Athelstone, South Australia

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Athelstone (pronounced ['æθǝlstən]) is a suburb of Adelaide in the City of Campbelltown.

1 Introduction
2 Location
3 History
4 Demography
5 Housing

[edit] Introduction

Athelstone is a large suburban area in Adelaide's foothills. It was established in the Nineteenth Century but has only been part of suburban Adelaide in the post WWII era.

[edit] Location

It is approximately 10km north-east of Adelaide's central business district. The main arterial road, Gorge Road, runs through this suburb in an east-west direction. The River Torrens, one of Adelaide's major water supplies, borders the suburb. This water source runs its way from Mount Pleasant to the sea. Gorge Road leads up into the Adelaide Hills, joining the gorge of the Kangaroo Creek Dam, and the Torrens' source. Fifth Creek (a tributary to the River Torrens) also runs through the suburb as an intermittent stream, prone to flooding in late Spring (Oct-Dec).

Athelstone is bounded by the River Torrens, Black Hill Conservation Park, Montacute Road, Stradbroke Road and Silkes Road.

[edit] History

This area was once part of the Kaurna nation's territory.

The suburb (lower Athelstone) began as a village along the River Torrens. It was farmed by incoming European migrants. The shopping centre or village centre began from these settlements. The Atkinson family held possession of the land sold to the Jesuits in the 1960's to build Saint Ignatius' College senior campus around the Upper Athelstone site. Smaller subdivisions have been created. For example, Foxfield Estate in the east, was a development of the Hickinbotham Group during the late 1970's. Other subdevelopments have also occurred.

Land has also been preserved in the process. Wadmore Park, adjoining Athelstone Oval and Black Hill Conservation Park were established as recreational and nature reserves.

[edit] Demography

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics link ABS data for 2001 indicates Athelstone's population to be predominantly middle class and totalling just over 9,l50 people. There is an even spread of males and females. Over 48% of the population comprises married couples with a skew to the 35-64 year old age range. Less than 15% of the entire population of Athelstone is over 65 years old.

63% of the population was born in Australia. About 36% of the population speaks other languages. Approximately 40% of the people living in Athelstone have both parents born overseas. more than 13% of Athelstone speaks Italian, over 4% speaks Greek, and just over 2% speaks Chinese.

Athelstone residents work primarily in the retail, manufacturing, health, property / business services, education and construction sectors (in descending order) with over 66% of its workers employed in those industries.

[edit] Housing

The predominantly contemporary housing style is echoed throughout the suburb. There have been different stages in the suburb's development with the first contemporary housing built during the 1970's. Many contemporary styles have emerged as the area still has some market gardening holdings yet to be released as housing allotments.