SAPlanned settlement
Mitcham
A company village on Brownhill Creek that gave its name to an early district council.
1840South Australian Company lays out the village
WHAT STARTED IT
The South Australian Company laid out the Village of Mitcham in 1840 on section 248, beside Brownhill Creek at the foot of the hills south of Adelaide. Creek water and foothill farmland made it a practical place for a village.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
By 1848 the growing population was raising money for a church, and the District Council of Mitcham was gazetted in May 1853, one of the colony’s earliest local governments. The hills railway opened a station at Mitcham in 1883, and the farmland later gave way to suburbs.
TURNING POINTS
1840The South Australian Company lays out the Village of Mitcham, named after Mitcham in Surrey.
1848A public meeting at ‘the village of Mitcham, Brownhill Creek’ resolves to build a church.
1853The District Council of Mitcham is gazetted on 10 May and begins meeting.
1883The railway to the Adelaide Hills opens with a station at Mitcham.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A quiet foothills suburb in the City of Mitcham, with St Michael’s Church at the heart of the old village. Brownhill Creek still runs nearby.