Charleston is a small town in the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. It is situated on the Onkaparinga Valley Road between Woodside and Mount Torrens, on the main route from the Adelaide Hills to the Barossa Valley, and 3km south-east of

Lobethal Lobethal is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centre ...

. Charleston is very close to the source of the River Onkaparinga. The town was laid out in 1857 by Charles Dunn (1796–1881), a brother of the prominent miller John Dunn, in a subdivision of section 5197,

Hundred of Onkaparinga The Hundred of Onkaparinga is a cadastral hundred of the County of Adelaide, South Australia, in the Adelaide Hills. It was proclaimed by Governor Frederick Robe in 1846 and named for the Onkaparinga River valley, which flows from north east to s ...

, and may have been originally named "Charlestown", but the current spelling has always been more common in newspaper reports Most of the local businesses are on the Onkaparinga Valley Road, while the largest number of houses are on Newman Road. Charleston is served by a community postal agency called the Bookpost which is also a bookshop, internet cafe and General Store. Next to The Bookpost is the ''Charleston Hotel'' which received national attention as one of the main props in a car advertisement, based on

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon, referred to universally as Australia's Ki ...

's famous song "Answer to a Pub With No Beer". Charleston is within the limits of the

Adelaide Metro Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of the Adelaide area, around the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal passenger transport, intermodal system offering an integrated network of Buses in Adelaide, bus, Glenelg tram, ...

bus network, and is serviced by the 835 route during school terms. Charleston was once served by a railway line which ran from Balhannah towards Mount Pleasant. The line was closed in 1963 and removed shortly after. The former rail corridor is now the

Amy Gillett Bikeway The Amy Gillett Bikeway or Amy Gillett Rail Trail or Amy Gillett Pathway is a shared path in the Adelaide Hills on part of the alignment of the former Mount Pleasant railway line. It is a sealed path suitable for recreational cycling, walking an ...

References

Towns in South Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub