Tiled table at Belair station

Today's blip follows on with more of the heritage and history of our local Mitcham Council area. The Mitcham Heritage Research Centre arranged for a commemorative picnic table to be made for the Belair Railway station, recording highlights of railway history in the area and across Mitcham City.

The Belair table is a memorial to men killed in 1928 in a tunnel collapse during widening works. It also celebrates the lives and service of the longest serving station master Mick Harnett, 33 years, and his much loved dog "Patch".

The table is a unique work of art consisting of individually hand painted tiles joined together to tell the story of rail in this area, and to commemorate the history of the Belair Railway Station. Kapunda artists Jim and Ronda Dunstan designed and created the tiled table top which included the painstaking task of hand painting, firing and glazing each of the 112 ceramic tiles.

The tiles are continued onto the front of the base structure made from local Mitcham stone and bricks. See the detail much better in LARGE.
The unveiling took place on Saturday 22 May, 2010 as part of South Australia's history festival month.

The Mitcham Council now has 11 tables dotted throughout the area with each providing an interesting pictorial based history of the locality and the identities that contributed to the development of Mitcham in the early years. The City of Mitcham is currently 159 years old.

Belair is a scenic location on the edge of the Belair National Park and the station has a number of historic preserved buildings. (See my blip of the station on October 30th.) In past years, many people travelled by train to Belair at weekends to enjoy the adjacent National Park.