SAPlanned settlement
Walkerville
An early private village on the Torrens, next door to North Adelaide.
1838Village named after Captain Walker
WHAT STARTED IT
Walkerville was laid out on a preliminary section on the River Torrens immediately adjoining North Adelaide, which a syndicate bought from Governor Hindmarsh for £1,100. Surveyors Hindmarsh and Lindsay divided it into one-acre allotments that sold for £25 to £50.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
In December 1838 the owners named the village after Captain John Walker, one of its proprietors, and marked its first anniversary with a dinner a year later. In 1855 ratepayers met at the Sussex Arms to seek a district council separate from Yatala.
TURNING POINTS
1838Proprietors of the new village on the Torrens name it Walkerville after Captain Walker, R.N.
1839Inhabitants and proprietors dine together to mark the village’s first anniversary.
1855Ratepayers meet at the Sussex Arms to press for a separate District of Walkerville.
1870The two-storey Sussex Arms Hotel is photographed with its staff and patrons.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small, leafy residential suburb north-east of the city and the centre of the Town of Walkerville council. Old hotels and houses mark the 1838 village.