species. Exotic birds, including rock pigeons, European goldfinch, house sparrow, starlings and blackbirds are common. Introduced bees and European wasps are present, with the aggressive wasps an issue for the park's visitors. Naming The name of the park derives from a road built by George Alexander Anstey, a South Australian pastoral and horticultural pioneer. Anstey established Highercombe Estate on two land sections east of the park that he purchased in 1840. He built a private road to his estate, which ran along the base of a gully and up a steep hillside. The road was initially named "Anstey Hill Road"; this name was later used for the hill, the subsequent land reserve and the current recreation park. The Gun Emplacement was officially named as such in 1997 after a period of unofficial usage. This name was first used by Major William Hubert Edmunds, a Lieutenant cartographer in the Boer War who later enlisted in the Commonwealth of Australia forces. After leaving the military, Edmunds carried out "reconnaissance surveys" on the fringes of the Adelaide metropolitan area. As part of the work, he took particular note of an unusual plateau at the edge of what is now Tea Tree Gully. By the time his work was published in 1926, he had named the plateau "The Gun Emplacement", presumably for its suitability as a location for a field gun battery. Foundation In 1962, the South Australian Planning Authority's town planning committee released a report on the development of metropolitan Adelaide. The report, in part, recommended that a regional park be established north of Anstey Hill and southeast of Tea Tree Gully. The stated intention was preservation of the character of the face of the foothills, as visible from Adelaide's suburbs. From 1966 to 1977, land was purchased under the auspices of the State Planning Authority, for what was then "reserve 13". One notable purchase was of in 1969, of which was an active quarry operated by Quarry Industries. This quarry was known as the Tea Tree Gully freestone quarry and today lies in the park's northwest. It had a permit to operate until December 1970, which was later extended to December 1980. Additional land affected by the quarrying was purchased in 1971. By the end of the lease, rehabilitation work completed did not meet the standard required by the Planning Authority. Quarry Industries vacated the site in April 1982, other firms then