Belair is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

in the south eastern foothills 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 South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, 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 o ...

at the base of the Mount Lofty Ranges.

Name

Before European settlement, 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. Kaurna ...

people called the area of modern-day Belair "piraldi". One early European name for the area was Sleep's Hill, named after Samuel Sleep, a shepherd who came to South Australia in the 1830s. The origin of the modern name "Belair" is uncertain. Gustav Ludewigs, who subdivided the area, may have named the suburb after Bel Air,

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

, being his wife Maria's birthplace. Another theory is that it was named in 1849 after Eugene Bellairs, a Government surveyor who lived in the area.

History

The area was used by the

and Peramangk people for seasonal hunting and gathering. The trees provided gum resin for food and bark for shelter construction, and possums and bandicoots were hunted for food and for their skins to be used in cloaks.

Government Farm

The first known European settler in Belair was a squatter named Nicholas Foott. Although he did not own any land, the colonial government allowed him to stay in the area and improve the land until the land was required by the government. Foott built a house on the land some time between 1836 and 1840. In July 1840, Governor

George Gawler Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler, KH, (21 July 1795 – 7 May 1869) was the second Governor of South Australia, at the same time serving as Resident Commissioner, from 17 October 1838 until 15 May 1841. Biography Early life Gawler, born on 21 ...

decided to establish a farm in the area named Government Farm, and Foott was asked to leave. From 1858 to 1860,

Old Government House Old Government House may refer to: * Old Government House, Parramatta, Australia * Old Government House, Queensland, Australia * Old Government House, South Australia, Australia * Old Government House, Hobart, Australia * Old Government House, Fre ...

was built on the farm as the summer residence for the

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gen ...

, which it remained until a new house was built at Marble Hill in 1880. Two petitions, with 620 signatures between them, were presented to the South Australian Parliament in 1878 calling for a railway line to be constructed into the Adelaide Hills. The first petition desired a railway line so that both the rich and the poor living in the

Adelaide Plains The Adelaide Plains (Kaurna name Tarndanya) is a plain in South Australia lying between the coast ( Gulf St Vincent) on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east. The southernmost tip of the plain is in the southern seaside suburbs of A ...

would be able to access the hills, viewed as the healthiest part of the Adelaide region. The second petition wanted a railway link to

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

so that produce could be delivered to markets in the hills at the same price as to markets in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

, which already had a rail link. After a survey of the Adelaide Hills, the Parliament passed a bill enacting a route from Adelaide to Nairne, which would pass through Belair. Construction work on the line began in 1879 and the section of the line through to

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

was opened on 14 March 1883. This included service to the

Belair railway station Belair railway station is located on the Adelaide to Melbourne line in the Adelaide southern foothills suburb of Belair, 21.5 kilometres from Adelaide station. It is the terminus for Adelaide Metro's Belair line service. In 1881, the South Australian government proposed subdividing the land of the farm to meet the increasing demand for land in the Adelaide Hills, but this was met with protests. This led to an Act of Parliament being passed in October 1883 prohibiting the sale of Government Farm without the sanction of Parliament. Further campaigns to protect the land during the 1880s, as well as the greater accessibility to the farm due to the construction of the Adelaide to Nairne Railway line, led to Government Farm being transformed into

Belair National Park Belair National Park (formerly known as the National Park and as Belair Recreation Park) is a protected area in Belair, South Australia, southeast of Adelaide city centre; it covers an area of . It was proclaimed in 1891 and was the first nation ...

, proclaimed on 19 December 1891 with the passage of the National Park Act.

Later development

Belair was the location of the first facility for the treatment of

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

in South Australia, at the Belair Home for Inebriates. The retreat was partially funded by the government and opened in 1877. The building was renamed Hope Lodge in 1893 and operated as a training center for missionaries until 1907. Belair was also home to multiple

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

s for people suffering from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

. Kalyra Consumptive Home was incorporated in December 1894 by the James Brown Memorial Trust, with its first patients admitted in February or March 1895. Another sanatorium called Nunyara Tuberculosis Sanatorium was opened in 1902 by Dr Arthur Gault, which operated until his death in 1917. In 1915, quarries were opened at Sleep's Hill at the western end of Belair by Burt and Timms, who were contracted to build houses and roads in the nearby suburb of

Colonel Light Gardens Colonel Light Gardens is a suburb located within the Australian City of Mitcham in the greater Adelaide region, approximately south of the Adelaide city centre. The area is . Planned as a garden suburb, it is known for wide, tree-lined street ...

. Adelaide Quarries Ltd was formed in 1919 to better exploit the quarries, and by the 1950s the total production in the quarries had reached 7 million tonnes. In the 1920s, the Belair Progress Association was established to advocate for the development of Belair. They made efforts to stop blasting in nearby quarries and pushed the district council to repair Belair's roads. They also lobbied for Windy Point (then called Observation Point) to be set aside as a reserve, which led to the

District Council 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 som ...

acquiring the land in 1930. At this time, Belair was still a small country town with a population under 200. The population did not begin to grow until the late 1930s, when the population increased from 165 to 398 in three years up to 1940.

Geography

Belair is located 10 km south of

's city center. The suburb includes residential areas, but the majority of suburb's area of 14.58 km² is taken up by

, which has an area of 8.35 km². To the north, the suburb is bounded by the neighbouring suburbs of

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 ...

and Torrens Park, Randell Park in

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 ...

, and the localities of

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 ...

and Crafers West. To the east it is bounded by Sheoak Road and the eastern edge of Belair National Park. To the south it is bounded by Upper Sturt Road. To the west it is bounded by Laffers Road, Gratton Street, Neate Avenue, Gum Grove, Watiparinga Reserve, and 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 ...

Parks and recreation

the second-oldest national park in Australia and the oldest in South Australia, established in 1891. After pressure from the Native Fauna and Flora Protection Committee, it was decided in 1923 that all future plantings would consist only of native species of plants. The facilities in the park include walking and mountain biking trails,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

courts, and ovals with

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

pitches and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

goalposts. It is also home to

and State Flora, the oldest plant nursery in South Australia. Other reserves in Belair include Sleeps Hill Reserve, at the former site of the Sleeps Hill quarries and Sleeps Hill railway station, and Windy Point, which has a lookout over the city and coastline. There are many shared use cycling and walking trails throughout Belair and the surrounding suburbs as part of Mitcham's Shared Use Trails network and Belair National Park. This includes the Randell Park Trails, the Lynton Reserve Trails (which goes through Sleeps Hill reserve), and the O'Deas Reserve, Saddle Hill and Ashby Reserve Trails.

Climate

Demographics

At the 2021 census, Belair had a population of 4,896, up from 4,411 at the 2016 census and 4,390 at the 2011 census. Only 26 people identified themselves as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, making up just half a percent of the suburb's population, well below the national average of 3.2%. Belair is also an older suburb, with a median age of 47 compared with the national median age of 38. 89.6% of people only spoke English at home, and 75.0% reported that they were born in Australia. These were the most commonly nominated ancestries: *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

(47.3%) *

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

(35.9%) * Scottish (13.0%) *

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

(10.7%) *

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

(8.5%)

Religion

As of 2021, a majority of Belair residents don't identify with a religion, with 59.2% of residents falling into the census category of "Secular Beliefs and Other Spiritual Beliefs and No Religious Affiliation". The most commonly stated religious affiliations in the 2021 census were

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 t ...

(11.1%),

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 ...

(9.5%), and the Uniting Church (5.9%). Churches in the suburb include Holy Innocents Anglican Church Belair and Belair Uniting Church, both on the same road (Sheoak Road).

Transport

The Adelaide-Wolseley railway line runs through Belair, with the Pinera and Belair railway stations being serviced by the

, 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 ...

Education

Belair falls within the catchment area of Belair Jean Bonython Kindergarten, which is in the neighbouring suburb of Glenalta. It is a preschool providing education for children aged 3 to 5. The suburb includes Belair Primary School, which originally opened in 1957. Belair Schools used to include two separate schools: Belair Primary School and Belair Junior Primary School. The two schools co-located in 1997 and amalgamated into a single school in 2013. Since 2013 the schools have catered to students from Reception to Year 6. The school follows the

IB Primary Years Programme The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) is an educational programme managed by the International Baccalaureate (IB) for students in grades Kindergarten to Fifth grade. While the programme prepares students for the IB Middle ...

, and it is a member of the Eco School Network. There are no public high schools in Belair. The suburb is part of the catchment area for

Blackwood High School Blackwood High School is a co-educational secondary school located in Eden Hills, a south-eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, offering an international baccalaureate middle-years programme with six nearby primary schools and diploma p ...

in Eden Hills. The suburb does, however, include the private school St John's Grammar School, which teaches students from pre-school through to Year 12.

References

External links

Belair Schools

View of the city from Windy Point
(Copyright Mitcham Council) {{Coord, -34.9981, 138.623, display=title Suburbs of Adelaide