The City of Mitcham is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in the foothills of southern

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Within its bounds is Flinders University, South Australia's third largest, and the notable, affluent suburb of Springfield which contains some of the city's most expensive properties.

History

Before the arrival of European settlers, the

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

people lived in the region. The first Europeans to settle in the area were a group of sailors who jumped ship in 1837 and founded a settlement at Coromandel Valley as a hiding place. Mitcham village was established on

Brown Hill Creek Brown Hill Creek, also known as ''Willawilla'' in the Kaurna language, is a watercourse flowing from the Adelaide Hills through in the inner south suburbs of the Adelaide metropolitan area, in the Australian state of South Australia. It is part ...

in 1840, named after

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

, a village in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. The council was founded on 10 May 1853 as the District Council of Mitcham and was the first local government area formally founded in South Australia after the

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...

. The council initially covered an area of 108 square kilometres, stretching from the

Adelaide Park Lands The Adelaide Park Lands are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide area (which includes both Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide) from the sur ...

in the north to

Mount Barker Road Mount Barker Road was once the main road from Adelaide through the Adelaide Hills to Mount Barker on the eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges. The main route has now been replaced, or subsumed into, the South Eastern Freeway, but two sectio ...

in the east, with the Sturt River forming the southern boundary. It lost the part of the council west of

South Road South Road and its southern section as Main South Road outside of Adelaide is a major north–south conduit connecting Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, in South Australia. It is one of Adelaide's most important arterial and bypass roads. As ...

to the

District Council of Brighton The City of Marion is a local government area in part of the southern and western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. The council offices are in the suburb of Sturt. History The District Council of Brighton was established in 1853, centre ...

(later the City of Marion) on 19 December 1854. In 1871,

Unley Unley is an inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, within the City of Unley. The suburb is the home of the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Unley neighbours Adelaide Park Lands, Fullar ...

and surrounding areas were severed from the Mitcham council to create the Corporate Town of Unley. It lost another area on 25 October 1883, when portions of the council around

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

were detached to form the new

District Council of Stirling The District Council of Stirling was a local government area of South Australia from 1883 to 1997, seated at Stirling. History The council was established in 1883 from a western portion of the District Council of Echunga and an eastern portion ...

. From 1854 to 1869, the council rented offices in the

Adelaide City Centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

to conduct their business, only relocating to within the council itself in 1870. Its current council chambers in Torrens Park were first built in 1934. The District Council become a Corporation in 1944, and it gained city status in 1947, becoming the City of Mitcham. The state government planned to dissolve the City of Mitcham in 1989, but the council was able to lobby to prevent its dissolution.

Colebrook

Colebrook Home, first established in

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as b ...

in the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...

in 1927, moved to Eden Hills in the 1940s to secure better water supply. The home was an institution for Aboriginal children, with the intention of removing them from the influence of their Aboriginal families so they could be better assimilated into white society as part of the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

. In 1972 the children were relocated to Blackwood due to low numbers and Colebrook Home was demolished in 1973. It was officially closed in 1981. The former location of Colebrook Home is now the Colebrook Reconciliation Park, a memorial to the children and families impacted by Colebrook Home. The Blackwood Reconciliation Group and the Colebrook Tji Tji Tjuta (a number of former residents of Colebrook Home) combined to organise community gatherings on the site starting in 1997. Two statues have been sculpted to commemorate the Stolen Generations (the 'Fountain of Tears' in 1998 and the 'Grieving Mother' in 1999).

Environment

Mitcham is one of three suburban Adelaide councils to be awarded a "

Tree Cities of the World Tree Cities of the World is a worldwide programme managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Arbor Day Foundation in the US, whereby municipalities of any size can apply to earn the designation "Tree City ...

" designation from the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(FAO) and

Arbor Day Foundation The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 350 million trees in neighborhoods, communities ...

, along with the

City of Burnside The City of Burnside is a local government area in the South Australian city of Adelaide stretching from the Adelaide Parklands into the Adelaide foothills with an area of . It was founded in August 1856 as the District Council of Burnside, the ...

and the City of Unley, and the only three in Australia.

Suburbs

The City of Mitcham includes all or part of 32 suburbs:

Wards

The City of Mitcham is divided into 6 wards, each of which elect 2 or 3 representatives to the Council. They cover suburbs roughly as follows.

Transport

The first rail service in the City Mitcham was a horse-tram track, first opened in 1879. The line was converted to electricity in 1911, and further tram lines were opened in the council in the early 20th century. From 1958, these tram lines were shut down and replaced with bus services. The City of Mitcham is currently serviced by the

Belair railway line The Belair railway line is a suburban rail commuter route in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, that runs from the Adelaide station to Belair in the Adelaide Hills via the Adelaide-Wolseley line using diesel 3000/3100 class railcars. P ...

, which runs via the Adelaide–Wolseley railway line that connects Adelaide to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. This railway line was constructed from 1879 to 1887, and expanded from a single track to a double track in 1919 to manage increasing traffic. The council area includes the

, Torrens Park,

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Governance ...

, Eden Hills,

Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...

, Blackwood, Glenalta, Pinera, and Belair railway stations, as well as the former

Clapham railway station Clapham is a railway station on the Bentham Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the village of Clapham in North Yorkshire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. Immedia ...

. In addition to bus services operated by

Adelaide Metro Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal system offering an integrated network of bus, tram, and train service throughout the metropolitan area. The network has an ann ...

, the City of Mitcham operates a door-to-door community bus service for the elderly and people living with a disability. The council has two which that travel weekly to local shopping centres. In 2018/19, transport accounted for 26% of the City of Mitcham's greenhouse gas emissions, with 23% coming from cars alone, making automobile transport the second-biggest contributor to the council area's emissions. The City of Mitcham has invested in six electric vehicle charging stations (four in Torrens Park and two in Blackwood) to assist the transition away from fossil fuels.

References

External links

City of Mitcham websiteCity of Mitcham community profileMitcham City Brass band website
Local government areas in Adelaide Local government areas of South Australia 1853 establishments in Australia {{Adelaide-geo-stub