a picture of local heritage-listed house "Kandahar", the home of the West Torrens Historical Society

State Heritage Places

The City of West Torrens has a number of State Heritage listed places.

To be considered for a listing the criteria is detailed in the Heritage Places Act 1993.Section 16 - Heritage Significance states:A place is of heritage significance if it satisfies one or more of the following criteria:(a) it demonstrates important aspects of the evolution or pattern of the State's history; or(b) it has rare, uncommon or endangered qualities that are of cultural significance; or(c) it may yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the State's history,including its natural history; or(d) it is an outstanding representative of a particular class of places of cultural significance; or(e) it demonstrates a high degree of creative, aesthetic or technical accomplishment or is anoutstanding representative of particular construction techniques or design characteristics; or(f) it has strong cultural or spiritual associations for the community or a group within it; or(g) it has a special association with the life or work of a person or organisation or an event of historical importance.

Full listing of City of West Torrens State Heritage Places details current as at: 17 January 2024 from https://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageSearchLocation.aspx 

SA Government Heritage Council  for SA Heritage Register and Surveys; Heritage Grants; Meeting Agendas and Minutes 

SA Heritage Council News

FULHAMDwelling The Oaks , 511 Henley Beach Road, FULHAM       (White family home in the Reedbeds from 1838)Dwelling Weetunga ,14 Weetunga Street     (Ornithologist Samuel White's home built 1878/79)HILTONWest Torrens Council Chambers (1935 Building only), 165 – 171 Sir Donald Bradman DriveFormer Council Boundary Marker, Bagot Avenue
MILE ENDFormer St James’ Anglican Church School, 1A Falcon Avenue
Temple Christian College (Former Thomas Hardy & Sons Wine Cellars, Tintara House), 2-4 Henley Beach Road
Former BankSA (former Savings Bank of South Australia Mile End Branch), 94 Henley Beach Road
Dwelling – Row Cottages (Adelaide Workmen’s Homes), 36-50A & 39-45A Rose Street
Former Adelaide Electric Supply Co Ltd., 32-56 Sir Donald Bradman Drive
NORTH PLYMPTONDwelling Plympton House / Parkin House, 4 Lewis CrescentNOVAR GARDENSCummins House, 19-23 Sheoak Avenue
THEBARTONLady Gowrie Child Centre, 39A Dew StreetSquatters Arms Hotel, 1 George StreetFormer Thebarton Baptist Church & Hall, 42 & 42a Phillips StreetWalkerville Brewhouse Tower [inc. Copper Kettle – Object], 107 Port RoadRemains of  Theberton Cottage Colonel Light’s House, 107 Port RoadSouthwark Hotel, 77 Port RoadFormer West End Brewery Garden (former SABCo Brewery Garden),107 Port RoadFormer Faulding’s Eucalyptus Oil Distillery, 35-37 Stirling StreetFormer Thebarton Incinerator designed by Walter Burley Griffin, 34-36 West Thebarton RoadTORRENSVILLEGate/Ticket Office, Thebarton Soldiers Memorial Recreation Ground, Ashley StreetFormer Hoffman Brick Kiln, Brickworks Marketplace (former Hallett Brickworks), Lot 21 Ashwin ParadeFormer Torrensville Uniting Church, 4-8 Hayward AvenueThebarton Theatre (Thebarton Town Hall) including Council Chambers and Assembly Hall, 112 Henley Beach RoadAustralian Society of Magicians’ Offices (former World War Two Civil Defence Sub-Control Station), 92 South Road

HINDMARSH/THEBARTON (CITY OF CHARLES STURT)Holland Street, Tramway Bridge [concrete girder], Holland Street
Historically “The Oaks” is of State significance because of its association with the White family and as a representation of settlement and farming on the “Reedbeds” area of the River Torrens continuously from 1838. Buildings on the site represent the building boom of the late 1870’s and early 1880’s and social class differences.     State Heritage Listing - The Oaks
Weetunga was built in 1878-79 by Samuel White, a noted ornithologist. Samuel was the son of John White who settled at the Reed Beds in 1838. Weetunga was designed with a specimen room and various other features which assisted Samuel’s ornithological pursuits.State Heritage Listing - Weetunga
This 1935 Council building is historically significant for its associations with the development of local government in South Australia and particularly for its associations with the West Torrens District Council, one of the earliest local councils in the State.    State Heritage Listing - Council Chambers
On 8 February 1883, the Thebarton Corporation was proclaimed. It covered an area of about 1,038 acres and was divided into four wards - Strangways, Musgrave, Torrens and Jervois.Several cast iron markers locating the ward boundaries remain including the one on Bagot Avenue, Mile End and one on Rankine Rd.State Heritage Listing - Boundary Marker
The Minister of the St James Church, the Reverend J.G. Pitcher was aware of the problems of overcrowding, inadequate facilities and poor standards of teaching in the public school system and came to the conclusion that the best way to overcome these problems was to establish a day school associated with the church. The building was opened by Chief Justice Way on 21 April 1895. A shed for horses was also built in 1895. The builder was Mr Prescott. State Heritage Listing - Former St James Anglican School
The Cellars at Mile End were constructed between 1891 and 1893 by Thomas Hardy, a major wine producer in South Australia. It was built as a result of the expansion of the Hardy business.It is a two-storey château-like building. It supper storey is supported by jarrah and iron stanchions.State Heritage Listing - Former Thomas Hardy Cellars
The Savings Bank of South Australia was one of the earliest banks established in South Australia and displayed a vital role in the development of the State. The bank opened its doors for business on 11 March 1848 in the City of Adelaide.State Heritage Listing - Former Savings Bank
These dwellings are significant because they reflect an aspect of the philanthropy of Sir Thomas Elder, whose bequest to benefit the working class resulted in the construction of 48 low rental homes. These cottages precede the State Government’s Advances for Homes Scheme in 1910, which sought to make cheaper housing available for working class families, and as such represent a private initiative in the area of social welfare housing in advance of State action.State Heritage Listing - Dwelling Row Cottages
The Former Adelaide Electric Supply Co Ltd Buildings demonstrate an important aspect of the evolution or pattern of the State's history, providing evidence of the expansion of secondary industry and suburban housing in South Australia in the 1920s and 1930s and the need for industrial buildings to accommodate this.State Heritage Listing - Former Adelaide Electric Supply
This house was constructed in 1858 by William Parkin, a successful Adelaide businessman. He was born in Glastonbury, England in 1801. In 1839 with his wife and brother, he migrated to South Australia and set up a drapery business in Hindley Street. Business was successful and he retired with a comfortable fortune.State Heritage Listing - Parkin House
Cummins House is an important State Heritage Place located in Novar Gardens in the western beachside suburbs of Adelaide and is one of South Australia's earliest extant buildings.It was the residence of South Australian pioneer and politician John Morphett, purpose-built for him and lived in by five generations of the Morphett family until sold to the State Government in the 1970s. There are very few residences in South Australia occupied by one family for such a long period. Morphett was of considerable significance to the establishment and development of the Colony of South Australia.State Heritage Listing - Cummins House
The Lady Gowrie Child Centre constructed in Thebarton was the South Australian example of six centres erected, one in each capital city. The centres were planned to encourage progress in the understanding of child development based on research and the recommendations of the National Health and Medical Research Council. They reflected the concern of the government for the general welfare and education of children of pre-school age and evolved from the theories developed by the Australian Association for Pre-School Child Development. The Lady Gowrie Child Centre Program advance the claims of the various State Kindergarten Union of the time (immediately pre-World War Two).State Heritage Listing - Lady Gowrie Child Centre
The Squatters Arms Hotel was one of the first hotels built in the area. It was built in 1850 and it has long been associated with the social and recreational activities of the people living in the area.The hotel is a good representative of nineteenth century hotel design featuring surrounding verandah with lacework balustrade, chamfered corner and rendered parapet.State Heritage Listing - Squatters Arms Hotel
This Church was built as the first Baptist Church in Thebarton and represents the religious aspirations of the local residents.Charles Wilcox laid the foundation stone of this Church in September 1883. The church was formed in the following year, with Reverend J.B. Snyed as the first pastor. In 1913 an equally imposing hall with a stone front and brick side and rear walls was built next to the church. The foundation stone was laid by Sir Charles Goode.State Heritage Listing - Baptist Church & Hall
The Walkerville Brewhouse Tower built in 1886, enlarged in 1898-1899 and then doubled in size in 1901-1903, demonstrates important associations with the brewing industry in South Australia and 135 years of brewing at the site.
State Heritage Listing - Brewhouse Tower
Theberton Cottage was the bespoke home of Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor General of South Australia and the founder of Adelaide, and his partner Maria Gandy. State Heritage Listing - Theberton Cottage
Designed, built and maintained by SABCo employees with support from SABCo, the garden and displays have grown from humble beginnings in 1959, to fill the riverbank adjacent to the former West End brewery and demonstrate SABCo’s desire as a major business to give something back to the community, while also developing a positive public image of the company.State Heritage Listing - West End Bewery Garden
Haussen and Co. financed the construction of the Southwark Hotel. It was built in early 1886 and the Thebarton Rate Assessment Book of 1886 reveals the annual value of the property as being 140 pounds. The first publican was Richard Davy and he was succeeded by Daniel Coveney who held the position for a number of years.State Heritage Listing - Southwark Hotel
The business was established by Francis Hardy Faulding and Luther Scammell in 1861. Faulding began a pharmaceutical chemist business in May 1845 in Rundle Street where he compounded his own drugs. Scammell came to South Australia as a ship’s surgeon on the William Wilson and  established himself as a chemist, surgeon and dentist in Hindmarsh. The two went into partnership in 1861 as F.H Faulding and Co. and developed the wholesale side of the business.State Heritage Listing - Faulding's Eucalyptus Oil DIstillery
Built in 1937, it is one of two buildings in Adelaide designed by Walter Burley Griffin. The incinerator operated until the 1950s.It is an intact example of a reverberatory incinerator and one of 13 designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Eric Nicholls around Australia. State Heritage Listing - Incinerator
Built as a memorial to the soldiers of Thebarton who served in World War 1, while emphasising the importance placed on recreational activities and the development of the Thebarton oval.Architecturally, the design of the building combines functional use as a ticket office and gate to the oval with a memorial to World War 1 soldiers. State Heritage Listing - Oval Gates / Ticket Office 
The Hoffman kiln was invented in Germany in the 1800s as an introduction to continuous kilns where the fire was never put out. Bricks were efficiently fired - being loaded, pre-heated, fired, cooled and unloaded continuously. This resulted in negligible wastage.State Heritage Listing - Hoffman Brick Kiln 
The Torrensville Uniting Church is the earliest remaining concrete church built in South Australia, dating from a time when concrete was still a relatively novel product as a building material on a domestic scale. Although readily adopted as a building material for residences and engineering structures, the use of concrete in church construction appears to have been very rare in the early decades of the 20th century, with only three examples known to have been built.State Heritage Listing - Uniting Church 
Located only about 5kms from Adelaide’s CBD, the Thebarton Town Hall is significant for being a product of the Thebarton Council’s most prosperous and affluent period to date, for being associated with the Statewide boom period of the 1920’s and an era of high growth in the Thebarton council area. State Heritage Listing - Town Hall 
In January 1942 the Department of Civil Defence ordered the construction of a Sub-Control Station on the corner of South Road and Ashley Street.Built mainly below ground level, it was constructed at Government cost. The work was done by Council employees. Colloquially known as the 'Air-raid shelter'.State Heritage Listing - WW2 Sub-Control Station 
Reinforced concrete construction with trestle piers carried on driven concrete piles and supporting T-girders which carry the deck. The bridge carried a single tramway track and two footpaths (a wider bridge able to also carry vehicle traffic was proposed by the MTT but the local councils were not prepared to contribute to the cost). [City of Charles Sturt]State Heritage Listing - Holland Street Bridge