hectares were hand­ed over to the Woods and For­est Depart­ment as a for­est reserve.

Ded­i­cat­ed in 1891, Belair became the first nation­al park to be estab­lished in South Aus­tralia and the sec­ond nation­al park in Aus­tralia. In 1892, the first board of com­mis­sion­ers was appointed.

By the 1920s, after pres­sure from groups such as the Native Fau­na and Flo­ra Pro­tec­tion Com­mit­tee, poli­cies changed in regards to the con­ser­va­tion of native plants and ani­mals in the park. As a result, the last large scale plant­i­ng of non-Aus­tralian species in the park occurred in 1922 — 700 Japan­ese cher­ries were plant­ed on six hectares of land in Sparkes Gul­ly — and in 1923 it was decid­ed all future plant­i­ngs were to be native to the state.

By 1929, the now well-estab­lished Belair Nation­al Park had devel­oped 42 ten­nis courts, sev­er­al pavil­ions and ovals and a well-devel­oped road net­work. This was to accom­mo­date the increas­ing num­ber of vis­i­tors and play an impor­tant social func­tion dur­ing and after the years of the Great Depres­sion. The park’s facil­i­ties were also used for mil­i­tary camps dur­ing the Sec­ond World War.

In 1934, trees were cleared to make way for a nine hole golf course which was built as a means to raise rev­enue for the park. This course was lat­er extend­ed to an 18 hole golf course in 1941.

In 1972, the Nation­al Parks Com­mis­sion was ter­mi­nat­ed and con­trol of the park was passed to the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice. Belair Recre­ation Park was gazetted in 1972 and was re-ded­i­cat­ed to Belair Nation­al Park in 1991.