Street Names & Origins

As its contribution to the 1986 Jubilee 150 Celebrations the Burnside Historical Society conducted a project researching the origins and meanings of the names of the 600 streets in the Burnside Council area. Twenty-three members did the research over three years and the project was edited and completed by John Clark in November 1989.

Unfortunately the origin of some 70 streets eluded the researchers and had to be listed as ‘unknown’. Also in the case of many other streets the derivation had to be listed as ‘probably named after’ or ‘possibly named after’ because of the lack of any firm authenticity.

During the next decade information became available to fill in some of the omissions and a number of new streets were created as a result of further subdivisions. Also the Council’s policy changed to name all back lanes and pathways. These had previously been unnamed because they were either night cart lanes or considered too small. In addition there were some Council boundary re-alignments and the suburbs of Auldana and Skye were added to Burnside. All these factors led to the need for a second edition.

A total update was started in 1997, and at the same time further research was conducted on many of the origins. The descriptions were improved so that they not only answered the question ‘what was the origin?’ but also ‘why was that origin relevant?’. For example Allen Street in Burnside is named after Richard Allen but this can leave the reader with the feeling of ‘so what’ unless the description also explains why it was named after him.

Street Name Directory

The street names are recorded alphabetically. Where the name appears in more than one suburb it is recorded as a separate entry for each suburb. Cross references are also given to other streets for obtaining more historical information.

Latest update: 3rd edition 2015(PDF, 248KB)

Additional Street Names

Over the years many streets have changed their names. Appendix 1 serves as an index so that researchers who only know the original name of a street can easily find the current name.

Old and New Street Names(PDF, 144KB)

Streets Names with Unknown Origins

This is a list of 190 streets within Burnside for which the origin is listed as 'unknown'. Of these, 154 have a possible origin described, but better supporting evidence is still needed. Despite best efforts, Researchers have been unable to find any information relating to the origins of the remaining 36 streets.

Unknown Street Names(PDF, 170KB)

New Information

If you have any further information about any streets in Burnside, please download and complete the form below and mail it to the Burnside Historical Society for inclusion.

New Information Form(PDF, 137KB)

The mailing address is: The Burnside Historical Society- PO Box 152 Glenside SA 5065

Bibliography

A full bibliography is provided but the Burnside Historical Society particularly acknowledges the work of Elizabeth Warburton, whose book The Paddocks Beneath has been the primary source of information. In addition, the work of John Clark is acknowledged for the production of the first edition in 1989 and for his continuing interest and work that led to the second edition. Geoffrey Bishop also provided much information for this second edition relating to the suburbs of Auldana and Skye after they were transferred from the East Torrens Council. I should also particularly like to thank Barbara Parker for her meticulous editing of the publication and her recommendations regarding typesetting style.

Bibliography(PDF, 133KB)

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