Glenunga is an inner southeastern 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 ...

, the capital 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 ...

. It is located in the

City of Burnside The City of Burnside is a local government area in the South Australian city of Adelaide stretching from the Adelaide Parklands into the Adelaide foothills with an area of . It was founded in August 1856 as the District Council of Burnside, the ...

, five kilometres southeast of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

. The name Glenunga is a composite of Aboriginal and Scottish words, "unga" meaning near and "glen" from the nearby

Glen Osmond Glen Osmond is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Burnside which is in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills. It is well known for the road intersection on the western side of the suburb, where the South Eastern Freeway (National ...

Bounded on the north by Windsor Road, the east by

Portrush Road Portrush Road is a major arterial route through the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. This name covers many consecutive streets and is not widely known to most drivers except for the southernmost section, as the entire ...

, the south-west by

Glen Osmond Road Glen Osmond Road is a major section of the Princes Highway (and Highway 1) in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. Connecting the Adelaide city centre with the Adelaide Hills via the South Eastern Freeway; Glen Osmond Road carries half of Adel ...

and the west by Conyngham Street, the leafy suburb forms a rough triangular layout.

History

Glenunga, along with its neighbouring suburb of Glenside, were once known as 'Knoxville'. The first European settlers of the area (in the 1840s) took up farming, and wheat grown in the area was awarded first prize in the

Royal Adelaide Show The Royal Adelaide Show is an annual carnival and agricultural show run by the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia. It is held at the Adelaide Showground, a dedicated venue located in Wayville, a suburb of Adelaide, ...

. The area now occupied by Glenunga International High School and Webb Oval were previously home to slaughterhouses established in 1882. At one point, the slaughterhouses were exporting overseas and at the same time providing half of Adelaide's lamb requirements. A number of coach companies, notably those of William Rounsevell,

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name Cobb & Co grew to great prominence in the late 19th ...

and John Hill, were set up in the 1870s and 1880s. Up to 1,000 horses grazed the land. At this time most of the streets were beginning to be named, and most were named by the inhabitants after their original homes in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the United States. However, one street was named after an Aboriginal word - "Allinga", meaning sun. In the early 20th century, a number of businesses were located in Glenunga. The South Australian icon, the

Hills Hoist A Hills Hoist is a height-adjustable rotary clothes line, designed to permit the compact hanging of wet clothes so that their maximum area can be exposed for wind drying by rotation. For decades from 1945 the devices were mainly manufactured in ...

, was invented by the Hill family in Glenunga. Other notable businesses were the Symons & Symons glass merchants on Windsor Road, and one involved in "Bland Radios". A church was established in 1926, and a larger church was built in 1956 and dedicated to St Stephen. The suburb's transition from a largely rural area to a residential suburb began after

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 opposing ...

, with migration to the area from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and other countries. St. Stephen's Church was demolished in 1999, with the church community moving to the growing St. Saviour's Church in

. A plaque was left as a reminder of where it had once stood.

Geography

The suburb is very leafy with many trees which make up for the lack of parks and reserves. There are more parks in nearby

, such as the popular Ridge Park. Glenunga Uniting Church is located on the corner of L'Estrange Street and Bevington Road.

Transport

Public transport services to the suburb are by buses which service

every 15 minutes until 6pm, and there are other bus routes into the city, and the cross-city circle line along Portrush Road. The buses are provided by the

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 ...

. However, the majority of commuters still use motor cars and Glenunga is well placed for this, bordering

and

. Glenunga residents can reach the Adelaide CBD by various routes, and the Adelaide Hills by way of Glen Osmond Road and the

South Eastern Freeway South Eastern Freeway is a freeway in South Australia (SA). It is a part of the National Highway network linking the state capital cities of Adelaide, SA, and Melbourne, Victoria, and signed as National Highway M1. It carries traffic over t ...

Residents

The suburb is home to a number of families and retirees of predominantly

Anglo-Celtic Anglo-Celtic people are descended primarily from British and Irish people. The concept is mainly relevant outside of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia, but is also used in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa, ...

background.

Attractions

Due to the small size of the suburb, there is only one main park, Glenunga Reserve, which also contains Webb Oval. More than anything else in the suburb, the Glenunga International High School brings it prominence both in Australia and overseas. The school campus is an easily identifiable part of Glenunga, being situated roughly in the middle of the suburb. The school's expansion and development have aided in the once-quiet L'Estrange Street being clogged with both traffic and students at peak hour and other times. A number of businesses and shops are located along Glen Osmond Road and Conyngham Street. These include a McDonald's, Chinese and Mexican restaurants, and a number of small businesses and motels. Conyngham Street contains the headquarters of DECS and empty commercial blocks are waiting to undergo development.

Politics

Glenunga is in 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 South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

Electoral District of Unley Unley is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Named after the suburb of the same name, it is the state's smallest electorate by area at just . It is a suburban electorate in Adelaide's inner south, takin ...

and the Federal Division of Sturt, and is a solid Liberal-voting area.

References

{{City of Burnside suburbs Suburbs of Adelaide