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A brief history of the West Torrens district
A brief history of the West Torrens district
The story of the city of West Torrens - which extends from the west parklands of Adelaide to a small pocket of the coast at West Beach, and from the River Torrens in the north to the Glenelg tram line in the South – is as long as that of the State of South Australia.
Being close to the site chosen by Colonel William Light for establishing the City of Adelaide and Holdfast Bay, where the founding pioneers landed in December 1836, the West Torrens District was one of the first regions of the new colony of South Australia to be explored by the early settlers. These explorations revealed a land across which the Kaurna Aboriginal People had roamed for tens of thousands of years - which varied from fertile floodplains adjacent to the River Torrens to vast areas of sandhills, swamps and dense ‘reedbeds’ nearer to the coast. The West Torrens region was also among the first country sections to be surveyed by Colonel Light and his party. The colony's most prominent citizens, including Colonel Light, took up much of its land. However, despite this early taking up of land, the district was to remain sparsely populated for many decades, most of it being turned over to farming. The States first wheat crop is said to have been sown near Hilton and some of South Australia’s earliest vineyards were planted adjacent to the River Torrens in the district northwest regions.
Residential development first took place in the areas closest to the city. Thebarton, where Colonel Light built his home, quickly developed both as a residential and industrial centre and in 1841 was described as one of the largest of Adelaide's suburban villages. It was also the site of Adelaide's first racecourse, where the inaugural Adelaide Cup was run.
In the West and South of the district there were a number of thriving small villages and hamlets, among them Hilton, Plympton, Richmond and Cowandilla. The District Council of West Torrens was proclaimed on 7 July 1853, the 7th District Council to be formed in the colony. The Council area then was much as it is today. However, over the years there have been a number of changes, large and small, to the Council's boundaries. The first occurred in 1855 when an area near Holdfast Bay became part of the local government area of Glenelg, but the most significant was in 1883 when the industrialised and heavily populated region of Thebarton became an independent local government area. (In 1997, Thebarton and West Torrens were rejoined.) Another significant alteration of the boundaries came up in 1903 when the area between Anzac Highway and the Glenelg tram line from South Road to Brighton Road became part of West Torrens, although the westernmost portion was later annexed to Glenelg (Holdfast Bay).
The West Torrens district still had a semi-rural flavour, particularly in its northwest, until the mid-1900s, with large swathes of land along the western reaches of the River Torrens being worked by market gardeners until as late as the 1970s. Today, much of West Torrens is residential, with pockets of secondary industry. Its most prominent feature is Adelaide's domestic and International Airport, which occupies the central portion of the district. [LH0308-12]
Street origins/ Nomenclature - a searchable list of streets in West Torrens and their name origin (see Our Research)
Street origins/ Nomenclature - a searchable list of streets in West Torrens and their name origin (see Our Research)
Places and sites of significance by Suburb
Places and sites of significance by Suburb
Glandore (inc part Black Forest)
Road name changes /numbering
Road name changes /numbering
Anzac Highway/ Bay Road: was known almost from the beginning of European settlement as the Bay Road. It was renamed Anzac Highway in November 1924 as a tribute to those who had served in the first world war.
Cross Road: between Anzac Highway and Marion Road was known as Plympton Terrace for several decades until the early 1950s. In 1952 Plympton Terrace officially became part of Cross Road.
Marion Road: Marion Road was first used as the name of the main road leading from the city to the Village of Marion (laid out November 1938). Much of the road lies within West Torrens and was given the name in 1853 with the declaration of the council boundaries. The portion of Marion Road lying between the Anzac Highway and the Southern Cross Nursing Homes was from the late 1840s to 1912 known as Plympton Road, prior to that it was simply called a 'Government Road'. From 1912 to just after the Second World War the same stretch of road was known as Martin Avenue. Martin Avenue was named for the family and descendants of John Martin who lived at their property, The Pines (now part of the Southern Cross Nursing Homes complex), from December 1880 to August 1941. After the Second World War, Martin Avenue became part of Marion Road.
Morphett Road: between the Bay Road/Anzac Highway and the Holdfast Bay railway line (now the Westside Bikeway) was, from the early 1880s, known as Erlestone Terrace. That road officially became part of Morphett Road in 1939.
Richmond Road: formerly Nottingham Avenue/ West Beach Road Much of the road between Marion Road and South Road was from at least the 1880s known as
Richmond Road. There were however two sections of the road that were exceptions. The small section of Richmond Road running from Railway Terrace to South Road was, as the southern boundary of the Ellenville subdivision, known from 1879 as South Terrace. And from October 1882 as part of the new Keswick subdivision, the section of Richmond Road between South Road and the Bay Road/Anzac Highway was named Nottingham Avenue. Nottingham Avenue had different number to the Richmond Road. Around 1936/37 the West Torrens Council decided the the full length of the road should be renamed to West Beach Road. The first step in this process was the new numbering system adopted with even numbers on the south side of the road and odd numbers on the north side, beginning from Anzac Highway then going west; this resulted in the southern numbering on Nottage Avenue changing from odd to even and the northern side from even to odd numbers. The road was renamed West Beach Road in 1943 and then Richmond Road in 1984.
Rosetta Road: The continuation of Richmond Road was named Rosetta Road - it ran between Marion Road and Tapleys Hill Road from the early 1900s, was named for Rosetta nee Bagshaw (c.1840-1918) the wife of prominent local land owner W.H.Gray (1808-1896). The road was closed with the building of the airport from the late 1940s.
Holbrooks Road properies were renumbered 1971/1972
Burbridge, Cowandillah (Cowandilla), Rowland, Hilton Roads - Sir Donald Bradman Drive: Sir Donald Bradman Drive is made up of several former roads. From the mid-1970s to 2001 Sir Donald Bradman Drive was named Burbridge Road. Burbridge Road in turn was made up of Burbridge, Cowandillah (Cowandilla), Rowland and Hilton Roads. The latter three names had been in use since the 1850s. Cowandillah Road ran approximately between today’s Marion Road and Bagot Avenue, Rowland Road from Bagot Avenue to South Road and Hilton Road from South Road to the eastern boundary of West Torrens
South Road: formerly Taylors (Bridge) Road / Fisher Terrace / East Terrace / Black Prince Road
1967 Taylors Road/South Road Renumbering (Sands and McDougall Directory) NOTE: South Road numbers run both north and south from the Torrens River
Military Road: A meeting of residents residing on the sea coast between Port Adelaide to Marino was held on 13 June 1855 and, in August of that year, they petitioned the government for the construction of a military road along the foreshore 'where alone its open character renders it liable to successful attack' In proof of their sincerity the memorialists subscribed the sum of £1,500 towards its construction and among the donors were Edward Stephens, Joseph Johnson, William Gray, J. White and A.H. Davis:
A large sum of money has already been expended in military preparation [and it] is absolutely necessary to make a practicable road along this exposed portion of the coast so that, in case of the descent of an enemy, infantry, cavalry, and especially artillery, may rapidly concentrate for action.
On 9 January 1865 the Surveyor-General and Colonel Biggs rode over the proposed line of a military road from Semaphore to Marino and the Editor of the Register opined that there was likely to be a fort erected about 500 or 600 yards to the north of Semaphore and another upon a government reserve behind the sandhills, about a mile and a quarter to the southward of Semaphore towards Glenelg.
It was envisaged the road would then run southwards immediately to the rear of the sandhills and entirely through purchased land to the Glenelg Creek 'a little above the present footbridge'. Near this spot, behind the sandhills, would be placed the third fort and a comment was made that 'the erection of a fort at Marino is a matter not yet decided upon.'
To accommodate the road the only land to be purchased was that between the Semaphore and Glenelg Creek, the remainder of the line being along roads already laid down. The proposed line was so level and free from engineering difficulties that it was understood that the completion of the road might be looked for in the course of about six months. Apart from its primary use as a means of defence, the new line was considered to be an immense boon to the residents of Glenelg and the populated sections between that town and Marino, as there were no ready means of transit between Glenelg and Port Adelaide.
...At a meeting of the Central Road Board on 15 June 1876, Mr W.H. Gray, Chairman of the West Torrens District Council, presented a memorial signed by the Mayors of Port Adelaide, Glenelg and Brighton and the chairmen of the district councils of Lefevre Peninsula, urging the board to adopt as a main road the road at present running from Tapley's Hill via Glenelg to Port Adelaide, in lieu of the military road between the two latter places. He said the former was made nearly all the way, while the other would run over swampy ground and sandhills and entail a very large expenditure, besides being a longer distance than the other. The Chairman of the Central Road Board said that the military road was the only one gazetted by the board and it could not entertain the idea of having two roads. However, if the government abandoned the military road, and the one suggested by the memorialists was a better one, the board would not hesitate to take it over. FROM: SLSA Manning Port Adelaide-Military Road
Port Road: formerly part Shierlaw Terrace (Further info in progress)
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