Hazelwood Park is an upper class suburb in the City of Burnside, Adelaide, South Australia with a census area population of 1,717 people.

Prior to European settlement, the area that is now Hazelwood Park was part of the traditional lands of the Kaurna people, that stretched from Port Broughton to Cape Jervis.

Unlike other more brilliantly designed early villages (such as Beaumont) Knightsbridge was laid out by a Captain Hall, originally from Port Adelaide.

The first house in the suburb, which remains to this day on 12 Hazelwood Avenue, was built by George Taylor, a local grocer, in 1854.

Named Knightsbridge House, it was unique in having much of the ground floor situated half-underground to cope with the fierce Australian summers.

[1] After World War II, with Adelaide rapidly expanding both in the metropolitan region and in the hills area various plans were laid out to replace the windy and dangerous Mount Barker Road.

The Burnside Council put much effort into this proposal, widening Linden Avenue (which runs NW to SE) in preparation for the highway.

After years of drivers racing down the 2 km long avenue, the Burnside Council constructed a large median strip in 2005.

[3] The actual Hazelwood Park was acquired by the State Government free of charge in July 1915, and gazetted as a 'pleasure resort'.

The Mayor of Burnside at the time, George Bolton, had a grand vision for what the park should become; notably in the construction of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

(Bolton was Mayor from 1952 to 1954 and then from 1962 to 1967) After years of effort, the Burnside Council eventually acquired the park in May 1963 after negotiations with the Premier, Sir Thomas Playford.

As part of the acquisition, the Burnside Council was to retain the name 'Hazelwood' and was to maintain the park at a level satisfactory to the State Government.

Caroline Emily was largely responsible for introducing the system of boarding-out (as opposed to fostering) children from poor families."

This is in stark comparison to past times when native vegetation was replaced by European species in keeping with the wishes of the then population.

The creek winds down from Waterfall Gully, through Burnside into Hazelwood Park and then continues on to join the River Torrens near the Adelaide Botanical Gardens.

[7] Traffic congestion is relatively light in Hazelwood Park and only occurs during peak periods on the two main thoroughfares, Greenhill and Glynburn Roads.

Unfortunately, due to the heavy emphasis on car transport in the area, the bus routes are limited and under-developed, particularly compared to the efficient public transit links to the rest of metropolitan Adelaide.

[2] Hazelwood Park has a higher than average stable family population with a large segment of both children and their mature aged parents.

Hazelwood Park is part of the state electoral district of Bragg, which has been held since 2002 by Liberal MP Vickie Chapman.

The results shown are from the closest polling station to Hazelwood Park – which is located outside of the suburb – at St David's Church Hall on nearby Glynburn Road (Burnside).

Similar to the rest of the City of Burnside, Hazelwood Park's political leanings are overwhelmingly in favour of the Liberal Party.

This could be attributed to the Liberal Party's traditional middle-upper class support base, of which Hazelwood Park easily fits the bill.