Mallala is a locality in the Australian state of

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 ...

about north of the state capital of

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 ...

. The name is thought to be derived from 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 ...

word ''madlala'' or ''madlola'', meaning "place of the ground frog". At the 2016 census, the locality had a population of 894 of which 733 lived in its town centre.

Etymology

The word 'Mallala' is derived from the Aboriginal 'Madlola' – a place of the ground frog according to South Australian historian Geoffrey Manning. CC BY-SA icon

This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia
license.

History

Mallala is located within the traditional lands of the

people. The first land taken up in the district was in 1851 by Phillip Butler, under occupational licence. The Butler property was called 'Mallala Station', and the town of Mallala developed in the vicinity. The large runs of the pastoralists were cut up into smaller holdings, which sold for £1 per acre to new settlers, and created a continuous series of small farms. Amongst the early pioneers were Messrs John Forby, Robert & George Marshman, Samuel Crouch, Peter Farrelly, H.B. Moody, W. Jarmyn, Samuel Chivell, J. McCabe, John Murphy, W. Jury, A. Vawser, M.H. East, N.J.W. Lindsay and John Forbes. The descendants of many of these men and their families still live in this district. The first private subdivision, on Section 60, was called Mallala South (also known as New Mallala) and was later followed by private subdivisions of Section 51 and 266. These were referred to as the Mallala subdivisions. Later, part section 276 and 277 were divided, and this subdivision was known as the Mallala Extension. Although Mallala had existed as a town for many years, it was not until 27 March 1925 that Mallala was approved as a subdivision name by the Nomenclature Committee. The present township lies midway between the hills and the sea, fifty-eight kilometres north of Adelaide. An impressive War Memorial stands at the hub of an eight-road intersection in the centre of the town. A now departed industry was the East Brothers Machinery works, who for over a century manufactured farm equipment which was sold widely across Australia. The town once had a very impressive flour mill where the townsfolk used to grind the locally produced wheat, but the building fell into disuse as the industry centralised. Today the mill is used as a museum for the local historical committee.

Built environs

World War I memorial

At Mallala's centre is a World War I war memorial in the centre of the intersection of eight roads. Its insignia reads: 'In honour of ten men who died in defence of home and liberty' in memory of ten local men who were killed in Egypt, France and Palestine. The memorial consists of a base made of ten granite stones in each step of the base topped with ten arched stones to form a hemisphere showing a map of Australia. The hemisphere supports a ten-sided column the names of the ten soldiers which is topped by ten marble pillars and a plinth displaying the

Cross of Sacrifice The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). It is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or ...

. The history of the ten soldiers and the broader service history of the district forms a major collection at the Mallala Museum.

Hospitals

The first private hospital opened at 35 Owen Road in 1941 and closed in 1943. Owen Road renamed Aerodrome Road after the Aerodrome opened. The Mallala District Hospital, later Mallala Community Hospital opened in 1953 at 30 Aerodrome Rd and closed May 2015.

RAAF Base Mallala and Mallala Motor Sport Park

In 1939 the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

established a base called

RAAF Base Mallala RAAF Base Mallala was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base at Mallala, South Australia. History Since 1939, the RAAF was aware of a suitable airfield at Mallala. On 25 February 1941 a group of officers conducted a detailed assessment of the ...

to the north of the Mallala township. The base was originally used for advanced training for RAAF pilots. The base was subsequently closed in May 1960 and the land was sold at auction in early 1961. Later that year the then 3.38 km (2.1 mi) Mallala Race Circuit opened on 19 August 1961, and less than two months later was the chosen site for the

1961 Australian Grand Prix The 1961 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held at the newly completed Mallala Race Circuit in South Australia on 9 October 1961. The race, which was Round 5 of the 1961 Australian Drivers' Championship, had 17 starters.

. The circuit, now totalling 2.601 km (1.616 mi), has also hosted rounds of the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...

, the V8 Supercar Development Series as well as the

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship contested annually from 1957 to 2014 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor ...

. Mallala Motor Sport Park, as the circuit is now known, is also used by the

South Australian Police South Australia Police (SAPOL) is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports to the Minister for ...

for driver training and assessment, and hosts the Historic Mallala event, held in April each year.

Mallala Equestrian Centre

The international standard equestrian centre east of the township is the venue for national show jumping and related event competitions.

Governance

Mallala is located in the federal

division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who wa ...

, the state electoral district of Frome and the local government area of the

Adelaide Plains Council The Adelaide Plains Council (formerly the District Council of Mallala) is a local government area in South Australia. It consists of a largely rural region along the Gulf St Vincent, covering a total area of approximately 926 km2. The counc ...

. Mallala is the seat of Adelaide Plains Council.

References

External links

Adelaide Plains CouncilMallala ''Now and Then'' community heritage wiki
{{authority control Towns in South Australia