Mitcham Chronology1838Mitcham Plains surveyed into 80 or 134 acre sections and European settlement began. (History of the City of Mitcham, WA Norman, 1954 pg 7)

1840Mitcham Village allotments offered for sale by the SA Company. (Norman 1954, pg 12)

1853 May 12 - SA Government Gazette published proclamation of the formation for the District Council of Mitcham – the first District Council in the state. (Norman, 1954 pg 23)

1859Governor's Summer Residence building began at Government Farm Belair (now Belair National Park). ( Old Government House - Belair 1991 Edition)

1867Area between South Road and Sturt Creek went to the District Council of Brighton, later to become part of Marion in 1888. (Norman, 1954 pg 44)

1871Northern portion of the district broke away to form the Corporation of Unley. (Norman, 1954 pg 44)

1880Water supply laid to Mitcham from Brownhill Creek then towards Adelaide. (Norman, 1954 pg 154; CT 332/111)

1883Railway across the district opened - the biggest public works undertaken in the district. (Norman, 1954 pg 175)

Portion of the hills area went to the District Council of Crafers. (Norman, 1954 pg 44)

1891National Park Belair proclaimed. First public park in SA after a decade of lobbying the Government and was the second such area set aside in Australia. (Norman, 1954 pg 187)

1900Edward Street connecting South Road and Goodwood Road opened to give the residents of the Edwardstown Working Mens' Blocks easier access to Mitcham Village. (Mitcham Council Minutes 12 February 1900)

1901Telephone connected to the Mitcham Council office which was in part of the Institute. (Mitcham Council Minutes 6 August 1901)

1908Department of Agriculture opened its 'State Experiment Orchard' at Hawthorndene which operated until the early 1970s. (Journal of Agri-culture SA Bulletin, 311, 1936) The area between Turners Road, Main Road and Myrtle Road was under consideration for develop-ment. (State Records GRG10/86/1)

1914Council purchased its first steam road roller for £1,023. (Mitcham Council Cash Journals Vol. 9 1911-17)

The Road to BelairCA Petts photo c1910

1915'Grange Farm', Mortlock's Estate, acquired for laying out a Garden Suburb. However it was first used as Mitcham Camp for embarkation of men during World War I. The suburb of Colonel Light Gardens was developed there during the 1920s and administered by the State Government under the Garden Suburb Act until 1975. (Colonel Light Gardens - model garden suburb, C Garnaut, 1999 pg 26)

1923'Craigburn' property near Coromandel Valley bought by Minda Inc. (CT 813/72)

1928Springfield promoted for prestige housing. (CT 1514/169)

Arboretum plantings at Waite Research Institute began. (The Waite Agricultural Research Institute - the first fifty years 1924-1974, VA Edgeloe pg 13)

1929Misses Symon began the first Nursery School in Australia at Lower Mitcham. It took children between the age of 1 and 7 and continued until 1947. (The Housewife, 14 Dec 1932)

1932Urrbrae Agriculture High School opened. (Norman, 1954 pg 146)

1934Original section of the present Mitcham Council Chambers built in art-deco style featuring the English Rose in the facade – so recognising Mitcham's English connections. Its architect was Dean Berry. (Norman, 1954 pg 48)

1934March 10 - Bush-fires devastated the hills of Mitcham. At Blackwood, the Church of England, fruit cold store, Scout Hall and 'Wittunga' were burnt. (Enid Robertson April 1993)

1936To celebrate the State centenary, Councils of Mitcham, Unley and Marion, (the latter for only a short time) combined to establish Centennial Park Cemetery at Pasadena. (At the End of the Road - R Nicol (Cent. Pk.Cemetery Trust), 1994)

1942Daw Park Repatriation Hospital opened for recuperating returned soldiers. Fifty years later a museum has been established there. (The Repat - by Peter Last pg73)

1944 Mitcham's population had grown enough for Council to qualify as a Corporation. (Norman, 1954 pg 45)

1947Mitcham becomes a 'City'. (Norman, 1954 pg 45)

1950 The Engineering and Water supply Department has informed Mitcham council that nothing can be done in the immediate future concerning the sewerage of the hills area. (Advertister 5 Oct 1950)

1953 'History of the City of Mitcham' written by Alderman WA Norman for the Council's Centenary celebrations.

1954 Blackwood and District Community Hospital established. It was financed by community fund raising. (More about Mitcham, Annely Aeuckens pg 132 1989)

'Minstrel Show' – Celebration of Mitcham Council's Centenary, 1953

R.M. Arnott-Rogers photo

Above: Cover of a Council Report for 1965/66. Note the dates when the Mitcham District Council became a Corporation, and shortly afterwards, a City.

The prerequisite for a District to be constituted a Municipal Corporation was that the area be 'occupied mainly for residential, business, industrial or manufacturing purposes'.

A metropolitan council could petition the Governor to be declared a City when it's population exceeded fifteen thousand. - Local Government Act 1934 - 52

1957'Watiparinga Flora Reserve' bequeathed by Miss Alison Ashby of 'Wittunga' to the National Trust of SA. This was the first property acquired by the Trust and is managed by the Watiparinga Management Committee. (Restoration of Grassy Woodland, “Watiparinga” Reserve Management Plan, Enid L Robertson, 1999 pg 107)

1966First University outside Adelaide opened at Bedford Park by the Queen Mother as Flinders University. (Advertiser 25 March 1966)

Storm water control dam completed across Sturt Gorge near Bellevue Heights, as part of the South West Drainage Scheme to control seasonal flooding in the Marion and West Torrens districts. (Community News 30 March 1966)

1970Winn's Bakehouse at Coromandel Valley saved and a National Trust branch established to manage it as a the first public museum in the district. (The Coromandel, 29 Jan 1970 pg1)

1975Colonel Light Gardens administration transferred to the City of Mitcham. (SAGG 20 March 1975)

1977Mitcham Historical Society formed as a subcommittee of the Mitcham Village Art and Craft Association. (The Arts & Crafts in Historic Mitcham Village, Pamela Oborn 1995)

1979First Heritage Survey of the Mitcham district completed. (City of Mitcham Heritage Survey, A Marsden & L Brasse, National Estate Programme 1978/9 No 48)

1982Open Space Survey report completed by a group of volunteers who later formed M.O.S.A.C. (Mitcham Open Space Advisory Committee), encouraged by Alderman Anne Reeves OAM. (City of Mitcham Open Space Survey, Committee, 1982)

1986 Mitcham Community News, a regular newspaper established and distributed throughout the district. (Mitcham Council Minutes, Finance & General Committee, Item 10 2 June 1986)

1989Community and council lobbied State Government successfully to prevent the dissolution of the City of Mitcham Council. (Mitcham Council Minutes, Full Council, 2 October 1989)

1991City of Mitcham Awards for Excellence initiated by Council for Community Service, Building and Planning, Landscaping and Sport. Ward Forums instigated to encourage community participation and understanding in Council matters. (Mitcham Community News April 1991)

1995Melrose Park Council Works Depot relocated from Lynton. (Mitcham Community News August 1995)

1997Recognition of the Aboriginal Stolen Generation by a series of memorials at the Colebrook Home site in Eden Hills. (Kick the Tin – Doris Kartinyeri 2000)

1998Council purchased Brown Hill to save it from development as part of the Hills Face Zone.

Grant Morgan expressing his views on State Government's plan to break up the Mitcham Council. - Sunday Mail 1986

Winns Bakehouse & General Store in the background.

Coromandel Valley 1914

Fountain of Tears memorial at the Colebrook Home site.

Mitcham Council Boundaries Over the Years

2000Colonel Light Gardens State Heritage Listed. (Courier Messenger 5 Oct 2000)

Unley 1871

Brighton 1867

Crafers 1883

The Mitcham District Council as established in 1853. Shaded areas were later transferred to other councils. Ward divisions were introduced in 1881

Prepared by Mitcham Local History Service and Heritage Research Centre, 103b Princes Rd, Mitcham, SA 5062. Ph 8372 8261

May 2005

Left: Motorcyclists in 'fancy dress' Belair National Park - c1928

Above: 22nd Signal Troop at the Mitcham Army Camp (now Colonel Light Gardens) with a Marconi Portable Wireless set. 1916