Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia
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Colonel Light Gardens is a suburb located within the
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n
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 som ...
in the greater
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
region, approximately south of the
Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, 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 Adelaide l ...
. The area is . Planned as a
garden suburb The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, an ...
, it is known for wide, tree-lined streets, presentable postwar
bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...
homes, rounded street corners, and much manicured, well maintained open space. It contains Colonel Light Gardens Primary School,Colonel Light Gardens Primary School
/ref> the Colonel Light Gardens RSL Sub-Branch, a number of sporting clubs using the name ''Reade Park'', and a multitude of historical parks and gardens. It also contains many paved and unpaved laneways, alleyways and bike tracks. The suburb is of irregular shape and follows Goodwood Road. The major part of the suburb is east of Goodwood Road and is bounded by Grange Road (north), Goodwood Road (west), and Springbank Road (south), and the suburbs of Westbourne Park, Lower Mitcham,
Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...
and
Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...
. A smaller part of the suburb is west of Goodwood Road and divides the neighbouring Daw Park into two unjoined parts which are the northern and southern boundaries of this smaller part.


Naming

The land east of Goodwood Road was purchased from the "Grange Farm" portion of the estate of William Ranson Mortlock in June 1915, and was initially referred to as Mortlock Park. For the next six years there was much debate and many proposals for the name of the suburb, including "Mitcham Garden Suburb", "Garden Suburb, Adelaide", "Light Garden Suburb", "William Light Garden Suburb", "Light Gardens" and at least half-a-dozen other names. In April 1921, the Attorney-General ( Henry Barwell) noted that "Colonel Light Gardens to be the name of the Garden Suburb". The suburb is named after the first Surveyor-General of
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
,
Colonel William Light William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site of the colony's capi ...
. The land west of Goodwood Road was purchased from the Estate of Shobbrooks, and a smaller block was purchased from A. Hann. This became part of Colonel Light Gardens in 1924. There have been a number of attempts to rename this area to Daw Park. For many years residents in the northern section of the suburb adopted Reade Park as their address to distinguish themselves from the Thousand Homes Scheme area. This use was never officially recognised, and over the years has steadily declined. Nevertheless, the Reade Park Bowling Club, the Reade Park Tennis Club and the Reade Park Croquet Club are all located in the northern part of Colonel Light Gardens.


History

The part of the suburb east of Goodwood Road was used as an army training camp during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and prior to this the area was known as Grange Farm. An area of 1.2 km2 was purchased in June 1915 by the
Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
government from the estate of William Tennant Mortlock. The Government decided to establish it as a 'model garden suburb' following New Zealand town planner
Charles Reade Charles Reade (8 June 1814 – 11 April 1884) was a British novelist and dramatist, best known for the 1861 historical novel '' The Cloister and the Hearth''. Life Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire, to John Reade and Anne Marie Sco ...
's 1914 Australian Town Planning Tour. (South Australia appointed Reade as a town planning adviser in 1916. He became SA's first official Town Planner in 1918, retaining the position until 1920.) The Post Office on Goodwood Road originally opened as ''Light's Gardens'', was renamed ''Colonel Light Gardens'' on 1 January 1929 and ''Daw Park'' in 1967. Until the 1970s the suburb was administered under the ''Garden Suburb Act'' and controlled by a South Australian government appointed Garden Suburb Commissioner, who carried out the functions of local government until it was eventually absorbed by the Mitcham Council. The suburb contains many well preserved bungalow homes, and in October 1999 was placed on the Register of The National Estate. In 2000 the suburb was declared a State Heritage Area; for the heritage significance of Colonel Light Gardens, see the State Heritage Branch web page on Colonel Light Gardens. The suburb has an unusual layout – when viewed from the air, part of the suburb is said by some to resemble the rising sun symbol of the Australian military, and by others to resemble a
Union Flag The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...
. However, it was not designed this way. The Colonel Light Gardens Historical Society webpage "Urban Myth" discusses these.


Schools

The primary school main building is heritage listed, and each building is named after a historic South Australian figure: Isabell Doolette, William Ranson Mortlock,
Charles Reade Charles Reade (8 June 1814 – 11 April 1884) was a British novelist and dramatist, best known for the 1861 historical novel '' The Cloister and the Hearth''. Life Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire, to John Reade and Anne Marie Sco ...
, Gil Langley and the Grange Farm. The school was established in 1926 and has about 630 students from Reception to Year 6.


Transport

The suburb is served by
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, ...
buses along Goodwood Road, East Parkway, Grange Road and Springbank Road. The closest
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
s,
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 ...
and Torrens Park on the Belair railway line, are situated some distance to the east on Belair Road. ( Clapham station was closed in 1995.) Colonel Light Gardens was served by a Municipal Tramways Trust tram line. It closed in the 1950s upon cessation of most of the tram routes around Adelaide. ABC News: Why was Adelaide's tram network ripped up in the 1950s?
/ref>


Politics

Local government:
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 som ...
, Gault Ward
State government:
Electoral district of Elder Elder is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after nineteenth-century businessman and philanthropist Sir Thomas Elder. Elder is an 18.3 km2 subur ...
in the
South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

Federal government: Seat of Boothby in the
Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...


See also

*
List of Adelaide suburbs A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, bu ...


References


External links


Entry in Australian Heritage database

Mitcham Council's information page

Colonel Light Gardens Historical Society
*

{{City of Mitcham suburbs Suburbs of Adelaide Planned communities in Australia