The City of Tea Tree Gully is a local council in the Australian state of South Australia, in the outer north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide. The major business district in the city is at Modbury, where Westfield Tea Tree Plaza, the Civic Centre and the library are located.
Howard, Lord Florey, Australian pathologist and co-discoverer of penicillin, was a resident of the City of Tea Tree Gully. [1]
The Tea Tree gully itself passes through the Adelaide foothills roughly marking the easiest path eastwards from Grand Junction Road to Gumeracha. The 1850s settlement at the entrance to the gully (approximately where North East Road enters the foothills) was known as the village of 'Steventon' after a local resident, John Stevens, who was a major landowner in the area.[citation needed] The name Steventon is retained as one of the electoral wards of the City of Tea Tree Gully.[citation needed]
The council was originally proclaimed in October 1858 as the District Council of Tea Tree Gully, when the northern half of the District Council of Highercombe, which had been created in 1853, successfully seceded to form its own municipality. In the early 1930s, the two councils were considered unviable, being very small in relative size and population. The District Council of Highercombe was included in a Local Government Commission list of 53 local councils with annual revenue of less than £2000. Following the commission recommendation, the two councils were recombined under the name Tea Tree Gully in May 1935.[8]
It inherited the former 1855 Highercombe council chambers, which had been built in Tea Tree Gully, and used that building until 1967. The Old Tea Tree Gully Council Chambers survive today and are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register, having been the first purpose-built district council chambers in South Australia.[9][10] In 1967 the Tea Tree Gully civic centre was opened, comprising a new council chamber and civic hall. The municipality was granted city status and proclaimed as the City of Tree Gully in 1968.[11]
Gallery 1855
A council-owned colonial building was converted into a community art gallery,[when?] and is now known as Gallery 1855. The gallery hosts regular contemporary art and craft exhibitions and artist-led workshops.[12]
From 1954 to 1971 the population of Tea Tree Gully council rose from just over 2,500 to almost 37,000, and in 1975 it had reached approximately 55,000 as urban residential development quickly expanded.[13] By 2004 the population had exceeded 100,000.[11]
Aerial image of the Golden Grove and Greenwith areas, looking north. Greenwith is to the north, and the border is Cobbler Creek, which is straddled by a treeline indicated by the upper red arrow. The southern border of Golden Grove is indicated approximately by the southern treeline marked by the arrow. The triangle in the southwestern corner of the photo is Surrey Downs, and to the southeastern corner is Fairview Park. Little Para Reservoir is the body of water. The light patches on the eastern part of the image are quarries. This is the northern part of the City of Tea Tree Gully.
The gully to which the city name refers actually exists and is known to be sizable as it provided a gradient negotiable only by bullock wagons travelling through the Mt. Lofty Ranges. Additionally the gully had permanent freshwater springs which promoted the growth of tea trees in the area – thus the eventual name 'Tea Tree Gully'.
Auhl, Ian (1976). From settlement to city: a history of the district of Tea Tree Gully, 1836–1976. Blackwood, SA: Lynton Publications.[ISBN missing]
Auhl, Ian (1993). Tea Tree Gully Historical Society (ed.). From settlement to city: a history of the district of Tea Tree Gully, 1836–1976, 1976–1993. Modbury, SA: Tea Tree Gully Council. ISBN9781742224770.
