Yitpi Yartapuultiku | Port Adelaide | Review

Since opening in June 2025, the playground at Yitpi Yartapuultiku in Port Adelaide has quickly become a family favourite and the headquarters of choice for little explorers everywhere.

Review by Lisa Bachmayer

It’s less of a playground and more of a series of nature-based “play spaces”, as the City of Port Adelaide Enfield has been calling it, and we tend to agree.

The majority of the play spaces are designed with natural materials and separated by winding paths and stepping stones weaving through trees and shrubs. It’s all about nature, exploration, imagination and a celebration of indigenous culture and we LOVE it.

Located on the banks of the Port River, Yitpi Yartapuultiku – meaning “the soul of Port Adelaide” in Kaurna – is an Aboriginal Cultural Centre, collaboratively developed by Kaurna Custodians, the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Aboriginal Working Group, the council, Ashley Halliday Architects and WAX Design.

Upon arriving, our six and two-year-old reviewers ran over the green slope and straight into the play spaces, excitedly moving from one to the other, with big grins and wide eyes plastered on their faces.

The play spaces include a giant wooden snake with a roped body, a slide with a rocky hill to climb, wood-carved emus and emu egg sculptures, a basket swing, a pulgi cubby, a drumming circle, a water play area, a large wooden log climbing structure, a canoe filled with sand, a rock mound with tunnel and a rope swing.

The huge log climbing structure is best for older kids and was much enjoyed by the six year old, but the adventurous toddler could do the roped section with close supervision. 

All are connected by a myriad of pathways, with rocks and logs to climb along the way. It’s the kind of place you will need to follow your child around as they explore and move/run between play spaces, as the vegetation makes it hard to see them standing in one spot.

These nature-based play spaces blend beautifully into the natural landscape. It’s perfect for little explorers of all ages (both our six year old and toddler loved it equally) and we loved the signboards giving information about Kaurna traditions.

We returned the next day with the two year old and a fellow toddler friend, which proved to be a very different, sensory focussed (read: messy) experience. Gumboots, waterproof apparel and a change of clothes were a must, with the water play pumps and puddles getting a big work out from our excited and adventurous little ones.

With the play spaces located behind the impressive building, we recommend extending your outing by exploring the centre and especially the landscaped area along the riverbank, featuring a dolphin (and train!) viewing area, gathering sites and even some cute black swan sculptures that the kids loved sitting on.

The centre will soon be offering guided tours, art exhibitions and educational programs, along with a café and a gift shop. The shop was already open when we visited, selling craft and food products created by indigenous makers and even children’s books teaching Kaurna language.

UPDATE JULY 2025: The cafe is now open, selling an assortment of beverages and native-inspired baked goods. These included roasted wattleseed fruit cake, fingerlime and macadamia tart, rosella and native passionfruit tart, and emu rendang curry pie. There were also sandwiches and caramel wattleseed popcorn. We tried the rosella tart – it had some lovely flavours and wasn’t too sweet!

While nature-based playgrounds are somewhat lacking in the area (playground designers and councils: please take note), there is something special in the air here. We suspect it is due to the indigenous influence, weaving centuries of Kaurna knowledge and stories into the design, and the collaborative nature of this project.

With our six-year-old reviewer asking to come back before we had even left, we’re certain it’s not just the adults who can feel the magic and connection to Country here.

Things to consider:

• Access to the carpark is off Old Port Road.
• We recommend sturdy, closed shoes for guardians and kids, along with a change of clothes for any little ones who get excited over water play.
• A lot of the vegetation is new, so please stick to the paths and encourage your children to do the same.
• The play spaces are not fenced and border two main roads, but they are set back from traffic with the carpark and grassed area in between.
• It’s important to follow your children as they move between the play spaces and supervise at all times.
• There is a public toilet on site, with more inside the cultural centre.
• Yitpi Yartapuultiku is an indigenous cultural site, so it’s especially important to show respect for the land by taking away rubbish and avoid trampling on the vegetation.
• Learn more about Kaurna traditions by reading the interesting signboards around the play spaces and visiting the centre to learn how it was designed and built.
• The building and cafe are open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm and weekends and public holidays (excluding Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Good Friday) 10am-2pm.

Location:

1300 Old Port Road, Port Adelaide

For more information and all enquiries please visit the City of Port Adelaide Enfield website.

At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go.

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