Thebarton, South Australia

Thebarton (/ˈθɛbərtən/ THEB-ər-tən), formerly Theberton, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore Street to the south, and South Road to the west.

Many buildings and landmarks that bear the name of Thebarton were in the history municipality, the Town of Thebarton, which included most of the adjoining suburb of Torrensville. These include the Thebarton Oval, the Thebarton croquet and bowls club, Thebarton Theatre, and Thebarton Senior College. The historic Adelaide Gaol, nominally shown as being in Thebarton, and the adjacent Thebarton Barracks of the South Australia Police actually lie within the northwestern Adelaide Park Lands.

The Thebarton campus of the University of Adelaide, also known as Adelaide University Research Park, occupies a complex of former industrial buildings in the northeastern corner of the suburb.

One of the three suburbs in West Torrens with a high population of Greek-Australians

Stirling Street entrance to the University of Adelaide's Thebarton Campus

History

Prior to European settlement, the areas now known as Thebarton and Hindmarsh were called Karraundongga (meaning "red gum spear place") by the Kaurna people, who would craft spears from the red gum branches gathered on the banks of the Torrens there.^[4]

The suburb of Thebarton was named after the home of Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of the colony of South Australia. Colonel Light named his home after Theberton Hall of Suffolk, England, where he was educated. The variant spelling is accredited to a typographical error. The area was known as Theberton until approximately 1840.^[5]

Colonel Light surveyed the town-acre as Section 1 and built Theberton Cottage towards the northern part of the area. The area was first subdivided for housing in February 1839, although it took a number of years for the housing to establish, Thebarton Post Office opening on 24 October 1850.^[6] By 1866 the population was estimated at around 450 people.

Thebarton has a significant Greek-Australian population and is the suburb with the largest Greek Australian population per capita in Australia. In fact, according to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2001, the suburbs of Thebarton and neighbouring Torrensville together are home to 4,471 Greek-Australians; i.e., 18.7 per cent of the total population.

Landmarks

The Thebarton Incinerator on West Thebarton Road, pictured facing south west, was designed by Walter Burley Griffin.

Queen of Angels Catholic church on the corner of South Road and Kintore Street

• St. George Greek Orthodox Church on Rose Street, Adelaide's largest Greek Orthodox church
• The Ice Arena, home of the Adelaide Adrenaline, who play in the Australian Ice Hockey League
• Thebarton Oval, former home of the West Torrens Football Club in the South Australian National Football League. Now home to the South Australian Amateur Football League.
• The Thebarton Incinerator on West Thebarton Road was designed by Walter Burley Griffin in 1935,^[8] completed in 1937, and decommissioned in 1964.^[9] It is one of two Burley Griffin buildings listed among the 120 nationally significant 20th-century buildings in South Australia,^[10] the other being the Hindmarsh Incinerator at Brompton.

The well-known Thebarton Theatre is in the neighbouring suburb of Torrensville

Thebarton Racecourse, which operated from 1859 (or earlier) to 1869 was formed on grazing land in the area now known as Mile End, and completely built over.

The Adelaide Gaol is easterly-adjacent to Thebarton in the western Adelaide parklands.

Heritage listings

Thebarton has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• 39A Dew Street: Lady Gowrie Child Centre ^[11]
• 1 George Street: Squatters Arms Hotel ^[12]
• 42 and 42A Phillips Street: Thebarton Baptist Church and Hall ^[12]
• 77 Port Road: Southwark Hotel ^[13] (pronounced /ˈsʌðərk/)
• 35-37 Stirling Street: Faulding's Eucalyptus Oil Distillery ^[14]
• 34-36 West Thebarton Road: Thebarton Incinerator ^[15]

References

External links

• Geoscience Australia
• South Australian State Gazetteer: Placenames Online
• The Manning Index of South Australian History

Coordinates: 34°54′S 138°34′E / 34.900°S 138.567°E / -34.900; 138.567