Edinburgh is an outer northern suburb 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 ...

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 ...

in the City of Salisbury. The suburb was created in 1997, on land straddling Penfield and

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, that was compulsorily acquired by the

Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the prime ...

in 1940 in order to manufacture

munitions Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of ...

for the war effort during World War II, and later used for a number of defence-related establishments. The suburb is dominated by the

RAAF Base Edinburgh RAAF Base Edinburgh is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Military airfield, military airbase located in Edinburgh, South Australia, Edinburgh approximately north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and forms part of the Edinburgh Defenc ...

, but also includes the industrial precinct of Edinburgh Parks.

History

The area, as with all of 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 ...

, lies within the traditional lands of the

Kaurna people 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. Kau ...

Salisbury Explosives Factory

Once a rural area, this changed in 1940, after a large amount of land in the area between Penfield and Salisbury was compulsorily acquired by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

Department of Munitions The Department of Munitions was an Australian government department that existed between 11 June 1940 and April 1948. Reporting to it was the Factory Board, which was in charge of the six Small Arms Ammunition Factories, along with a ...

in 1940 to establish a

factory. Construction of the Salisbury Explosives Factory (officially, the No.2 Explosives and Filling Factory; colloquially "the Munitions") began in November 1940. The architect Herbert Jory was engaged by the

to oversee the building of the factory, which at its height employed 3000 labourers and tradesmen seven days a week. The factory was completed within a year. The factory was one of many facilities created to ensure supplies for six

factories established across Australia by the national government during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The site was chosen because of "its strategic position and its proximity to rail transport, and to a water supply and labour". The factory complex included 1,405 buildings, and during wartime employed between 3,000 and 6,000 people. A new

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

serviced the facilities.

Other defence establishments

*The Long Range Weapons Establishment (LRWE) was established in 1947. *The High Speed Aerodynamics Laboratory, Propulsion Research Laboratory and the Electronics Research Laboratory, (collectively known as the Chemistry & Physics Research Laboratory) in 1949. * The establishment of the

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

base was established in 1955. The LWRE and laboratories became the

Weapons Research Establishment The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) is a part of the Australian Department of Defence, which provides science and technology support to Defence and defence industry. The agency's name was changed from Defence Science and Technolog ...

(WRE) in 1955, the Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSTO) in 1974, and the Defence Science and Technology Group (DST) in 2015. It is now an

industrial suburb An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban ...

, but is still dominated by

, the DST Edinburgh site, with a few remaining sheep-grazing paddocks.

Suburb (1997)

The suburb was created in 1997 when it was split from the suburb of

, when the Australian Government decided that the Australian Department of Defence would rationalise the then "DSTO Salisbury" site and sell off about 70% of the site, and surrounding "Defence-owned" crown land, to form the "Edinburgh Parks" industrial estate.

Description

In addition to the RAAF base and the DST Group site, the suburb is home to several of defence contractors, a number of automotive component and parts manufacturers (which supported the Elizabeth

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

manufacturing plant until it closed in 2017), and other industries (for example, a major

Coles Supermarkets Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty. Ltd., doing business as Coles, is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in the suburb of Collingwood, Victoria, Colli ...

distribution centre), as well as the Penfield Golf Club golf course, a model railway track, a model boat facility, a pistol range, gemology clubrooms, and a few remaining flocks of sheep.

Edinburgh Parks

The City of Salisbury's website stated in 2013: "Edinburgh Parks is one of Australia's largest advanced industrial precincts and has more than 300 hectares of fully developed land available... It is a "$1.9 billion investment and comprises four precincts designated for aerospace and manufacturing, defence technology, logistics support and automotive industries... Edinburgh Parks industrial blocks are among the best value industrial land in Australia. The site is ideally located in a major industrial growth corridor connected by Adelaide's new northern super highway system."Commercial & industrial land availability
, City of Salisbury Organisations established in the area include BAE Systems Australia,

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

Inghams,

Detroit Diesel Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Daimler Truck AG. ...

Distribution Centre, The National Military Vehicle Museum and Lockheed Martin Australia. The City of Salisbury estimates that over 3,000 jobs have been created in the area through the creation of Edinburgh Parks. The "Invest Northern Adelaide" website, a collaboration of the cities of Playford, Salisbury, and Tea Tree Gully, makes similar glowing claims.Invest Northern Adelaide
Northern Connections

Climate

References

{{City of Salisbury suburbs Suburbs of Adelaide 1997 establishments in Australia