Westbourne Park, South Australia

History

The suburb was originally known as Cottonville and Unley Park. The area was largely built up in the first three decades of the twentieth century, partly due to its proximity to the (no longer existent) Colonel Light Gardens Tram Line. The tree-lined streets contain a large proportion of houses from this era. These range from Queen Anne and Mock Tudor houses to symmetrical buildings and Californian bungalows built mainly in red brick.

The southern area was first laid out as "homestead blocks" but was not gazetted. It was then known as Cottonville, and it is probable that it was named after George W. Cotton who advocated the division of land into small holdings for "the working man". Much of the land was used as almond orchards. A *Blockers''' sports day and picnic was reported in the Register of 13 April 1896 and the *Chronicle'' of 18 April 1896.

The southernmost section around Constance Street to Angas Road was laid out as housing blocks by William Hamilton Sampson and Jessie Sanders in 1921 and was still known as Cottonville.

The northern part was originally a private subdivision of Section 253. The name Westbourne Park was formally submitted by the City of Mitcham at a council meeting held in 1945, and to help eliminate superfluous subdivision names, (as requested by the Surveyor-General), Cottonville was included. The Westbourne Park Post Office opened on 10 February 1947 but was renamed Hawthorn in 1966.

Transport

Approximately 6 km south of the Adelaide city centre, the suburb is serviced on the east side by Adelaide Metro's Belair railway line and the 200 bus route along Sussex Terrace. Bus routes G10, G20, G30, G40, 961 and 997 along Goodwood Road service the west side of the suburb. Service 190 connects the southern boundary along Grange Road to Glenelg (via Raglan Ave) and the city (via Belair Road).

Schools

Westbourne Park Primary School is located on Goodwood Road on the western boundary of the suburb.

Politics

• Local government: Gault Ward in the City of Mitcham
• State government: Electoral district of Elder in the South Australian House of Assembly
• Federal government: Division of Boothby in the Australian House of Representatives

References

References

1. "City of Mitcham – Westbourne Park – The council and Administration". City of Mitcham.
2. A Compendium of the Place Names of South Australia. From Aaron Creek to Zion Hill With 54 Complementary Appendices Researched and written by Geoffrey H. Manning. Originally published as The place names of our land: a South Australian anthology, Modbury, South Australia : Gould Genealogy & History, 2010.
3. Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions.