St Marys is a suburb 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 ...

, South Australia, located to the south of the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. It is bordered by

Daws Road Daws Road is a major arterial road in the central southern suburbs of Adelaide, running east–west between Marion Road in the west and Goodwood Road in the east. Route Daws Road commences at the intersection with Oaklands Road and Marion Road ...

(north),

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 ...

(west), Cashel Street (east) and Mill Terrace (south). The suburb is located within the

City of Mitcham The City of Mitcham is a local government area in the foothills of southern Adelaide, South Australia. Within its bounds is Flinders University, South Australia's third largest, and the notable, affluent suburb of Springfield which contains so ...

local government authority. ''St Marys Park'' is one of the largest reserves within the suburb and was originally the training ground of the

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University StadiumHerschel Babbage, Robert Torrens and Captain William O’Halloran. Prior to the 1850s, the suburb was named ''St Marys-on-the-Sturt'' as, apart from farmhouses and the St Marys Church of England, there were no buildings in the area from Daws Rd to the

Sturt River The Sturt River, also known as the Sturt Creek and ''Warri Parri'' (''Warriparri'') in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Adelaide region of the Australian state of South Australia. Course and features The Sturt River rises in Upper ...

until various shops were established on the northern side of the church. The suburb was an important wheat growing area for Adelaide until the northern areas of the colony came under cultivation when some of the St Marys properties were replanted with almonds, grape vines and olives. Daw subdivided the frontage of his property as St Marys Village and built a house on the corner of what is now

and

. In 1852, he sold the house and several hundred acres to Babbage. After Babbage's own home burnt down in 1875, he built a mansion that was known as "Babbage’s castle." Babbage built the mansion using a new building material,

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

, however he used salty water and the mansion immediately began to crumble. The family left the estate in 1896. A two-story hotel on the corner of South and Ayliffes Road, the ''Lady MacDonald Hotel'' was licensed in 1857. As a result of a spelling error by the sign writer, the hotel displayed the name ''Lady MacDonnell,'' an error that persisted for over 70 years. In 1909 the hotel became a

temperance hotel A coffee palace was an often large and elaborate residential hotel that did not serve alcohol, most of which were built in Australia in the late 19th century. A modest temperance hotel was opened in 1826 by activist Gerrit Smith in his hometo ...

and went into decline. In the 1930s it was sold as a home to Ted Grindell, the local council " garbo" until the ruins were demolished in 1966 and replaced with a

car dealership A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive maintena ...

. During the Great Depression, the Babbage ruins provided shelter for a number of homeless families. In 1936 the Babbage estate was subdivided by William Brookman Watson as ''Castle Estate'' with the blocks being sold to visiting

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

sailors as souvenirs of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. Watson himself moved into John Daw's corner house and on his death the property was purchased by Dr Hugh LLoyd who had a nearby surgery on South Road in

Clovelly Park Clovelly Park is an inner southern suburb of Adelaide in the local government area of the City of Marion. Before becoming an 'advanced' suburb, it was a farm and vineyard. The suburb is bordered by Daws Road to the north, South Road to the eas ...

which later became the Clovelly Park Community Health Centre. The increasing use of motor vehicles in the 1920s led to the subdivision of several farms in the area into the estates of St Marys Park, Castle Estate, Clovelly Gardens and South Road Estate. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s followed by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

stifled land sales and by 1949 only 25 people were living in the estates. The land set aside for Kiley Reserve in the subdivision of ''Clovelly Gardens'' had already been used by the Darlington Motorcycle Club since 1920 for races and in 1930 the remainder of the subdivision was converted to a

trotting The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is someti ...

track. In the 1940s the

South Australian Housing Trust The South Australian Housing Trust (SAHT) is an independent statutory authority originally established by the Government of South Australia responsible for providing low-cost rental housing to working people and their families, as a means of ...

then bought the unsold blocks in St Marys to provide low cost housing for workers. Kiley Reserve was later acquired by the State Government for the South Road Primary School which was built in 1951. By 1960, the South Australian Housing Trust had built nearly 400 homes in St Marys. Construction of the

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

vehicle manufacturing plant in Tonsley Park in 1963 led to many support industries being developed in St Marys. An unofficial Post Office was opened on South Road on 16 May 1927 but was discontinued in 1952 when postal services were taken over by a shop at 18 Quinlan Avenue. A purpose built Post Office center was built on South Road St Marys in 1964 with postal services continuing at the shop until 1975 when they were transferred to the South Road office. The South Road office was renamed ''St Marys South'' in 1967 and closed in 1976. A

office opened in 1950, was renamed ''St Marys'' in 1967 and closed in 1991. In 1964 the Watiparinga Creek was covered as part of the South West Drainage Scheme. A stone bridge built in the 1850s at the northern end of Ragless reserve, which allowed South Road traffic to pass over the creek, was buried when South Road was widened in 1965 and still exists beneath the road today. Springfield Creek also ran through the suburb and was the cause of substantial flooding during heavy rains. In the 1970s the creek was replaced by drainage pipes and covered.

St Marys Anglican Church

In 1841, John Daw donated one acre of his farm for the establishment of the St Marys

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. Erected on the present site of the St Marys Fire Station, by 1847 the

Stringybark A stringybark can be any of the many ''Eucalyptus'' species which have thick, fibrous bark. Like all eucalypts, stringybarks belong to the family Myrtaceae. In exceptionally fertile locations some stringybark species (in particular messmate strin ...

building had deteriorated at which time a stone church was built on a new site 250 m to the south. The original church building continued in use as a school until 1928. The first person interred at the new cemetery was James Penn, a descendant of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

. The church and cemetery were consecrated by Bishop

Augustus Short Augustus Short (11 June 1802 – 5 October 1883) was the first Anglican bishop of Adelaide, South Australia. Early life and career Born at Bickham House, near Exeter, Devon, England, the third son of Charles Short, a London barrister, offsp ...

in 1849. The name of the St Marys Church of England was changed to St Marys

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Church in 1981.

St Marys Baptist Church

The

Baptist Union Baptists Together (officially The Baptist Union of Great Britain) is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot. H ...

granted a fellowship to the St Marys

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Congregation in 1953 with their first church being an iron and timber building relocated from Underdale to a site in St Marys. The current church was constructed adjacent to the original structure in 1965. The church operated a community kindergarten from 1953 to 1981.

South Road Primary School

South Road Primary School was opened in 1951 on land set aside for Kiley reserve in the subdivision of ''Clovelly Gardens'' which was never developed. A Junior Primary School was established adjacent to the Primary School in 1954. Due to declining enrollments as the suburb aged, the Junior Primary School site and buildings were sold to the

Edwardstown Edwardstown is an inner southern-western suburb located 6 km southwest of Adelaide in the City of Marion. In 1989 the suburb of Edwardstown was split, with the portion east of South Road becoming Melrose Park. This occurred as the suburb ...

Baptist Church in 1980 with the children accommodated in the Primary School buildings. The Primary School was closed in 1997 and the school grounds and oval were sold to the Edwardstown Baptist Church who financed the purchase through the sale of blocks of land in Kiley Court the following year.

St Bernadette’s Primary School

St Bernadette's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Primary School was opened in 1952 and staffed by Dominican nuns. The school has been a target of arsonists with major

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

attacks in 1990, 1997 and 2000. The four gum trees along the boundary of the St Bernadette's oval are the remnant of a double row of gum trees planted along South Road in the 1880s to counter over-clearing of the suburb.

St Marys Park

St Marys Park was opened in 1929 as the ''South Road Recreation Ground''. Although they would use

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby ...

as their home ground, the

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

standards and the oval was officially made the club's home ground although home games would continue to be held at Adelaide Oval. In 1971 the ground was officially re-opened as ''Panther Park'' with an exhibition match between South Adelaide and the 1970 VFL premiers,

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

. In 1973, South Adelaide built new clubrooms on nearby South Road. The club moved to a new home in Noarlunga in 1995 on completion of the

Noarlunga Oval Hickinbotham Oval (currently known as Flinders University Stadium due to naming rights, and originally Noarlunga Oval) is an Australian rules football stadium in Noarlunga Downs, an outer-southern suburb of Adelaide. It has been the home of Sou ...

and in 1997 ''Panther Park'' was renamed St Marys Park.

Points of interest

*Ayliffes Road was originally the driveway from South Road to the Ayliffe property in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

. *Benjamin Street was named by Benjamin Babbage himself in 1869 and the street's gum trees are all that remain of the native trees planted by Babbage on his estate. *The olive tree in the front yard of No. 6 Donald Street, which was once part of an orchard planted by Babbage in the 1860s, was removed to allow subdivision of the property around 2020 *The large gum tree on the corner of The Crescent and Auricchio Avenue is a remnant of the original vegetation in St Marys. *Auricchio Avenue was named after Mario Auricchio, a local developer who established the ''

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and ''comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpago ( BL), Belluno ...

Club'' in the 1930s as an apolitical alternative venue to the ''Fascio Italian Club'' which served the local

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

community. *The junction of St Marys Street and Mingbool Avenue is wider than normal due to the drainage works of Springfield Creek beneath it. *As of 2022, there are some 1960s built homes still being occupied by the original owners

Sources

St Marys Walk

2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marys, South Australia Suburbs of Adelaide