SAPlanned settlement
Thebarton
Colonel Light’s own land, cut into cheap lots for working families.
1839Colonel Light subdivides his section
WHAT STARTED IT
Thebarton grew on section 1 of the Hundred of Adelaide, the land Colonel William Light took up beside the Torrens just west of the city. Short of money, Light offered it in 1839 as building leases and small allotments, putting land within reach of working men.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
By the early 1840s Thebarton had hotels, a tannery, a flour mill and numerous brickworks, and was home to mechanics and labourers who kept gardens, pigs and poultry. By 1853 there were 153 buildings, many of them two-room cottages.
TURNING POINTS
1839Light, Finniss & Co. advertise building leases on ‘No. 1 section, now called Theberton’.
1839The remaining land is cut into 252 small allotments averaging about £8 each.
1841Two hotels are trading in the village.
1853Thebarton has 153 buildings, including 65 cottages of only two rooms.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
An inner-western suburb in the City of West Torrens, where industry and offices sit among old workers’ cottages. Light’s cottage was demolished in 1926.