North Adelaide

Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colony of South Australia completed the survey for the capital city of Adelaide by 10 March 1837. The survey included 1,042 acres (4.22 km²), including 342 acres (1.38 km²) north of the River Torrens. This surveyed land north of the river became North Adelaide.[2][3]

North Adelaide was the birthplace of William Lawrence Bragg, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915.

It contains many heritage-listed buildings, including the North Adelaide Post Office.[4]

North Adelaide (north of the River Torrens), in relation to the Adelaide CBD.

North Adelaide consists of three grids of varying dimension to suit the geography. North Adelaide is surrounded by parklands, with public gardens between the grids. The North Adelaide Parklands (the Adelaide Parklands north of the River Torrens) contain gardens, many sports fields (including the Adelaide Oval), a golf course, horse agistment paddocks and some areas sympathetic with the native environment.

The northernmost (and largest) grid has Wellington Square at its centre, and O'Connell Street (named after Daniel O'Connell[5]) as its main commercial street. O'Connell Street is the continuation of King William Road, and links the main street of Adelaide City with Main North Road. A tram used to run up O'Connell Street and Melbourne street; the government is investigating extending the Glenelg tram along King William Road to terminate at Brougham Place. O'Connell Street has many cafes, restaurants, burger bars, shops and six pubs. Lincoln College and Aquinas College are also situated in this grid. Tynte Street is another commercial street in the largest grid running between Wellington Square and the east parklands. It contains the North Adelaide Primary School, a public library, a civic hall, a post office and a pub. Also on Tynte Street are the studios of Adelaide's NWS-9, the local Nine Network affiliate.

The southernmost (and smallest) grid is bordered by Brougham Place to the north, Pennington Road to the south, Sir Edwin Smith Avenue to the east and Palmer Place with adjoining Palmer Gardens/Pangki Pangki to the west (these two named after Lt Col George Palmer (1799-1883), a South Australian Colonisation Commissioner[6]). This area contains the Women's and Children's Hospital, the Memorial Hospital, St Peter's Cathedral, St. Mark's College, the Cathedral hotel (popular with cricket fans due its proximity to the Adelaide Oval), and the Queen's Head hotel (the oldest Adelaide pub, renovated in 2003).

The remaining (western) grid is termed Lower North Adelaide. It is nearest the Torrens floodplain. It contains Brougham Place Uniting Church, St. Ann's College, and four pubs. Melbourne Street, with cafes, restaurants, galleries, shops and two pubs, is its commercial street.

A former wine shop on Wellington Square

Many of the North Adelaide pubs and hotels are heritage-listed. There are fourteen in total: eight in Upper North Adelaide, four in Lower North Adelaide, and two in the Cathedral grid. Six of the Upper North Adelaide pubs are on O'Connell Street: the Caledonian, the Royal Oak, The O Hotel, the Cambridge, the Oxford and The Archer. The Daniel O'Connell (formerly the North Adelaide Hotel) is on Tynte Street, and the Wellington Hotel (which also serves as the local TAB) is located at the eastern side of Wellington Square. The Dover Castle is heritage listed but is no longer a hotel, having been turned into apartments. Lower North Adelaide contains the Kentish Arms, established in the 1840s by John Cocker and which was a centre of the early growth of cricket in the city, The Lion hotel (formerly a brewery), the Lord Melbourne, and the British (Adelaide's second oldest public house).[7]

North Adelaide's O'Connell Street and Melbourne Street are also very popular for its many well known restaurants such as Fellini, Scuzzi, Cafe Palazzo, 24-hour bakery, Zapata's and Montezuma's.

The North Adelaide Primary School[8] on Tynte Street was established in 1877 and is one of the oldest schools in South Australia. At 2007 its enrolment from reception to year seven was 250. The school's motto recorded on its World War One honour board is Esse quam videri, "To be, rather than to seem" and the school colours are red and blue.

Queen's College (1885–1949) on Barton Terrace[9] was the longest lasting proprietary (i.e. privately owned and run) boys' college in Australia.[10] Another private school of historical interest was North Adelaide Grammar School (aka. Whinham College).

Many residential colleges affiliated with the University of Adelaide are in North Adelaide, including Aquinas College, Lincoln College, St. Ann's College, St. Mark's College, Kathleen Lumley College (Postgraduate)[11] and Australian Lutheran College, the Lutheran tertiary institution and seminary.

King William Road at night

North Adelaide is well served by road, although in peak hour some roads, particularly O'Connell Street and Melbourne Street, are quite congested.

North Adelaide railway station is located on the Gawler line of the Adelaide rail network. The railway station is however on the western edge of North Adelaide with infrequent services and is little used.

There are several Adelaide Metro bus routes that service the area on their way through to other suburbs. Buses run along several routes:

• King William Road, O'Connell Street, Ward Street, Hill Street, Mills Terrace then a bus only link to War Memorial Drive (since 1912, former electric tram route)[12]
• King William Road, O'Connell Street, Ward Street, Jeffcott Street and Jeffcott Road
• King William Road, O'Connell Street and Prospect Road (since 1883, former horse tram route)[13]
• King William Road, O'Connell Street and Main North Road (since 1883, former horse tram route)
• King William Road, Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and Melbourne Street (since at least 1912, former electric tram route)
• Frome Road and Melbourne Street
• Montefiore Road and Jeffcott Street (since October 2006)

Since 27 January 2014 a free loop bus operated jointly between the Adelaide City Council and the state government circulates through Adelaide and North Adelaide replacing a community bus operated by the Adelaide City Council.

There is provision for bicycles along LeFevre Terrace/Frome Road and Montefiore Road/Jeffcott Street/Wellington Square and many of the streets have little traffic and are bicycle friendly.

House on Jeffcott Street, characteristic of many of the old homes in the area.

In the 2016 Census, there were 6,950 people in North Adelaide. North Adelaide has a much lower proportion of its population below 14 years (2.4% 0–4 years, 2.3% 5–9 years, 2.2% 10–14 years) compared to South Australia as a whole (6.3% 0–4 years, 6.4% 5–9 years, 6.0% 10–14 years). Conversely, the proportion of the population 20–29 years (14.2% 20–24 years, 10.4% 25–29 years) is much greater than South Australia as a whole (6.4% 20–24 years, 6.4% 25–29 years).[1]

60.7% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 5.2%, China 3.3% and India 2.5%. 70.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 3.9%, Italian 1.7%, Greek 1.5%.[1]

The most common responses for religion were No Religion 37.1% and Catholic 16.3%.[1]

The median household income of $1,693 was more than the South Australian median of $1,206. The most common occupations in North Adelaide included Professionals 39.3%, Managers 15.8%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.8%, Community and Personal Service Workers 11.7%, and Sales Workers 8.2%.[1]

North Adelaide is part of the state electoral district of Adelaide, which has been held since 2010 by Liberal MP Rachel Sanderson. In federal politics, the suburb is part of the division of Adelaide, and has been represented since 2004 by a Labor MP, since 2019 being Steve Georganas. North Adelaide has one or two polling booths for federal and state elections, North Adelaide at the North Adelaide Primary School and for most elections, Lower/East North Adelaide at St Cyprian's Anglican Church. The first preference votes by booths for recent state and federal elections are shown in tables.

In local government, North Adelaide forms the North ward within the City of Adelaide. Since 2018 the North Ward Councillors are Mary Couros and Phillip Martin. Significant local issues since 2010 have included:

• Adelaide oval precinct[18][19]
• Barton Road bus link[20]
• LeCornu development site[21]
• Height limits on developments[22]
• Late night closing of hotels[23]
• Redevelopment of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre by the Adelaide Crows[24]

• "Nomenclature of the Streets of Adelaide and North Adelaide" (PDF). State Library of South Australia. taken from The City of Adelaide Year Book, 1939-1940 Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• Media related to North Adelaide at Wikimedia Commons