Mitcham, formerly known as Mitcham Village, is an inner-southern 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 ...

in the

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 ...

History

Created as a village separate from Adelaide known as "Mitcham Village", it was ancillary to a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

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 ...

belonging to the South Australia Company. Prior to British colonisation, the area was inhabited by 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. Kau ...

, an

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. A group of about 150 Kaurna formerly camped at "Wirraparinga", now Mitcham Reserve (known for many years as "Brown Hill Creek reserve"). The reserve area occupies what was used as the

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

. In August 1909, the Church of England's Orphan Home for Girls, established by Julia Farr and Mrs W. S. Douglas in Carrington Street in

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 ...

in 1860, moved to Fullarton Road, Upper Mitcham.

Governance

The suburb is the seat of the Mitcham Council. Mitcham is located in the federal electorate of Boothby and the state electorate of Waite, which have been considered safe Liberal seats. Both are currently held by the Australian Labor Party.

Notable residents

*Theodore Ambrose (1880–1947)

medical practitioner A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

*Major Rupert Downes (1885–1945)

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

* Hedley Herbert Finlayson (1895–1991) conservationist and mammalogist * John Harvey Finlayson (1843–1915)

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

* Laura Margaret Hope (1868–1952)

* Doris Egerton Jones (1889–1973)

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

*Ellen Thornber (1851–1947) schoolmistress *

Joseph Garnett Wood Joseph Garnett Wood (2 September 1900 – 8 December 1959) was an Australian professor of botany and a president of the Royal Society of South Australia. Wood was born in Adelaide, South Australia and educated at Unley High School, the South Aust ...

(1900–1959)

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Gallery

File:Mitcham School.jpg File:Old Belair Road, new bridge, Mitcham.JPG File:Mitcham Village Institute, Mitcham 1.JPG File:Mitcham Village Uniting Church, Mitcham.JPG File:H Mitcham Reserve, Brownhill Creek in flood.JPG File:Mitcham Square 2.JPG

References

Suburbs of Adelaide {{adelaide-geo-stub