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(+ former suburbs of Heidelberg, Mellor Park, White Park & Fulham Park Estate, St Albans, Reedbeds)
The name LOCKLEYS derives from the name given to their farm by the early settlers James and Charles Fisher. The Fisher brothers established their agricultural activities on Section 145 before 1844. Charles Fisher established a horse stud on his Lockleys property soon after settlement commenced in the district and he and his father John Hurtle Fisher, the first South Australian Resident Commissioner, were largely responsible for the foundation of the racing industry. Charles and James Fisher had an early brickworks kiln at Lockleys and in February 1841 the Government accepted their tender for the supply of 25-30,000 bricks. By 1840 Lockleys comprised two dwelling houses, a stockyard, cow sheds, dairy and piggery. The land returns of 1843 indicate that James and Charles Fisher had put under cultivation 190 acres of wheat, 22 acres of barley, 1 acre of oats, and were running 170 sheep, 60 cattle, 6 horses and 50 pigs on their property Lockleys. At this time theirs was the highest acreage under wheat in the Reed Beds area.
Some notable early residents of Lockleys included James Rowell, whose family established a farm in Lockleys in the 1850s and J W Mellor. Part of his property Mellor was subdivided to create Mellor Park (as the eastern section of Lockleys was known). The agricultural properties which made up the area now known as Lockleys suburb began to be subdivided from the 1920s onwards, including Mellor Park on the north side of Henley Beach Road. White Park, which is now surrounded by the Kooyonga Golf Course was also created in the 1920s. The subdivision on Willingale Avenue remains intact and retains some significant large 1920s dwellings on their original large allotments. There are also later houses and infill places in this subdivision.
As Lockleys made up part of the area known as the Reed Beds, it typically suffered from flooding at times of high river, and this continued until the Western Metropolitan Drainage Scheme was undertaken in the 1930s.
Lockleys was the location of one of the three cinemas in West Torrens and it still functions in the Soldier's Memorial Hall on Henley Beach Road. The Soldier's Memorial Hall was also used for Anglican Church Services from 1926 onwards, but it was not until 1964 that the Lockleys Anglican community had their own church, St Richard of Chichester. Previous to that all Anglicans had to worship at St. James in Mile End, outside the West Torrens district.
During the War the Lockleys Recreation Reserve and the Lockleys Oval were used for horse shows and gymkhanas with the aim of raising funds for the War effort. After the Second World War the Housing Trust began building residences for sale. The first group of these were constructed in Brighton in 1946 and the second group of these sale homes was completed on Rowell Road at Lockleys in November of 1946. Over time, the profile of the West Torrens community has become increasingly weighted towards the aged, and it was found that there were particularly high concentrations of elderly people in areas such as Lockleys from the 1960s onwards. [From 1998 Heritage Review]
FULHAM derives its name from Fulham Farm established by John White, one of the first settlers in the area. White settled on land which fronted Henley Beach Road and Tapleys Hill Road in 1836. He constructed a house close to the River Torrens in 1840 and later a chapel on the main road in 1855. John White was one of the most notable settlers in the West Torrens district and his sons went on to construct other residences on the estate. The Oaks which was constructed by John White's son Charles White, and Weetunga the house of Samuel White Junior, still remain, and both are entered in the State Heritage Register.
Early Fulham was characterised by farming and open paddocks. The land returns for 1843 include this Fulham area in the geographical location of the Reed Beds and significant early settlers such as A H Davis on Moore Farm, James and Charles Fisher at Lockleys, Joseph Johnson at Frogmore and John White at Fulham Farm are listed within this area. Each of these major settlers held up to 60 acres of wheat while John White had 130 acres of wheat and James and Charles Fisher had 190 acres between them. Other settlers had smaller amounts of between five and twenty acres.
Over time residents within these smaller villages like Fulham, which were associated with agricultural districts, required the introduction of better water supply and sanitation, as well as other community services such as the provision of churches and schools and the Fulham Public School was constructed in 1875 and replaced private schools in the area.
The suburb of Fulham is closely associated with the River Torrens and the flood plains and Fulham is bisected by Henley Beach Road and the southern boundary runs along the River Torrens outlet. The area south of Henley Beach Road was subdivided after the Second World War, once the drainage program had been completed, and settlement was made possible on the originally frequently flooded river flats of the River Torrens (the former Reed Beds).
The market gardens throughout the Fulham area supported many families during the period of depression in the 1930s but almost none of these horticultural activities remain in the district as residential development has displaced this early form of land use. The increase in post-War population also resulted in new schools being built within the West Torrens District and one of them was constructed in Fulham (after 1960).
FULHAM PARK: a 1941 subdivision of Mr WSP Kidman's Fulham Park Estate, astride the Henley Beach Road, some adjoining the Kooyonga Golf Course
In 1984 the first stage of the Fulham Retirement Village was opened, which reflected the aging of the population, and this village was constructed around The Oaks, one of the White families' homes in Fulham. [From 1998 Hertiage Review]
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