West Lakes is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, the state capital of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

, Australia. It lies within the

City of Charles Sturt The City of Charles Sturt is a local government area in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, stretching to the coast. The council was formed on 1 January 1997 as a result of the amalgamation of the City of Hindmarsh Woodville and ...

. It contains the Westfield West Lakes Shopping Centre, Woodlake Shopping Centre and West Lakes Golf Club. It also contains Delfin Island, a residential island within the boating lake. West Lakes has an irregular shape and shares borders with

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

, Queenstown, Royal Park, Seaton,

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austr ...

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

and West Lakes Shore.

Demographics

The counted population on the night of the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

was 5,940, and in 2011 was recorded as 5,730.

History

West Lakes was constructed on part of the River Torrens Wetlands, (after the diverting of the Torrens out to Sea at West Beach was completed), by property developer Delfin (now

Lend Lease Communities Delfin, formerly the Development Finance Company Ltd (DFC) was a business carrying out residential developments. It was acquired by Lendlease in 2001. History Delfin was established as the Development Finance Company by John Marks in 1953. DFC ...

) from reclaimed land during the early 1970s. Development earthworks commenced in September 1970 and West Lakes was officially opened on 18 March 1977 by the Hon

Des Corcoran James Desmond Corcoran AO (8 November 1928 – 3 January 2004) was an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He was the 37th Premier of South Australia, serving between 15 February 1979 ...

, MP, Deputy Premier and Minister of Marine. West Lakes Post Office opened on 27 August 1975. The suburb was home to

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian Na ...

(also known by its sponsored name of AAMI Stadium), which was a 51,240-seat sports stadium where

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

(AFL) and

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. O ...

(SANFL) games were played. Demolition was completed in 2019. The suburb was also home to a

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained ...

military transport aircraft, owned by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and used as part of a play area for children's parties. The plane was removed in the late 1990s, and is now being restored privately.

Transport

, bus routes that go through West Lakes are 110, 112, 115, 117, 155, 157, 157X, 288, 371, 372, 376, AO18, H30, H30C, H30S, J7, J7M, J8, N30, X30, X30C, & X30S.

References

External links

West Lakes — Summary of historical information relevant to the dispersal of sludge
from the South Australian Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
West Lakes: You'll want to live here.
Promotional film includes footage of the area pre-development, then South Australian Premier Don Dunstan and Deputy Premier Des Corcoran, aerial views of the land and coastal development, creation of the central lake, Football Park and the finished suburb. South Australian Film Corporation, Adelaide, 1974. Suburbs of Adelaide {{adelaide-geo-stub