Arabic version: الحكومة توقف بناء مركز تاركاري الثقافي
Nearly 20 years after the public first knew the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site would be vacated, plans for its redevelopment remain unresolved and the parcel on North Terrace has yet to be rebuilt.
According to ABC News, construction of Tarrkarri — an Aboriginal cultural centre intended for Lot Fourteen — has been on hold for three-and-a-half years, with the site described as still a hole in the ground.
The stasis at the old RAH site predates Tarrkarri. The Rann Labor government in 2007 suggested returning much of the land to the adjacent Botanic Gardens and repurposing heritage buildings into museums or galleries. The Weatherill government later ran an international design competition that attracted more than 120 entries; proposals included a Slovakian studio’s artificial green mountain and a local architect’s 280-metre observation tower, neither of which advanced. A Victorian architect’s $300 million proposal for a school, student accommodation and an art gallery won a 2013 design competition but was ultimately not progressed as originally conceived.
A May 2014 cabinet document obtained by the ABC warned ministers the “risks of inaction are substantial”, noting the East End would face an economic hit when the hospital left and that “plans must be well enough advanced that ‘downtime’ following the relocation of hospital functions is minimised.” The Weatherill government’s negotiations with developer Commercial and General for a $1 billion “24-hour city” collapsed in September 2017, about two weeks after the hospital’s exit, leaving the state government to manage the site and again propose returning roughly 30 per cent of the land to the Botanic Gardens.
The Marshall government later ran a competition aiming for a contemporary gallery on a scale comparable to Hobart’s MONA or Bilbao’s Guggenheim, but when it inherited the winning designs it redirected them toward an Aboriginal art and culture gallery after a Liberal Party election promise. The final $200 million plan — described at the time as larger than the SA Museum and Art Gallery combined and “the most impressive building on the South Australian skyline” by then‑Premier Steven Marshall — was designed to exhibit, perform and display tens of thousands of Indigenous artefacts in storage. Construction on Tarrkarri began in December 2021; the Liberals lost government four months later and the incoming Malinauskas administration halted works in October 2022, citing a $50 million blowout and advice the centre would be of state‑level significance only. A subsequent review warned an internationally significant centre could cost up to $600 million.
Premier Peter Malinauskas has maintained support for the Tarrkarri vision without committing additional state funding. Voices in the arts sector, including Margot Osborne and critic John McDonald, have urged reconsideration or a return to the contemporary gallery concept and questioned whether Tarrkarri could differentiate itself or sustain repeat visitation. The government has sought roughly $400 million from philanthropic sources and extra Commonwealth funding to fill the gap, efforts the ABC reports have so far fallen short.
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