Bert Dix Memorial Park & Playground

Description

The park offers a peaceful and relaxed riverside setting. Located at the southern end of the park is a brand-new playground, installed in 2024 following the 2022/23 flood event. The space is fully fenced and set back from the river's edge. BBQ facilities and picnic tables are located near to the playground with toilet facilities closer to the highway end of the park.

The creek that divides the park not only creates a beautiful, shady backdrop of willow trees, but is also a catalyst for improving water management within Margaret Dowling Creek and the Pike Floodplain, an anabranch of the River Murray with the aim to restore biodiversity and ecological values to the area. The recently installed Margaret Dowling Regulator and Fishway structures provide active management of environmental flows, which are overseen collaboratively by the Department of Environment and Water (DEW) and SA Water. A range of interpretive signage has been erected onsite to provide a more detailed explanation of the structure and its functions.

Bert Dix Park is also the best site to view the historic Paringa Bridge, a narrow lift span bridge that forms part of the Sturt( A1) Highway as it rises for river traffic to navigate through at 9.30am and 2.30pm daily (bookings essential and river traffic dependent).

Other features of the park include a public boat ramp, ample dedicated parking and access to the Lock 5 Loop Trail which continues down to the Lock before returning and continuing back towards the Renmark township.