Monarto, South Australia

Monarto South Australia
Monarto
Coordinates	35°04′S 139°07′E
Population	5,254
Established	1973
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACDT (UTC+10:30)
Location	63 km (39 mi) from Adelaide
LGA(s)	Rural City of Murray Bridge
State electorate(s)	Kavel
Federal division(s)	Barker

Monarto is a region and formerly proposed city in South Australia. It is north of the South Eastern Freeway between the Callington and Murray Bridge exits 63 km from Adelaide.

The reason behind Monarto project

In year 1970 the Labor Government who ruled during that period (Don Dunstan led the party) was concerned that Adelaide would become overpopulated, after a rapidly increase in population growth caused by high rates of birth and immigration that had occur in 1960s. In total, the population growth rate had excess of 3% per annum and the government estimated the city would reach 1.5 million by the end of the century. Further, according to the ruling party the growing population would sooner or later become a threat to the quality of urban life (social and environmental) which was highly prestigious.

An expanding of the city would also threaten the attractive wine producing areas that could be found in the south and north of the city. To solve the problem of increasing population, the government proposed that another city should be built, about 80 km east of Adelaide. They named it Monarto that would work as a kind of supporting city, where people from Adelaide could move.

The government had estimated that 1.3 million was the optimal size for Adelaide which meant that Monarto would have about 200,000 by the end of the century. Monarto was to become a new city that would work as a satellite city to Adelaide and, since it was far enough away, it was important that Monarto would have its own identity and economy. This made it difficult to define what kind of city Monarto was supposed to be.

However, some people where suspicious about the project and especially the reasons behind it. For instance, some thought that the real reason behind this project was of political interest and that the state government only wanted to improve its electoral prospects in Murray Bridge (Monarto was located nearby).Other believed that the state government only wanted to have a development project that was close to Adelaide and its economy, but still far enough from it so it could be included to the “new cities programme”. Additionally, a geographer called Professor Peter Scott was sceptic about the idea of a new city and pointing out that the growing rates of population was lesser than had been projected.

The structure of Monarto

The main purpose with the programme was to facilitate a decentralized policy in regional and urban planning and by that alleviating some of the problems that were coming with the rapidly growing cities.

In the beginning there was some opposition about letting the project is included to the programme. Nevertheless there was also a strong consensus that in order to succeed with establish a city, it’s crucial to have a strong public sector employment base in the early phases of development. According to Monarto development commission, Monarto was going to develop to be a small city after years of working as a large country town. This attitude would come to affect the planning over the area, as the commission wanted to find a balance between natural features of the site and built-form and infrastructure.

On Small-scale scenario, such as the city centre; public spaces were going to dominate the space, with adjacent buildings as complement. On broad city-wide scales, key landscape features would form the basis of parklands articulating built-up areas..

Dunstan on the other hand had his own vision of the project, according to him Monarto was going to become “a new vision of Australian city”, it was going to hold the best part from social planning and family convenience. The town would not contain any dilapidated housing estates or decent housing for people who need it. Instead it would hold palatial town-houses and other houses that were made for civil bureaucrats.The inner-center would only hold leisurely cyclepaths since the town should be small but beautiful, a “virgin city”.To secure the economy, three industrial areas with focusing on light industry were going to be established. The goal was to spread South Australia’s industrial base around the state but it didn’t meet any success.

After year of planning and conflicts about compensation of farmland that have been compulsorily acquired, the project reached a turning point when new studies showed that the population growth was excessive. Also, in 1975 the Whitlam government lost its supremacy which resulted that the “new cities programme” where shut- down. This was a hard backspace and some years in 1980 the project of Monarto faced the same outcome.

Why the project never got implemented

There are several reasons why the development of Monarto never took place, although it was an ambitious project; these reasons become its downfall. The main factor that stopped the project was the evidence of a much smaller population growth than was projected. Because of that, the government lost it main argument for building a new town, which resulted in less support from the already doubtful federal government, who become even more unwilling to give any further aid to the Dunstan’s project.

Another factor was the economic failure, a combination of unsuccessful in attracting private enterprises and the economic recession that occur which made it impossible to transfer any job from Adelaide. A third aspect who play a more unofficial part in the downfall of the Monarto project was the constant resistance and suspicious on all dimension.

Many never believed really in the project which might have affect the project in terms of support and financial aid. For instance, many thought the geographical location was vulnerable from an economic perspective since it was too close to Adelaide to develop an independent economy. On political level, as already mention many where doubting the wisdom of the project, which made it harder to get everyone to work at the same direction. Also, the entering of the new federal government was a direct contribution to the shut-down of the project, due to their loss of will to contribute any more money. In general the project of Monarto was ambitious, but lack in the urban planning, and different obstacles made it remain a dream.

Unfortunately for Monarto residents, the plan never came to fruition. A large portion of the land has now been taken up by the Monarto Zoo, established in 1983. There are several conservation parks in Monarto - mainly in Monarto South. These parks are often visited by Bush Walkers and Bird Watchers. An industrial estate has also been established at Monarto as part of the growth of the city of Murray Bridge.

Big W have a distribution center located at Monarto. Other large companies with warehousing in Monarto include Scott's Transport, Holden and Inghams.

Monarto is adjacent to the main Adelaide to Melbourne railway line, and was formerly a junction for a branch line running north on the plain between the Murray River and the Mount Lofty Ranges. Currently Ferries McDonald Road in Monarto South is in the process of receiving approval for a road upgrade, specifically a bitumization of the road. Due to a colony or colonies of Mallee Fowl the project has had to go through several iterations to ensure that the environmental impact is minimized. This will create a transport link from Langhorne Creek to the Barossa. The Murray Bridge Council are the project managers of this project.

Monarto is home to the Murray Bridge Motocross Club with a track that runs both bikes and quad bikes, and the Monarto Shooting Club.

Most of the residents of Monarto run small hobby like farms, raising cows, sheep and horses. Crops in the area include wheat, oats and barley.