O'Connell Street is the main north–south route through

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

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 ...

and is heavily-trafficked by north-suburban commuters to

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 ...

. At its northern end it intersects with Barton Terrace West and the commencement of

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (minin ...

and Main North roads. At its southern end it abuts Brougham Gardens and intersects with Brougham Place and the commencement of

King William Road King William Street is the part of a major arterial road that traverses the central business district, CBD and Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, continuing as King William Road to the north of North Terrace, Adelaide, North Terrace and ...

. It is considered to be one of two major shopping and dining strips within North Adelaide, the other being Melbourne Street.

History

The street was named on 23 May 1837 at a meeting between the Governor

John Hindmarsh Rear-Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh KH (baptised 22 May 1785 – 29 July 1860) was a naval officer and the first Governor of South Australia, from 28 December 1836 to 16 July 1838. Family His grandfather William Hindmarsh was a gardener in Coni ...

, the Colonial Secretary

Robert Gouger Robert Gouger ( ; 26 June 1802 – 4 August 1846) was one of the founders of South Australia and the first Colonial Secretary of South Australia. Early life Gouger was the fifth son of nine children of George Gouger (1763–1802), who was a p ...

and several advisers including judge

John Jeffcott Sir John William Jeffcott (1796 – 12 December 1837) was the first judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia. He also served as Chief Justice of Sierra Leone. Biography Jeffcott was born in County Kerry, Ireland. He was educated at Trinit ...

. It has been suggested that it was not named, as might have been presumed, for Irish political leader and Catholic emancipist

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

who was then at the peak of his career, but his son parliamentarian Maurice O'Connell, a fellow student of Jeffcott's at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

and fellow expatriate of

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

. Originally, Jeffcott Street was intended to be the main north–south thoroughfare through North Adelaide, but drainage problems in the vicinity led to the opening up of the link through Brougham Gardens from King William Street and the resultant access to enter Adelaide city most directly from the north via O'Connell Street.

References

{{Road infrastructure in Adelaide Streets in Adelaide North Adelaide