Elizabeth That Was Part 6: City of Tomorrow

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you for watching. For more videos on the Elizabeth that was, please like and subscribe. It's free and encourages KZbin to support the channel. Much appreciated, Will 🙏

[@MatthewSummerton]

Fantastic video and insightful commentary. I grew up in Elizabeth North in the late 70s and 80s. I always felt that the the people on the eastern side of Main North Road were better off than us and had better houses and more trees. Now I know that it wasn’t just my young misconceptions but planned by the SAHT.

[@elizabeththatwas]

That's correct, mate. I grew up in Smithfield Plains. My parents were buying our house, but almost all my neighbourhood friends lived in double units. But, hey, back then there was no Andrews Farm or Munno Para north of Curtis Road, just miles and miles of creeks, paddocks and farms. It was great. Thank you for the kind words, and for watching. Much appreciated. Thank you Matthew :-)

[@helenbachari6372]

Fascinating! Thank you for creating and posting this.

[@elizabeththatwas]

My pleasure Helen. Thank you for watching. Parts 7 & 8 will be dropping over the next few weeks

[@steveparfitt4908]

What an incredibly insightful and thoroughly interesting analysis of how and why Elizabeth was and is. It's a valuable lesson for any town planner. Fantastic job Will. One day we may learn from history...I hope.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you Steve. This, and the next episode, are based in part on the book Good Times, Hard Times: The Past and the Future in Elizabeth from Mark Peel. I've fleshed it out a little more and put my own spin on it, somewhat. The next episode may be broken in two however, as it's looking even longer than this one. Thanks for watching, my friend. Much appreciated :-)

[@megansummersides4255]

Thank you for showing what was and what could have been. I can see why my Mum said never go down the hill.😉

[@elizabeththatwas]

Oh, my. As much as that hurts, I understand your Mum's concerns for you :-) There are 2 more episodes to come in this 8 part series. Part 7 drops in 8 days. The final 2 weeks after that. Thank you for watching and sharing with us. Much appreciated.

[@geoffmower8729]

Hey Will I was just thinking about your vids the other day and here you are. Very interesting story about Eliz West we used to live in Hambridge Rd just behind the Karawara hotel. I had a car crash coming down Winterslow bridge heading towards Eliz West, some drunk guy coming the other way dropped his cigarette into his boot and while he was trying to extinguish his foot he drifted and hit a light pole. His FB Holden then swung around hitting the side of my car a HT panel van, pushing me up on the pavement just inches away from going over the edge.😮 Seeing the old train 🚂out front of the Eliz West shops made me smile, me and my mates used to play and climb all over and underneath it. It always stunk of urine but as kids we didn't care it was heaps fun. They latter took the train and restored it, it is now one of the cockle trains that does trips to Victor Harbour. Yet again an excellent job with your story telling and editing very well done I totally enjoyed it thanks again for the memories. 👍🏻

[@elizabeththatwas]

My pleasure Geoff. Thank you again for supporting the channel. I didn't know that about the train now doing trips to Victor Harbour. That's pretty cool. I'm glad you survived that scary crash on the bridge. Sounds frightening.

[@AnnieBooker]

My parents had the first Housing Trust home in Elizabeth. They had 7 kids at the time and my mum was in hospital having just given birth to my twin sister and I on Xmas Day 1955. There’s a photo of our family in the Housing Trust office and in the Elizabeth Town Centre. My mum was invited back to cut Elizabeth’s anniversary cake many years later. My twin sister and I were the first twins born to a family living there though we were actually born at the QEH as Lyell McEwen hospital hadn’t been built then. News cameras came and photographed us on our first birthday. When we were 14 months old, my Dad was able to get a War Service loan and he used it to build a new house in Salisbury. My brother, twin and I attended high school in Elizabeth. Those were very happy days and I have wonderful memories of both Elizabeth and Salisbury. Thank you for these lovely glimpses back into our hometown

[@elizabeththatwas]

My pleasure, Annie. You're not from the Pinnegar family, by any chance?

[@AnnieBooker]

@@elizabeththatwasyes I am

[@AnnieBooker]

@@elizabeththatwasmy parents were Ray and Mavis Pinnegar

[@AnnieBooker]

lol about the single mums. Years later I was one of those single mums siphoned off to Salisbury North. By then I’d lived in a few other places though

[@GregoryShtevensh]

My hometown. I was born at the Lyle McEwin in 1984. (Both my Sons were born there also) What an awesome channel! Thank you so much

[@elizabeththatwas]

My pleasure Gregory. I, too, was born at the Lyell McEwin, in 1970. Thank you for watching, mate. Much appreciated

[@CJoy076]

Super interesting insughts.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you CJoy, hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for watching, much appreciated :-)

[@CJoy076]

@@elizabeththatwas whoops I shouldn't comment without wearing my glasses.....typos! I did enjoy it. The data on the different suburbs was fascinating.

[@kotix720p9]

Great video bruz i find it interesting seeing what it was like before and how it started

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thanks mate. Much appreciated. One of the reasons for this channel was to show young people what it was like early on, and the brave people to took a chance when Elizabeth was still a dust bowl. I was born in 1970. My parents had emigrated from England (and Ireland) 3 years before with my 3 older siblings, settling in Smithfield Plains. Nearly every childhood home of the friends I grew up with have been knocked down, like they were never there. So this channel was also born to honour my childhood friends and everyone from my generation. It was a very different world back then. Thank you for watching, much appreciated :-)

[@susanjacquier5358]

Oh my goodness Will..that certainly brought back some memories. I vividly remember the building on those bare paddocks...dust for miles. Dad worked on the building of Elizabeth West...I remember him suffering heatstroke at one point. I also remember the 'original' Center and the modernised version. The 'suburb shops too, now pretty sad and unloved. But I do have fond memories of the pride taken in building gardens. We arrived , as you remember, in 1964 and sadly both parents and grandparents are gone. I don't think they would recognise the place now.

[@elizabeththatwas]

I barely recognise it now myself. And, yes, the gardens. So many beautiful home gardens on display in the footage in this video. Just a different time and world. You're lucky to have a front and back yard today. Chances are, if you do, it's an old house you're living in. All those new houses in Elizabeth West, on top of each other and no yard for the kids. It's wild. Thank you again for your support Susan. Always love hearing from you :-)

[@susanjacquier5358]

@@elizabeththatwas No worries..like to share with family too.

[@boganshazz821]

Susan, in saying you remember the original centre, do you remember the fish tank wall? I was only 4 when we left Elizabeth, but i have such a memory of the end of an arcade being a huge wall fish tank. No one else recalls it, im wondering if memory serves me bad and it only seemed large coz i was small.

[@susanjacquier5358]

@@boganshazz821 No, I don't remember a fish-tank wall. I wish Ma and Pa were still here to ask. I remember the beautiful fountain gardens, but no fish tank. I remember it being very 'open' back then, before they wisely enclosed it. I'll see if any of my remaining rellies remember, as we moved to the Barossa in '65. The Centre has changed so much in the intervening years....can't keep up :)

[@boganshazz821]

@susanjacquier5358 well thankyou for taking the time out to reply. I have such a memory of this tank that I was in awe of. My mum doesn't remember, my siblings don't remember. For years I've been trying to establish its existence. Was it all a dream😵‍💫

[@HollaNaomi]

Genuinely cannot be thankful enough for this channel coming up. I'm so excited to learn more about my own city and an area that I wasn't particularly exposed to. Your channel is a legitimate hidden gem. Keep doing what you're doing 👏🤙

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you for the very kind words. I'm glad you found us and enjoyed this video. It is one in an eight part series. Thank you for watching, it is much appreciated :-) Will

[@kathleensomerville3319]

Look at all the companies and manufactures that came then went😢

[@elizabeththatwas]

It's a definite shame. Thank you for watching, Kathleen. Much appreciated. Will :-)

[@judithhobson5868]

my mum and dad got the 3rd set of keys given for the housing trust in the south . what i remember as a child was christmas mornings, going out the front and all the kids of the neighbourhood with their new bikes riding up and down goodman road. we were having a ball!!!

[@elizabeththatwas]

That sounds amazing, Judith. Thank you for sharing that with us. I sometimes think how amazing the sky must have looked at night, in those very early days with hardly any houses fully occupied or built. Must have been quite a magical time. In its own way, of course. The lack of amenities must have proved its own challenge.

[@judithhobson5868]

@@elizabeththatwas lol what i remember of the skies was in summer and the dust storms

[@Lost_in_South_OZ]

It's pro-localism and prejudices, that continue to influence sadly. Community is like all relationships need ongoing socialwork and willingness to adapt to change... Now days we are deverse community and this is the furture. I offen wonder why the trust thought they could control social interaction by segration. Thank you for bringing an instesting prospective... This video is particularly interesting becuse of your insights into socal balance and what went wrong . Look forward to your next work.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you. This episode is based on the book Good Times, Bad Times: The past and future in Elizabeth published in the 90's, before Elizabeth amalgamated with Munno Para to become Playford. I have fleshed it out a bit more and put my own spin on a few things, but much credit goes to Mark also. The follow up to this episode will drop in 2-3 weeks, closely followed by the last in this series. Cheers for watching, much appreciated. And, yes it is a very diverse community today. Not just in Elizabeth but in Australia at large. I love that. It feels uncomfortable for many at first, but the next generations that grow up with it experience it as everyday and normal, and then things settle down. I think it's just life moving forward and humans evolving. Life never sits still or settles for what has been. It is constantly changing, while humans are constantly resisting until they eventually adapt and move with it. It's always us who are out of step, throughout history that seems to be the case. To the future :-)

[@robertotaglienti6406]

Monarto was meant to be the next Elizabeth, the failure of Elizabeth stopped it in its tracks. Then there's the Matt's plan. A freeway system for a growing adelaide that never happened under Dunstan. All we got was the SE freeway...the land for the southern expressway was bought in the early 70s for the.matts plan. Took 40+ years to materialise.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Yes, you are correct, Robert. And all those farmers left needlessly in the end. Your comment here has inspired my next video. Thanks, mate :-)

[@robertotaglienti6406]

@elizabeththatwas we have very interesting planning history. I was a surveyor on the second phase of the expressway in the 90s and talked to locals whose parents sold their land to the government.

[@robertotaglienti6406]

@elizabeththatwas then there is also things like Whyalla being a wholly BHP town, owned and operated. Would love to know more about that, introduction of housing trust and the ship building industry.

[@justbrowsing6327]

Born in 62 in the Lyell Mcewin, grew up in the north. Strangely I'm back living in Davoren pk, in my 60s. I remember so many of these sights.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Cool. That's a lot of changes you've witnessed. I lived in Smithfield Plains from the year I was born, 1970, until the family moved to Elizabeth Field in December 1981. Well before the name change to Davoren Park. All 3 of my schools, Smithfield Plains Primary, high school and Elizabeth Field Primary are all gone now. Built, opened, closed and knocked down all in a generation. It's wild. Though I think the EFPS main building may still be standing, with all the smaller blocks gone. Thank you for watching. Much appreciated :-) Will

[@adszmm77]

Nice video thanks for posting.👍 A little concerned youtube knows where i live now 😅

[@elizabeththatwas]

Ha. Funny. My pleasure, mate. Thank you for watching :-) Will

[@oldmate99]

They also know what you think

[@adszmm77]

@@oldmate99 Yep 😅

[@nickychereda1225]

How fantastic to see (at 1.21) 39 Harvey st Elizabeth Grove in its former glory and occupants/owners that lived there. I put an offer in when the house was for sale in 2021 (wish i had won the offer) The house had a special something about it, even though it needed lots of love and work..

[@nickychereda1225]

Fantastic insight to Elizabeth social differences and changes, also sad to see the rapid decline through the years..

[@elizabeththatwas]

Yes, it is Nicky. There are 2 more episodes to come in this 8 part series. Part 7 drops in 8 days. The final 2 weeks after that. If you found this one sad, you'll find the final episode even sadder. But I thought it was important to represent the history of Elizabeth as thoroughly, respectfully and as well rounded as I could. From episode 1 through to the final, I think it covers Elizabeth's arc between 1955 and 1997 pretty accurately. Certainly the most comprehensive account of Elizabeth's history all in one place, so far as I can tell. Thank you for watching and sharing with us. Much appreciated.

[@judithtrimboli1726]

Lived in Frith St Elizabeth Grove

[@TWR1988]

I’m not surprised now, that the South Australian HOUSING trust (as they now call themselves again) has a disregard for disabled pensioners living in their properties. (or in a tent in the backyard of one.) still paying rent for a house that they’re not allowed to live in safely.

[@elizabeththatwas]

I've seen a few news reports. That kind of disregard is in many places today, sadly. I now live in Brisbane and we have tent cities in multiple locations, now. Never seen anything like it.

[@mnj640]

​@@elizabeththatwasI lived in Brisbane before and during the pandemic. I remember my first trip into Brisbane city centre. Shocked homeless everywhere. Moved back to sa during the pandemic

[@sue9151]

Australia 🇦🇺 sure has gone down hill..And we have a Prime minister that was brought up in Housing commission flat with his disabled mother 👩. AND the amount Housing shortages because of bad Management 👎 of the once lucky country. HOMELESS PEOPLE EVERYWHERE now in living in a 4 man tent ⛺️ it's a disgrace

[@ralphmoore4548]

I've never been to Elizabeth, but it reminds me of the planing principles behind Canberra and some of the inner Sydney and Melbourne urban 'renewal' projects. As you mention, Utopia never becomes reality

[@elizabeththatwas]

Hey, Ralph. Thanks for watching, mate. Yes, many of the plans implemented by the Trust were actually meant to help the Trust avoid mistakes previously made in the areas you mention. But I think the fundamental flaws remained, and the rest, as they say, is history. Interesting observation though. Thanks again for watching and for sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated :-) Will

[@ianrandell9763]

Fascinating

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thanks for watching Ian. Hope you enjoyed :-) Will

[@ianrandell9763]

@@elizabeththatwas I did, and I didn't know anything about the area.

[@elizabeththatwas]

@@ianrandell9763 oh, wow. That's great. This is part 6 in an 8 part series. All 8 are found on the channel homepage if you wanted to watch the rest. Thank you for watching, much appreciated :-) Will

[@ianrandell9763]

@@elizabeththatwasany mention of the drive in that once existed in elizabeth

[@vascoemyer]

Look what happened.

[@elizabeththatwas]

It's pretty incredible, isn't it? How it all went south in such a short span of time. Hopefully, this series brings some light on not just what happened, but how and why? Thanks for watching, my friend. Much appreciated :-) Will

[@moirahurley2862]

I lived in Elizabeth North during the 80s for about six years and I couldn't get out fast enough! Its a welfare breeding ground and high density housing trust make for a very depressing place to live!

[@elizabeththatwas]

Hey Moira. Sadly, the South Australian Housing Trust was restructured at the start of the eighties to become a welfare housing authority. Prior to that they were responsible for building houses for workers. Once that changed, Elizabeth's high density of Housing Trust commissioned homes meant Elizabeth received a huge proportion of those seeking welfare housing. It wasn't like that in the 50s, 60s, or even the 70s. Thank you for watching, much appreciated. I hope you found somewhere happier to live :-) Will

[@aardvarkbiscuit2677]

Me too. The place was an absolute shithole.

[@JamesHawkeYouTube]

Nothing wrong with being wives and mothers.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Agreed, James :-)

[@colihestonpottones4188]

City of tomorrow. They got the poms and Italians to build their cars so that they could continue their lifestyles of pleasure. All the while these people were housed in poorly built boxy homes on flat boring land covered with weeds. (The walls started cracking well before two years had passed). I like the sneaky way they built 2 story homes here and there in prominent positions as a token of possible future prosperity. This was all a plan of deception to keep people happy for as long as possible. Places like Davoren Park are now crime-ridden.

[@playfordtree]

You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

[@barryspurr9577]

Ha! Hilarious patronising condescension to the follies of the past from the vastly superior utopian Australian society of today.

[@stuartstibbs2069]

There was no social breakdown...thats nonsense. You always paint such bleak picture. T he Mothers and Babies Health Association was fantastic and how good was the Commonwealth Employment Service!

[@elizabeththatwas]

Hello Stuart. I love that you are have such a positive outlook and perspective on Elizabeth as it is today. This channel is called Elizabeth That Was. It covers Elizabeth's existence as an fledgling, then independent city before being absorbed into the bigger Playford City Council. There is a definite and traceable arc between 1955 and 1997 that sees the rise, fulfillment and then fall of the original vision as perceived by Thomas Playford and the South Australian Housing Trust by the time amalgamation takes place in 1997. I stand by that commentary. If there is an argument to be made about how good things are now in Elizabeth, that is up to someone else to create their own channel and promote that. Thank you for watching. I do appreciate your point of view, Stuart. I just don't agree that there was no decline. Cheers, Will

[@stuartstibbs2069]

@@elizabeththatwas yeh but there was no rich, middle class , and working class...thats nonsense...we all just got on with life...There was no social breakdown... maybe in some intellectuals mind, but not in reality... Elizabeth suffered from Australias economy at the time, high interest rates...etc...and of course the libnat filth , later on, telling Holdens to shove it... at the end of the day, they left and Elizabeth has still thrived...🤣

[@fetbetty]

The train behind the eliz west shops is operational on the cockle train line at victor harbor, has been for quite a few years

[@elizabeththatwas]

Yes, I've heard about that. How cool is that? One day I'll travel down there and create a little video. Cheers for watching. Much appreciated :-) Will

[@fetbetty]

@@elizabeththatwas its fantastic, really