Elizabeth: A Place To Grow (South Australia 1960's)

#tenpoundpoms #bbc #southaustralia
Produced in the early sixties by the South Australian Housing Trust, "Elizabeth, A Place To Grow" was meant as a calling card for prospective new residents aimed primarily at attracting suitable white English stock.
In retrospect, a detailed study of this film gives us a good idea about the kinds of people the Trust expected to populate Elizabeth, their "City of Tomorrow", and what was expected from them once they did.
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]

Thank you for watching. The posting of this video is meant for educational purposes only. If you would like to support this channel then please leave a comment and hit the Subscribe button and the notification bell to get notified whenever new videos are uploaded - cheers 🙏🍷

[@mixmmick]

I lived in Adelaide back in the mid 90's, used to hang out quite a bit in Elizabeth and party with mates who lived there (have many stories of good times there). I haven't been back for a while, I hear it's changed a lot.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Glad this brought back good memories for you mate. And, yes, it has changed, a lot

[@Stefan_Eccles]

For the better I hear!

[@Stefan_Eccles]

Reid Murray Developments (R.M.D)subdivided nearby Parahills circa 1956. A Melbourne developer that went bankrupt. R.M.D. set up offices in London to attract new British migrants prior to their trip to Australia. Salesmen met new immigrants at Fremantle dock

[@AussieRoberts]

Would be cool to see pictures or a video showing the places they showed in this video what they look like today.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Aussie Roberts that's a great idea. Next time I'm back down I will see how many locations I can find, take some photos and video then post a Then and Now video.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you for watching too, appreciate it 🙏🍷

[@jamesw7966]

Some look just the same

[@mattl9070]

This is a great film!! I must admit it's a bit before my time by a few years, those white wooden fences were starting to fall apart when I was a kid. Tanya Peplinski's brother had a red EK Holden like that in 1985 or so... We felt so cool cruising around in that, great times

[@elizabeththatwas]

I bet you did - haha. It's very important when you're a teenager to feel cool too, lol.

[@serendipitous_synchronicity]

I've got a book called "ELIZABETH The garden city" Many interesting images.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Nice one. I might order that in. I have a book ordered called "From Royal Names to Dusty Plains" with first hand accounts of life in 1950's and 60's Elizabeth from Elizabeth's original settlers. Eagerly waiting its arrival :-) Is The Garden City book pictures only?

[@jasoncooper8305]

"What about me? What are the shops like?" Hahahahaha

[@elizabeththatwas]

It was a different time to be sure 😀

[@57westaussie]

It used to be a great safe place to live.

[@elizabeththatwas]

I missed this part of Elizabeth's history - being born in 1970, by the time I was becoming aware of my surroundings this period was by and large over. My experience of Elizabeth begins at its "decline" in terms of opportunities. Studying this time period is like studying someone else's town. And yet everything that comes before informs and influences what comes afterwards, or course. I find Elizabeth's history incredibly rich and complex. Deserving of far better than the very broad-stroke judgements it and its people tends to be subjected to.Thank you for watching, much appreciated 🙏🍷

[@Stefan_Eccles]

@@elizabeththatwasyeah the good times near last! People move on

[@bendband]

20:30 thats the river mouth at port Noarlunga not Elizabeth

[@geoffmower8729]

Thank you for posting my family came to Elizabeth in 64 do you know where that information centre was located ?

[@elizabeththatwas]

Hi Geoff. The information centre appears to have been located right next to the Cambridge Flats - which would place it on Philip Highway right in the city centre. Cheers for watching mate, much appreciated 🙏

[@liamrosetto1907]

That pinnocks factory, is there any more videos on it?

[@elizabeththatwas]

Hello Liam. No more videos, but you can find some images of the old factory and images related to it and Bill Pinnock here: playfordspast.recollect.net.au/nodes/search?keywords=Pinnocks&submitidx=Go Hope this is helpful. Cheers for watching mate - much appreciated...Will 🙏