Restaurateurs light the way to Sturt Reserve redevelopment’s next stage

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A former restaurant on Murray Bridge’s riverfront will reopen this spring in one of several developments coming soon to Sturt Reserve.

The Murray Bridge council announced on Monday it had granted a lease over the former Riverscape Restaurant, which has been vacant since 2021.

It will be renamed the Foggy Lantern under new lessees Peter and Damien O’Riley, the brothers who operate the award-winning 1924 Riverfront Steakhouse nearby; and business partner James Jasiunas.

But the O’Rileys’ relationship with the long-dormant cafe runs deeper than that.

The family built the building in 1997, and owned and operated it for the first 20 years of its life.

On Wednesday, they guided Murray Bridge News around the space, reminiscing about the century-old jarrah floors they’d salvaged from a property at Tailem Bend, the kiosk windows that used to face the skate park, and the sheeting that used to separate the smoking and non-smoking sections of the restaurant.

They’d already re-populated the dining room with tables and chairs, only a day after taking possession.

Several months’ worth of work needed to be done before the Lantern could reopen – for one thing, all of its old kitchen equipment had been auctioned off in 2024.

But an affordable coffee, breakfast and lunch place was what was missing on the riverfront, Damien said.

“It’s something Murray Bridge needs,” he said.

“Somebody’s got to do it.”

The brothers praised the Murray Bridge council for the work it had done to get to this point.

How far Sturt Reserve had come since the family moved to town in 1980, when it had been picturesque river on one side and cyclone fencing and seagulls at the dump on the other side.

The neighbouring Murray Bridge Club had contemplated a similar cafe development in 2021, but wound up prioritising other facilities as part of a $700,000 upgrade which coincided with the 2022-23 River Murray floods.

Mayor Wayne Thorley said several other parties had expressed an interest in leasing the building through a two-stage process, but the O’Rileys’ vision had stood out.

“We know the community valued it, wanted it open and wanted some variety in what we have down there,” he said.

“Ultimately we wanted to manage risk and get value for money and meet community expectations, and I think we’ve done that.

“This is about that whole activation (of the riverfront).

“We’ve got to keep moving forward.”

A new cafe won’t be the only improvement to the city’s riverfront over the next year or so, though.

Playground and BMX track will be Sturt Reserve’s next big attractions

A $6 million nature play space is due to be built at Sturt Reserve in the near future as a result of Labor’s federal election win last year.

The development, envisioned as a centrepiece of the riverfront redevelopment for the past decade, would replace the existing playground with a state-of-the-art play area themed around Ngarrindjeri legend, with a giant Murray cod at its heart.

The federal government would chip in more than $4.8 million of the project cost, while the Murray Bridge council would put in at least $1.4 million.

Since last May, Labor’s pre-election commitment has been translated into a funding agreement which is all but ready to be announced by Regional Development, Local Government and Territories Minister Kristy McBain.

Mr Thorley anticipated that work would be able to begin in the next three to four months.

The re-elected state government has also promised a $320,000 refurbishment of the iconic bunyip’s habitat, and another $320,000 for a new boat ramp.

In the meantime, funding for a dirt BMX track near the current skate park has been included in the council’s draft budget for 2026-27, following years of campaigning by local riders.

Mr Thorley hoped it would be finished by Christmas.

Other improvements to Sturt Reserve since the council originally laid out a long-term, $38-million vision for the area in the mid-2010s have included:

• A regional rowing centre and memorial to the Murray Cods
• A new war memorial
• Shelters beside the club and at the wharf
• A refurbishment of the wharf itself, with more work to come
• The tidying-up of a former fuel depot and surrounds, and relocation of an old steam engine, in partnership with volunteers

A handful of railway carriages temporarily removed from the wharf were at the council depot, awaiting a decision about their future, Mr Thorley said.

A redevelopment of Hume Reserve/Pomberuk, to the north of the road and rail bridges, is also about to begin, and several Ngarrindjeri organisations are working on a new use for the building between the bridges.

The final stages of the Sturt Reserve redevelopment, originally intended to occur in the late 2020s, include a riverfront swimming pool, some road closures, and pathways offering better access to the CBD and Round House.

None of those remaining works have yet been funded.