North Adelaide

Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colony of South Australia completed the survey for the capital city of Adelaide by 10 March 1837. The survey included 1042 acres (4.2 km²), including 342 acres (1.4 km²) north of the River Torrens. This surveyed land north of the river became North Adelaide.

North Adelaide consists of three grids of varying dimension to suit the geography. North Adelaide is surrounded by parklands, with public gardens between the grids. The North Adelaide Parklands (the Adelaide Parklands north of the River Torrens) contain gardens, many sports fields (including the Adelaide Oval), a golf course, horse agistment paddocks and some areas sympathetic with the native environment.

The largest grid is on a hill, and is sometimes referred to as Upper North Adelaide. It has Wellington Square at its centre, and O'Connell Street as its main commercial street. O'Connell Street is the continuation of King William Road, and links the main street of Adelaide City with Main North Road. A tram used to run up O'Connell Street; the government is investigating extending the Glenelg tram along King William Road to terminate at Brougham Place. O'Connell Street has many cafes, restaurants, burger bars, shops and six pubs. Tynte Street is another commercial street in the largest grid running between Wellington Square and the east parklands. It contains a primary school, a public library, a civic hall, a post office and a pub. Also on Tynte Street are the studios of Adelaide's NWS-9, the local Nine Network affiliate. Also on this grid are the studios of the local Network Ten affiliate, ADS-10.

The smallest grid contains the Women's and Children's Hospital, the Memorial Hospital, St Peter's Cathedral, St. Mark's College, Aquinas College, the Cathedral hotel (popular with cricket fans due its proximity to the Adelaide Oval), and the Queen's Head hotel (the oldest Adelaide pub, renovated in 2003).

The remaining grid is termed Lower North Adelaide. It is nearest the Torrens floodplain. It contains Brougham Place Uniting Church, St. Ann's College, and four pubs. Melbourne Street, with cafes, restaurants, galleries, shops and two pubs, is its commercial street.

North Adelaide pubs are heritage listed. There are fourteen in total: eight in Upper North Adelaide, four in Lower North Adelaide, and two in the Cathedral grid. Six of the Upper North Adelaide pubs are on O'Connell Street: the Caledonian, the Royal Oak, The Banque, the Cambridge, the Oxford and the Archer. The Daniel O'Connell (formerly the North Adelaide hotel) is on Tynte Street, and the Wellington hotel (which also serves as the local TAB) is on Wellington square. The Dover Castle is heritage listed but has been turned into apartments. Lower North Adelaide contains the Kentish Arms hotel, the Old Lion hotel (also a brewery until recently), the Lord Melbourne, and the British hotel (Adelaide's second oldest pub).

Many residential colleges affiliated with the University of Adelaide are in North Adelaide. St. Mark's College (Anglican), Aquinas (Catholic), Kathleen Lumley College (Postgraduate), St Ann's College, Lincoln College and a Lutheran seminary. Queen's College North Adelaide was the longest lasting proprietary boys' college in Australia, closing in 1946. (See 'Queen's College North Adelaide' by Brian O'Connor Mortlock Library)

[edit] Transport

North Adelaide is well served by road, although in peak hour some roads, particularly O'Connell Street and Melbourne Street are quite congested.

North Adelaide railway station is located on the Gawler Line of the Adelaide rail network. The railway station is however on the western edge of North Adelaide with infrequent services and is little used.

There are several Adelaide Metro bus routes that that service the area on their way through to other suburbs. Buses run along several routes:

King William Road, Ward Street, Hill Street, Mills Terrace then a bus only link to Barton Road,
King William Road, Pennington Terrace, Jeffcott Street and Jeffcott Road,
King William Road, O'Connell Street and Prospect Road,
King William Road, O'Connell Street and Main North Road,
King William Road, Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and Melbourne Street,
Frome Road and Melbourne Street,
Montifiore Road and Jeffcott Street (since October 2006).

There is provision for bicycles along LeFevre Terrace/Frome Road and Montefiore Road and many of the streets have little traffic and are bicycle friendly.