City of Port Adelaide


The City of Port Adelaide was a local government area of South Australia centred at the port of Adelaide from 1855 to 1996.

Early years

The council was established on 27 December 1855 when the Corporate Town of Port Adelaide was proclaimed as a new municipality centred on the township of the port of Adelaide, which had been opened some years prior in 1837. From 1884 to 1900 the adjacent district councils of Portland Estate, Birkenhead, Queenstown and Alberton, and Rosewater, and the Corporate Town of Semaphore, were amalgamated with the Town of Port Adelaide, dramatically increasing its size. On 23 May 1901, Port Adelaide was proclaimed a city by Governor Tennyson and became the City of Port Adelaide.
From the late 1830s to 1945, the area surrounding Port Adelaide was subdivided into many small district areas as owners bought, subdivided and sold areas of land. As the areas became smaller, and more landowners named their own estates, the number of these early "suburbs" reached 90.
Modern NameEarly Subdivision Name
AlbertonAlbert Town, Glebe
BirkenheadBridgetown, Bridgewater, Davies Town, Sandwell
EtheltonThornton
ExeterBath, Davies Town, Fisherville, Freshwater, Greenwich, Staplehurst, Waterville
GillmanNewshaven, North Arm, Northarmton
GlanvillePort Bridge, Waterville
Largs BayEastbourne, Ferryville, Guilford, Harveyton, Hastings, Newport, Shoreham, Ward Town, Margate
Largs NorthLondon, Swansea, Largs Bay Estate
OsborneBrooklyn, Mascotte, Midlunga, Blackpool, Austral-Brindisi Estate
OttowayGuildford Park, Hardwicke, Norbiton, Sassafras Estate, Whiteville
Outer HarborEurimbla, Harbour Park, Portsmouth
PeterheadFarnham, Gold Diggers Village, Hamley, Sandwell
Port AdelaideGreytown, Moilong, Newhaven, Portland Estate, Portsea
RosewaterBayswater, Paddington, Dockville, Perth, Yatala, Rosatala, Kingsnorth, Greytown, Kingston, Kingston East, Kelmscott, Rosewater East
SemaphoreAlderley, Clairville, Clifton, Freshwater, Kew, New Liverpool, Plymouth, Scarborough, Weymouth
Semaphore SouthSaint Margaret's, Thornton, Whitby
TaperooDraper, Gedville Estate, Koolena, Kooraka, River View, Silicate, Silicate Beach
WingfieldBrooklyn, Dundas, Hull, Millicent, Myrtlehome, Newark, Norahville, Rosslyn, Wicklow

1940s to 1996

By the 1940s the number of suburbs was becoming a problem, so the Port Adelaide Council moved to reduce the number of local district areas to 18, in 1945. The boundaries and names of the suburbs were further stabilised when postcodes were introduced to Australia in 1967.
In March 1996 the City of Port Adelaide merged with the City of Enfield to form the new City of Port Adelaide Enfield.

Mayors of Port Adelaide