Torrens Park is a mainly residential large inner-southern 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 ...

, incorporating some of the foothills and adjacent to the original "

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 ha ...

Village". It was named after

Sir Robert Richard Torrens Sir Robert Richard Torrens, (31 May 1812Croucher, Rosalind F. (2008) 'Delenda Est Carthago!' Sir Robert Richard Torrens and his attack on the evils of conveyancing and dependent land titles: a reflection on the sesquicentenary of the introdu ...

, the instigator of the

Torrens title Torrens title is a land registration and land transfer system, in which a state creates and maintains a register of land holdings, which serves as the conclusive evidence (termed " indefeasibility") of title of the person recorded on the regist ...

system of land registration and transfer, who built a large home in the area which he named Torrens Park. The suburb is in 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 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 ...

, the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

electoral district of Waite Waite is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Named after Peter Waite, a 19th century entrepreneur and philanthropist, it covers 75.4 km² of suburbs and foothills in Adelaide's inner south-east, ta ...

and the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

Division of Boothby The Division of Boothby is an Australian federal 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 after William Bo ...

History

The name was formally submitted for approval in 1945. Torrens Park is named after Sir Robert Richard Torrens, the third

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

and instigator of the Torrens title land title system. Torrens built a large home which he called "Torrens Park" near

in 1853–4. In 1865 Torrens sold the house to his partner in the Moonta Mines (later founder of the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

Walter Watson Hughes Sir Walter Watson Hughes (22 August 1803 – 1 January 1887),Dirk Van Dissel,Hughes, Sir Walter Watson (1803 - 1887), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 440-441. Retrieved 11 August 2009 who before his knighthood wa ...

, who enlarged it and later sold it to businessman and philanthropist

Robert Barr Smith Robert Barr Smith (4 February 1824 – 20 November 1915) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist in Adelaide, South Australia. He was a partner in Elder Smith and Company from 1863 (now now Elders Limited). Early life and education Smi ...

. It is now part of Scotch College. Although the original gates have recently been removed, the original gatehouse to the Estate is still visible at the corner of Belair Road and Ayr Avenue. Torrens Park Post Office opened on 24 August 1953 and closed in 1972. Part of today's suburb was laid out in 1917 from the estate of Tom Elder Barr-Smith; various parts of the suburb were originally known as "Glenburnie", Blytheswoodville, Panchito Park, Blythwood Estate and West Mitcham.

Geography

In comparison with most Adelaide suburbs, Torrens Park is quite large. The north end of the suburb is reasonably flat, but as one travels south (towards the foothills) the terrain rises and becomes hilly.

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 ...

runs through the suburb from the south-east to the north-west. Due to the foothills, the rainfall in the City of Mitcham is 25–50 per cent higher than the rainfall on the Adelaide Plains. Torrens Park is also the location of the Mitcham Square Shopping Centre.

Politics

Traditionally, the area has been part of a "blue ribbon Liberal" seat; the state member has been

Martin Hamilton-Smith Martin Leslie James Hamilton-Smith (born 1 December 1953) is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Waite from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. First elected as a candidate ...

since 1997, and the federal member has been

Andrew Southcott Andrew John Southcott (born 15 October 1967) is an Australian politician and medical practitioner. He was the Liberal member for the House of Representatives seat of Boothby from the 1996 election until he stood down at the 2016 election. ...

since 1996.

Schools

The only school actually located in the suburb is Scotch College. Nearby Primary Schools: * Clapham * Mitcham * Colonel Light Gardens Nearby High Schools: *

Unley High School Unley High School, located in Netherby, South Australia. History Unley High School was founded in 1910 as one of the first public high schools to be established after Adelaide High School in 1908. Initially it was under the control of the He ...

Urrbrae Agricultural High School Urrbrae Agricultural High School is a public high school in the Australian state of South Australia, with approximately 1,016 students. The school is located in the Adelaide suburb of Netherby, about south-east of the Adelaide city centre. ...

* Pasadena High School * Mitcham Girls High School * Mercedes College

Public transport

Public transport to Torrens Park is available through 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 ...

, to the

(North-West), Torrens Park (West) and

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 ...

(South-West) stations. Buses are also available to and from the City along Belair Road.To a lesser degree, buses along Fullarton Road serve the eastern side of the suburb. Route 192 terminates on Kays Road; Routes 194 and 196 pass through the suburb en route to Blackwood Station. Route 171 travels along Princes Road serving the northern side of the suburb and then via Fullarton Road to the city.

Notes