{"id":55313,"date":"2026-07-21T13:33:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/55313\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:33:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:33:38","slug":"mount-barker-restaurant-owners-wok-the-duck-launch-petition-against-governments-land-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/55313\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Barker restaurant owners Wok the Duck launch petition against government’s land acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Adelaide Hills restaurant owner has launched a petition against the state government’s plan to build a $61.1 million school at the site \u2014 and has likened his experience over the past week to the Australian film The Castle.<\/p>\n

The South Australian government last week announced a preschool and primary school would be built on a 5.5-hectare parcel of land in Mount Barker’s south-east, including on the site of the Thai restaurant.<\/p>\n

The decision shocked Aston Hills Mount Barker developers Lanser, who said they had been working on a master plan for more than 16 years<\/a> \u2014 and that the acquisition would mean the loss of up to 150 new homes, trees, a new reserve and the Thai restaurant, Wok the Duck.<\/p>\n

The Thai restaurant owners took to social media to express their dismay, explaining they had sold their family home to open the business and were just one year into a nine-year lease.<\/p>\n

Their video has since been viewed more than 400,000 times on Facebook and co-owner David Keir said they had received support from around the world.<\/p>\n

\"Staff<\/p>\n

Wok the Duck owner David Keir says they sold their family home to make the investment. (ABC News: Brant Cumming)<\/p>\n

“The success and the support is measured in people coming in the shop,” Mr Keir told 891 ABC Adelaide.<\/p>\n

“We have had thousands, and I mean thousands, come in over the weekend \u2014 all sorts of people from everywhere.<\/p>\n

“We’re actually getting phone calls from people in the UK wanting petitions so it’s not only just people in the community in the Adelaide Hills, it’s people everywhere.<\/p>\n

“The word has spread and people don’t like seeing what’s happening.”<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the restaurant owners launched a petition imploring the SA government to pause the proposed acquisition and to consider an alternative location.<\/p>\n

“They said they’ve looked at 16 sites \u2026 I’d like them to let us know the 16 sites,” Mr Keir said.<\/p>\n

“It’s actually like the Castle. To me, something doesn’t smell right.”<\/p>\n

Mr Keir said he would meet with the government tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Calls for government to consider other options<\/p>\n

Independent MP Matt Schultz told 891 ABC Adelaide he had signed the petition and had requested a meeting with the education minister.<\/p>\n

“I’ve written to the minister seeking a meeting so I can get a better understanding of what other sites had been looked at and why this one was preferred over those,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I would hope that we could find a way to get a win-win solution by having the school built but also seeing a much-loved family-owned community business be able to stay where it is.”\"A<\/p>\n

Independent MP Matt Schultz told ABC 891 he has signed the petition. (Facebook: Matt Schultz – Member for Kavel)<\/p>\n

Mr Schultz said Mr Keir had prepared meals for the community during the 2019 bushfires, “helped out with meals during COVID” and supported the Uniting Church with Hungry No More.<\/p>\n

“This isn’t just a cafe or a restaurant sitting on a plot of land, they\u2019ve done a great job of supporting community over the years,” Mr Schultz said.<\/p>\n

“These are people that are contributing back to our community and they need to be supported.”<\/p>\n

Minister for Housing and Urban Development Nick Champion told 891 ABC Adelaide the issues surrounding planning in Mount Barker were well known.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll obviously work with this much-loved local restaurant,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“As I understand it, the education department are going to meet with the restaurant, have a full-time person dedicated to their relocation and to assist in that.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

SA housing minister Nick Champion says the department will work with the restaurant to help them relocate. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)<\/p>\n

Education Minister Lucy Hood said 16 other sites were evaluated but had not been chosen “for various reasons”.<\/p>\n

“This is about making decisions in the best long-term interest of the whole Mount Barker community,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Hood said the department would meet with Mr Keir to provide information about how the site was selected and the acquisition process.<\/p>\n

Mr Keir said he did not plan to relocate.<\/p>\n

“I’m more than happy to talk to them about relocating the school because it’s an absolutely ridiculous space they’ve chosen,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They haven’t come and spoken to us, they haven’t consulted us, they have not comprehended that it’s a much-loved restaurant in the Adelaide Hills.”\"A<\/p>\n

The land the restaurant is on will be compulsorily acquired by the state government.\u00a0 (ABC News: Brant Cumming)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Adelaide Hills restaurant owner has launched a petition against the state government’s plan to build a $61.1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,52625,2683,6687,1955,1356,1695,1019,52626,39170],"class_list":["post-55313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-chantelle-thomas","tag-mount-barker","tag-nick-champion","tag-one-nation","tag-redevelopment","tag-restaurant","tag-school","tag-thai","tag-wok-the-duck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}