Thank you to Playford's Past Recollect Website and team for the images and assistance in creating this video, and to Thomas O'Connell for helping me write and put this together.
SMITHFIELD
The township of Smithfield was an early settlement originally named ‘Smith’s Creek’ after John Smith, a Scottish pioneer and one of the first settlers in the area. In 1847 Smith was granted sections 1714, 1715 and 1719 along the Main North Road and the first home Smith built for his family, with part of the building being used as the first inn in the area. Within six years he had purchased fourteen more sections of land and became the largest land owner in the area.
The township reflected nineteenth-century South Australian country town design, of streets in a grid pattern which surrounded a central square. Smith named the central square in his plan, Augusta Square. Here in the centre of town Smith wanted the site of a Presbyterian Church for the local Scottish Community. The church, one of the first buildings, was built in 1855 on land donated by Smith and was demolished in the early 1970s Initially, housing in the area was of pise construction or from quarry stone taken from the hills face. Early prosperous wheat farming families included Hogarth, Twelftree, Andrews, Smith, Bald (who also owned a quarry), Coulter, Worden and Crittenden. With the arrival of the railway, Smith decided to build a new two-storeyed hotel in 1857. Initially, the local residents called the new hotel ‘Smith’s Folly’ because of its grandeur. Smith called it ‘The Railway Terminus’ in recognition of the railway line coming to Smithfield. From 1858 until 1875 the hotel was renamed ‘Smith's and from 1876 onwards the ‘Smithfield Hotel’. Travellers passing through the area on horse-drawn vehicles would use the hotel as a staging point. Part of John Smith’s homestead can still be seen on the Main North Road. A permanent school was established at Smithfield soon after the Education Bill of 1875 was introduced. The Bill meant that it became compulsory for children between the age of seven and thirteen to attend school for at least 78 days a year. In 1876 the Council of Education purchased land offered by Smith on which to build a school. Gawler funeral directors, Taylor and Forgie won the contract to build the schoolhouse and residence for £1,200. It was not uncommon for undertakers to provide building work as their services were usually advertised as undertaker and carpenter. The school was officially opened on 1 June 1877. Within the first year, application was required if the family wished to stay on. Today the historic Smithfield township is surrounded by urban developments such as Smithfield Plains, Munno Para and Blakeview.
The Davoren Road Railway
During the early days of WWII, the Commonwealth Government embarked upon a major expansion to manufacture munitions. Four munitions facilities were constructed in and around Adelaide. A small-arms factory at Hendon, a foundry and rolling mill at Finsbury, an explosive and filling factory at Salisbury and a magazine area at Smithfield. The Smithfield magazine was built early in 1941 on a 530 hectare site, about 5 km north of the Salisbury Explosive and Filling Factory. It functioned as the storage area for the Salisbury factory’s munitions project, including Cordite, TNT and Nitrocellulose. The site was located on the corner of Curtis and Andrew’s road, MacDonald Park. Approximately 95 buildings were constructed, thirty 50 ton magazines and three 100 ton magazines, each well separated and equidistant from each other to minimise the devastation that an explosion would cause (600 feet). They were surrounded by huge earth mounds and blast protection walls made of sandbags filled with sand and cement. The intention was to drive any explosion that might occur upwards rather than outwards which would affect other buildings. There were also 3 examination houses, a guard house and office accommodation. The magazine buildings were constructed of red brick with corrugated asbestos cement roofs and had wide eaves supported by timber brackets. Around 20 families would be moved from their farms as the construction began. The magazine was connected to the existing Adelaide-Gawler railway to enable munitions and stores to be moved in and out of the area. Serviced by the South Australian Railways (SAR), Smithfield had a four narrow gauge tramway system. A little south of the Smithfield station, a 5’3” railway line branched off the main line, ran alongside the northern side of Davoren Road, crossed Andrews road and continued in an east-west direction alongside the road in the Smithfield Magazine area. In 1962 moves were made to close the magazine, with the bulk of the explosives destroyed 30 June 1962, and the area of the overall magazine reduced. A large portion of the land was sold, with some magazine buildings converted into residences by the new owners.
6 авг 2024
