St Clair is a 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, and administered by the

City of Charles Sturt The City of Charles Sturt is a local government area in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, stretching to the coast. The council was formed on 1 January 1997 as a result of the amalgamation of the City of Hindmarsh Woodville and ...

. St Clair is geographically located with in the Hundred of Yatala, and was first recorded as the name for the suburb on 6 November 2012 by the Surveyor General of South Australia. The suburb is bounded by Cheltenham Parade, Torrens Road, Woodville Road and the Outer Harbor train line. The

Cheltenham Park Racecourse Cheltenham Park Racecourse was a horse racing track located in the suburb of Cheltenham, South Australia, Cheltenham in Adelaide, South Australia, between around 1921 and 2009. History The Port Adelaide Racing Club began thoroughbred racing a ...

was located here up until the late 2000s and new houses were built in the years after that.

History

The name "St Clair" was chosen to reflect the history of the surrounding area. It was first used by

Robert Richard Torrens Sir Robert Richard Torrens, (31 May 1812 – 31 August 1884), also known as Robert Richard Chute Torrens, was an Irish-born parliamentarian, writer, and land reformer. After a move to London in 1836, he became prominent in the early years o ...

as the name for the house he built in the area circa 1842. In 1850 the original house was demolished and a grander house also bearing the name "St Clair" was built adjacent the current Woodville road, this house survived into the mid 20th century. In 2007 the

South Australian Jockey Club South Australian Jockey Club is the principal race club in South Australia. First racing events The first horse racing events in South Australia took place at a well-attended picnic meeting held over 1 and 2 January 1838. In August 1838, riding ...

signed a deal with developers AVJennings and Urban Pacific to develop the former

for housing. St Clair Village was opened on 1 May 2013 by the

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian former politician who was the 45th premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the South Australian House of Assembly, House of ...

. The centre is home to a

Coles Supermarket 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 by Sir George ...

and 10 speciality shops. Construction work on the new St Clair station on the Outer Harbor railway line commenced in June 2013, with the station opening on 23 February 2014.

Homestead controversy

'St Clair' is also the name of the longstanding local park adjacent to the new suburb. The land was originally part of Bower's Estate, on which the St Clair homestead also stood on Woodville Road. The St Clair homestead was later compulsorily acquired by the council and demolished to make way for the St Clair Recreation Centre. In 2008 the Charles Sturt Council proposed a land swap between 4.7 hectares of the Reserve (including the St Clair Oval) with an adjoining contaminated site on the former Actil factory land. This was proposed to allow residential development on the parklands and Oval site. Despite community opposition, including a legal challenge by a group of local residents, the land swap proceeded in late 2009. The Council voted 13 to 3 to proceed with the land swap and transfer the land to the State Government's Land Management Corporation (now known as Renewal SA). This was despite concerns raised by local residents over the unequal nature of the swap (in both land value and open space) and the loss of the park. As of July 2013, the original park remains undeveloped. The Parliament's Upper House has voted to launch another inquiry into the swap and the South Australian chapter of the Returned Service League has voted to support the motion to have the original park retained as a war memorial, both to realise the 1942 petition, and to honour the scattered ashes of war veterans.'

Politics

St Clair is part of Woodville Ward in the City of Charles Sturt local government area. It also lies in the state electoral district of Cheltenham and the federal electoral division of Port Adelaide.

Notable People

Some notable people include:

, former premier of South Australia.

References

External links

Official St Clair Website

City of Charles Sturt
{{Coord, -34.871, 138.53, format=dms, type:city_region:AU-SA, display=title Suburbs of Adelaide