The District Council of Willunga, was 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 ...

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 ...

seated at Willunga from 1853 until 1997.

History

The District Council of Willunga was established on 18 August 1853 to govern the

Hundred of Willunga The Hundred of Willunga is a cadastral unit of hundred covering the extreme south suburbs of the Adelaide metropolitan area. It is one of the eleven hundreds of the County of Adelaide. It was named in 1846 by Governor Frederick Robe probably deri ...

and the southernmost portion of the

Hundred of Kuitpo The Hundred of Kuitpo is a cadastral unit of hundred in the Adelaide Hills. It is one of the 11 hundreds of the County of Adelaide. It was named in 1846 by Governor Frederick Robe and is presumed to be derived from an indigenous term ''ku-it-po' ...

, one of the sets of earliest local government bodies to be created in the state. The district was bounded on the north-west by the

Onkaparinga River The Onkaparinga River, known as Ngangkiparri or Ngangkiparingga ("place of the women’s river") in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Southern Adelaide region in the Australian state of South Australia. Rising in the Mount Lofty Ran ...

up to the present-day boundary between Blewitt Springs and Clarendon. It was bounded on the north-east by straight lines passing to the Wickam Hill and North Mount Magnificent

trig station A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they ...

s. The ridgelines making up the southern borders of the hundreds of Kuitpo and Willunga formed the southern boundary of the district, passing through the South Mount Magnificent trig station, Willunga Hill and Sellicks Hill. The council area thus included all of the present-day

McLaren Vale wine region McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the wine ...

and the forestry area known as Lower Meadows or Dingabledinga. By 1856, residents on the northern boundary at Noarlunga had seceded from the council along with parts of Morphett Vale council over the

to form the

District Council of Noarlunga The City of Noarlunga, formerly the District Council of Noarlunga, was a local government area in South Australia from 1856 until 1997. History The District Council of Noarlunga was established on 21 August 1856 following lobbying by resident ...

. The following year, residents of Aldinga successfully lobbied for their own independent local governance and the coastal

District Council of Aldinga A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

was formed to the south. Upon completion of these boundary adjustments Willunga comprised three wards; namely Willunga,

McLaren Vale McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the wine ...

and Lower Meadows. In 1932 Aldinga was dissolved and the land absorbed back into Willunga council. In 1997 the council was amalgamated with Noarlunga and Happy Valley councils to form the

City of Onkaparinga The City of Onkaparinga () is a local government area (LGA) located on the southern fringe of Adelaide, South Australia. It is named after the Onkaparinga River, whose name comes from ''Ngangkiparinga'', a Kaurna word meaning women's river. It i ...

References

Willunga, District Council of 1853 establishments in Australia 1997 disestablishments in Australia {{Australia-gov-stub