Para Hills, South Australia

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Para Hills Adelaide, South Australia
Gully in Para Hills
Population:	9,050
Established:	1959
Postcode:	5096
Area:	5.6 km²
Property Value:	AUD $198,750 (Q1 2006)[1]
LGA:	City of Salisbury City of Tea Tree Gully
State District:	Playford
Federal Division:	Makin
Suburbs around Para Hills Salisbury East Gulfview Heights Wynn Vale Para Hills West Para Hills Modbury Heights Ingle Farm Para Vista Modbury North

Para Hills (34°49′S 138°40′E; post code: 5096) is a residential suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is accessible via the O-Bahn Busway and the rail network. There is a light aircraft airport close to its boundary, and numerous sporting facilities, abundant parks and schools, and numerous shopping facilities. Most of the suburb is in the City of Salisbury while some is in the City of Tea Tree Gully.

Contents 1 Origin of the name 2 Landscape 2.1 Geology 2.2 Flora 2.3 Geography 3 History 3.1 Kaurna Aborigines 3.2 European settlement 3.3 The new pioneers 3.3.1 Timeline 4 Trivia 5 Transport 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Origin of the name

The name Para is derived from the Kaurna Aboriginal's word (‘Pari’) for a stream of flowing water, referring to the nearby Little Para River. The Hills part of the name refers to its position on the face of the hills, which rise 61 metres above the Adelaide Plains and wall the plain on its eastern side. The name was carried over from the Para Hills Farm, established in the late 19th century by the Goodall family, near what is now the corner of Todd and Goodall Roads.

[edit] Landscape

[edit] Geology

Para Hills is built on an escarpment of the Para Fault Block at the edge of the Adelaide plains.^[2] The formation of this escarpment has lead to short, steep-sided gullies which are characteristic of Para Hills. The gullies are usually dry, running only shortly after rain, and have mostly been left as public parks. Outcrops of exposed pre-Cambrian rocks have been quarried for use in roadmaking and construction since the late 19th Century.

[edit] Flora

Prior to subdivision there is very little recorded about the vegetation of the hills. What records exist report that the plains where mostly covered in kangaroo grass, with the hills being lightly covered in Eucalyptus Porosa (Mallee box) , Acacia paradoxa (Kangaroo thorn wattle) and Acacia pyncantha (Golden Wattle).^[3]. Public parks in para hills are now landscaped with Australian native vegetation. Most of the streets show Salisbury council’s practice of lining roadsides with Eucalypts, Acacias and other Australian native trees.

[edit] Geography

The boundary of Para Hills is defined by McIntyre Road and Kelly Road to the north and east, Bridge Road to the west, and Maxwell Road and Milne Road to the south. The northern boundary moved south from Wynn Vale Drive in 2002 when Gulfview Heights was declared.

At the ABS 2001 census, Para Hills had a population of 9,050 people living in 3,505 dwellings.

[edit] History

[edit] Kaurna Aborigines

Main article: Kaurna

The Kaurna people (pronounced "Garner" or "Gowna") people were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Para Hills area and neighboring Adelaide Plains. By the time land grants were first sold, European diseases had decimated them and depopulated the hills. There is evidence of their occupation along the nearby Little Para River, with occasional skeletons uncovered during the early years of farming.^[3]

[edit] European settlement

Land grants in the Para Hills area began in 1847. Notable farming families first settling the area were the Goodalls ( on August 12, 1850), the Kesters (in 1893), and the MacIntyres (in 1865^[4]). All three original farming families have main roads in Para Hills named after them. The farmhouse of Allen Kesters (built in 1934) is still in use, on the corner of Kesters and Bridge roads as a real-estate office, and the McIntyre farmhouse was, as of 1985, occupied by the McIntyre family. Farming and quarrying continued, as the sole activities on the land, until Reid Murray Developments (R.M.D.) began acquiring land for subdivision in 1959.^[3] R.M.D. was not the only developer active in the suburb with most of the Goodall and McIntyre farmland being sold to, or subdivided by, other companies.

R.M.D. copied a new concept from the South Australian Housing Trust's new development at Elizabeth with the construction of the suburb as a self-contained neighborhood from the outset. 15% of the land was set aside for parks, arrangements were made with Woolworths (S.A.) Ltd to provide a supermarket, and with the State government for the speedy provision of a post office and school. Land allotments were set to a minimum of 697 square metres and, to transform the bare farm land, a street tree-planting and nursery program was begun with new residents being given six plants to start a garden.^[3]R.M.D. did not sell any vacant land, but only complete house and land packages (ranging in price from £4,000 to £5,500). The houses all had three or more bedrooms, flat corrugated iron or angled tile roofs, and were constructed from bricks, modular concrete blocks or Mount Gambier freestone.

[edit] The new pioneers

R.M.D. set up offices in London to attract new British migrants, and had salesmen meet new immigrants at Freemantle dock, prior to their trip to Australia. Flats were built in Barcoo Street to temporarily house intending purchasers, many of whom were travelling under assisted passage. New settlers were often not prepared for the frontier conditions they met, with no amenities or trees, and surroundings of little more than open paddocks. Many of the migrants came from established cities, and expressed dismay at the prospect of having to form a community from scratch.^[3]

[edit] Timeline

1846, 29th October, Hundred of Yatala proclaimed and area divided into sections.
1847, July, First land grants acquired.
1850, Goodall family acquire a land grant and begin farming.
1852, McIntyre family begin leasing farming land.
1893, Kesters family acquire land and establish a farm.
1911, First ( two inch ) water main laid down Kesters Road.
1934, Allen Kester’s house built on the corner of Kesters and Bridge Road.
1950’s ( year unknown), Electricity supply begun after formation of the Electricity Trust of South Australia.
1959, All Kesters family land purchased by R.M.D.
1960, 25th February, Construction of first house begun with pouring of the concrete foundation.
1960, 2nd August, Premier Sir Thomas Playford officially opens the new housing estate.
1961, February, First school lessons begin in pre-fabricated classrooms in the site of current day Para Hills Primary School.
1961, March, 100th family arrives in the Para Hills estate.
1961, 27th June, First scouting meeting with the formation of a cub pack.
1962, 24th February, 1/2 Olympic size swimming pool and community hall opened.
1963, September, Presbyterian Church on the corner of Barcoo Streets and Liberman roads begins services.
1963, 12th September, Shopping centre opens on Wilkinson Road.
1964, Goodall farm including Para Hills farm purchased by R.M.D.
1964, Para Hills Farm's farmhouse demolished to make way for subdivision.
1968, 17th June, First Para Hills library opened by Premier Steele Hall.
1972, 27th April, Para Hills police station opens
1976, Population reaches 11,213.

[edit] Trivia

Para Hills was used to showcase an 'expandable house' that allowed for rooms to be added in four stages. The house was part of the Housing Trust of South Australia's demonstration village opened in 1982.^[5]

[edit] Transport

The 560 bus route links Bridge Road with the Adelaide O-Bahn at the Tea Tree Plaza Interchange, and also to the Salisbury bus/train interchange. Several other local bus routes exist.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of Adelaide suburbs
• Williams, M (1974). The Making of the South Australian Landscape. London: Academic Press. 
• Smith, Derek, L. (1979). Land Use and Groundwater History of the Northern Adelaide Plains. Adelaide: Engineering " Water Supply Department. 

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -34.811° 138.660°

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.