Ten Pound Poms: Elizabeth (Lost City of Tomorrow) Part 2

Thank you to Playford's Past Recollect Website for supplying many of the photos found in our videos! Playford's Past Recollect Website is a wonderful resource you can access here:

This channel is dedicated to exploring the history of Elizabeth, an outer northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia (SA). It is located in the City of Playford.

Elizabeth was the seat of the former local government body, the City of Elizabeth, which included Elizabeth as well as the immediately adjacent suburbs on all sides except the west. Although the City of Elizabeth no longer exists, having been amalgamated into the much larger City of Playford in 1997, the term 'Elizabeth', in the context of Adelaide, typically refers to the historic municipality and the distinct community therein.

A total of nine suburban localities clustered around the Elizabeth town centre were named for the City of Elizabeth, by which they were locally governed at some point:

Elizabeth South
Elizabeth North
Elizabeth East
Elizabeth West (abolished in 2011 and split between Edinburgh North and Davoren Park)
Elizabeth Downs
Elizabeth Field (abolished in 1993; now Davoren Park)
Elizabeth Grove
Elizabeth Park
Elizabeth Vale

Other suburbs included Smithfield Plains

The early town centre, now Elizabeth Shopping Centre, had open air shopping malls and a theatre called the Octagon. Residential suburbs of Elizabeth were established with the earliest being Elizabeth South and Elizabeth North. Each was configured as a local community around a small shopping centre containing a supermarket, bank, hotel and service station along with other shops. Automotive manufacturer Holden established a manufacturing plant in the area, becoming a major employer along with the Department of Defence with its Long Range Weapons Establishment, later the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, and RAAF Base Edinburgh. Migrants were encouraged to settle in Elizabeth and its suburbs.

Elizabeth had large areas of open space, with the most prominent being Fremont Park, on Main North Road. Elizabeth was the sister city of Fremont, California; Lake Elizabeth in Fremont Central Park is named for the city.

Elizabeth also had a strong music scene, providing a home for Jimmy Barnes, John Swan, Bernard "Doc" Neeson and Glenn Shorrock, among other musicians.

The Lost City of Tomorrow series is based upon the writings of Mark Peel.
Before the 1950s, most of the area surrounding today's suburb of Elizabeth was farming land. After the end of the Second World War with its shortage of materials, the state government decided that South Australia needed to grow and become industrialised. A satellite city was planned for northern metropolitan fringe of Adelaide between the existing townships of Salisbury and Smithfield. The South Australian Housing Trust initiated a housing development program in the area, with a purchase of 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) at the site of the present suburb.

The township (now suburb) of Elizabeth was established on 16 November 1955, being named after Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. In 1964, a new local government body, the municipality of Elizabeth, later called City of Elizabeth, was created by severance from the District Council of Salisbury. This allowed the local government to focused explicitly on the newly-developed land and distinct local growing community centred at Elizabeth.

In the 2016 Census, there were 1,024 people in Elizabeth. 65.2% of people were born in Australia and 76.3% of people spoke only English at home. The most common response for religion was No Religion at 37.8%.

As at the 2006 census, the population encompassing postcodes 5112, 5113 and 5114, was about 60,000. The majority of residents (66.2%) were Australian born, with 13.2% born in England. The age distribution of Elizabeth residents was similar to that of the greater Australian population. 67.5% of residents were aged 25 or over in 2006, compared to the Australian average of 66.5%; and 32.5% were younger than 25 years, compared to the Australian average of 33.5%.

[elizabeththatwas]

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[catey]

Excellent video and narrative as well. I think a lot of what you said is true and hits the mark. they were hoping for some sort of utopia and one based on, in my opinion the 'white Australia' policy that was a commonly touted belief at the time. and one which was most likely based heavily on an outdated Imperialistic British way of thinking. perhaps ideas like these are always doomed to failure, as they can never take into account the vastly different backgrounds that each and everyone of us come from, as well as they changes that take place within society in general over the years as attitudes and peoples needs change with the growth that comes with the passage of time.

looking forward to your next video, and enjoying this channel very much. thank you for your efforts and work you put into it.