Ten Pound Poms: Elizabeth: (Lost City of Tomorrow) Part 6

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:
playfordspast....
Elizabeth: Lost City of Tomorrow is based upon the writings of Mark Peel.
This channel is dedicated to exploring the history of Elizabeth and life in the "Adelaide Plains" district. Elizabeth is 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.
The Elizabeth: Lost City of Tomorrow series is based on the writings of Mark Peel, a former resident of Elizabeth
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. Much appreciated! 🙏🍷

[@007JHS]

A great series... not merely nostalgia anf bygones, very educational... Thanks for a great series.

[@elizabeththatwas]

@@007JHS my pleasure. I'm stoked you enjoyed it. I'll be making a reimagined and remastered version of this series in the new year with expanded commentary. This was my first attempt at this kind of thing and so looking back there are elements I want to improve upon - it will probably come out in two feature length parts in the remastered version - I'll record the whole narration again and bring more context to certain parts. I also have a lot more footage to take advantage of than I did a year ago. Should be very cool. Thank you for the kind words, much appreciated

[@007JHS]

@@elizabeththatwas Great... If you are looking for a new project how about something on the Smithfield magazine and the DRCS... formerly WRE... The WRE of course recruited a lot from the UK... I believe many from Marconi came to the WRE.... Then there is the Philips works at Hendon... now SA Film Corp.... AND so many folk think that the northern plains have no history or spirit of place (Though of course Hendon not in the northern plains). Oh how about the steam locomotive works in Gawler... As for my kind words.... I just so enjoyed your clips. Though I'm both saddened and angry that the powers that be allowed Elizabeth to be stripped out of its character... with the wrecking of the Ocatgon, the destruction of the skating rink... Oh I forgot, the loss of the Drive-in.

[@elizabeththatwas]

@@007JHS yes my friend; there are many stories still to tell. Accessing resources that I can then back up with corresponding resources is the main issue - and time of course. I have done a Brief Histories of Smithfield ep that covers the magazine and old Davoren Road Railway a little - it's on this channel if you have missed it, in the brief histories playlist. And I do plan to expand the channel with more history that encompasses the northern Plains as a whole. You are right. Much more to do, including a whole "Before Elizabeth" playlist looking at the Plains' history pre 1950. Cheers again for watching and contributing mate - it is much appreciated, Will 🙏

[@VivienneWest-k3n]

Effectly some of the small shopping centres started to closed down because of the large Elizabeth Shopping had a large number different shops. And of course there was John Martin's department store.

[@dunxbee2967]

I"ve just rewatched this six-part series, and I'm glad I did. I wish that I'd read Mark's book, as that would perhaps throw more light on my next comment. It really does seem as though Holden may have ruined Elizabeth, much more than it saved it, as suggested. If Holden had relocated to anywhere else in SA, it is perhaps just as likely that the automotive support industries would still have set up in Elizabeth. But as it is suggested, having such a large, internationally managed, manufacturer being omnipresent in the suburb, everything starts to swing off that limb. It's unfortunate that limb was broken by GM's American dictators, and the rest came tumbling down. Had GMH not set up shop in Elizabeth, it would have been very interesting to see if other industries would have filled the vacuum of jobs for all, and actually been able to stay for the long haul, perhaps providing a more stable employment outcome for the city. Bloody interesting point, well done on the series my friend.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Dunx BEE I love this question of whether long term Holden's was more of a hindrance to Elizabeth's future rather than its "saviour." Its arrival certainly changed the SAHT's original plan and vision for the town. I am currently re-working the entire "Lost City of Tomorrow" series, looking at Elizabeth's rise and fall. The first 3 vids are already up, "Populate or Perish", "Far From Home" and "Elizabeth's Poor Relation." All the topics covered in "Lost City of Tomorrow" will eventually be incorporated into the re-working. I am going to write an episode dedicated to GMH's arrival and explore this very question you have posed, as I think it is a really interesting one. Cheers mate. And thanks for the re-watch too

[@deborahgale8124]

Excellent series! This bought back a lot of memories of early Elizabeth. I don't think you can say you grew up in Elizabeth if you didn't climb on, sit on or fall off the Naval Protector Gun outside John Martins.....

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you Deborah. I'm happy you enjoyed it. There's more to come. How great would it be to get that Protector Gun back? The old Shedley fountain is now back, outside the Playford Civic Theatre. It's not the same of course, but it's something 🙏🍷

[@Wardy_AU]

I wonder what happened to the fountain and Platypus when they redesigned the City Centre? Would be nice to have a little museum at the council chambers for such things

[@elizabeththatwas]

Yes it would my friend. No idea where they are now

[@mattl9070]

I can see it was certainly a challenge if not struggle for town planner's, the local council, and businesses in those early days. There's a saying I'm quite fond of... It's OK to make mistakes as long as you learn from them... Thanks mate! Cool stuff, where can I get one of those double decker buses?

[@elizabeththatwas]

Haha - I'll build you a double decker bus mate...lol. Judging by the current state of affairs in Elizabeth, I'm not confident the lessons have been learned; at least not yet.

[@jasoncooper8305]

Will there be a second season?

[@elizabeththatwas]

There sure will be - in some format. the plan at this point is too re-master and record these first six eps into one longer episode, then do a follow up episode focusing on the residents experience and less on the Housing Trust. So ending up with a 2 part mini-series of sorts.

[@joshurrr]

11:15 these are the two houses I was talking about 10-12 short road Elizabeth

[@elizabeththatwas]

That's very cool to know Josh - cheers mate.

[@NS-no1li]

Yes.. the Octagon.. John Martins.. I went to the Judo Club.. The house in photo at the beginning of each part.. was build net to Golden Fleece.. on Philip Highway.. just down from the school I went to..

[@elizabeththatwas]

I recently returned to SA after two decades away. I was shocked to find the place where the Octagon once housed theatre is now the place I can go to pay my rates. I wonder if the house you are referring to is still there.

[@NS-no1li]

ELIZABETH SA , it was sold in 2008 after my mother passed.. Is it still there..?? .. I have no idea.. old red brick 2 houses back from Harvey Road..

[@NS-no1li]

The house next to the Golden Fleece I believe is or was still there last time I went passed there in 2008.. I went to school with two from there. Stephanie was in my class and her brother Scott was a grade up. We trained in karate together in our teens in Elizabeth Downs..

[@elizabeththatwas]

@N S I'm going to take a look next week. I'll let you know. If it's still there I'll take a photo 👌

[@stevejones1414]

Interesting commentary. Shame about the commentary's victimisation of women throughout this series. Such woke affectations never improve the analysis of facts.

[@elizabeththatwas]

Thank you fro watching Steve. Much appreciated. The commentary is based on the writings of Mark Peel - in particular his book Good Times, Hard Times. I never interpreted his writing as being victimising of women, so honestly not sure where you're coming from there. He also wrote his book a good twenty or so years before the term woke was even conceived of, so I don't think he was trying to be woke either. Perhaps the error is in my editing - the book is very dense so I left a lot out. Perhaps I should have fleshed out the commentary a bit more. I personally wouldn't want to present either the men or the women of Elizabeth as victims, so I'm sorry you came away with that impression. But, again, thank you for watching, much appreciated 🙏🍷

[@stevejones1414]

@@elizabeththatwas OK, in the context of my praise. On the woke point, there is frequent references in the commentary about women being the victims of male town-planning and such nonsense. As if women had been oppressed by men and forced to look after children throughout history. This is classic identity politics - which like woke ideology has been with us for some decades, but only recently given a name. It portrays history as a power struggle in which virtue or victimhood status is applied to groups purely according to their immutable identities (race, sex...etc) There are genetic reasons why women looked after the home (where children are) and men went out to work (usually manual labour). Ironically, the period these films vividly depict is one where industrial innovation (white goods at home and advanced mechanisation in the workplace) began to free the two sexes from their previously necessary roles. But this historical insight is squandered with a woke depiction of women as victims.

[@elizabeththatwas]

@@stevejones1414 well, I still think you're being a little harsh - but I agree with you in principle, especially your last sentence. Perhaps in hindsight I leant a little hard on the emphasis. I saw, and see it, more in practical terms - at the time the basic view point was that men worked and drove, women stayed home and walked. So physically the landscape was designed to enhance the lives of both men and women in the context of how those roles were viewed at that time. But I accept that the way that is presented here wasn't nearly nuanced enough. Perhaps even a little judgmental and simplistic on my part - even though it's based on a book, I could have still dealt with those parts better. This was my first attempt at anything like this. If I re-visit doing a docuseries like this again I'll be sure to keep this in mind. Cheers mate; I appreciate your thoughtful feedback

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

@@stevejones1414 I concur. Just about fed up with woke rewriting of historical fact with their selective narrative.