Lockleys is an inner western suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, in the

City of West Torrens The City of West Torrens is a local government area in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Since the 1970s, the area was mainly home to many open spaces and parks, however after the mid-1990s (1993–1995) the LGA became more resid ...

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

data from May 2021 revealed that Adelaide's western suburbs had the lowest unemployment rate in South Australia.

History

The area was inhabited by the

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

people before the

British colonisation of South Australia British colonisation of South Australia describes the planning and establishment of the colony of South Australia by the British government, covering the period from 1829, when the idea was raised by the then-imprisoned Edward Gibbon Wakefield ...

. The area was subject to flooding by the

River Torrens The River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Ad ...

, which originally ran into an area named "

The Reedbeds The Reedbeds was in the 19th and early 20th centuries the generally recognised name for an area of seasonal freshwater wetlands to the west of Adelaide, South Australia comprising the floodplains of the River Torrens, and drained to Gulf St Vinc ...

" in the upper reaches of the

Port River The Port River (officially known as the Port Adelaide River) is part of a tidal estuary located north of the Adelaide city centre in the Australian state of South Australia. It has been used as a shipping channel since the beginning of European ...

. In the 1930s the Torrens Channel, also named Breakout Creek, was cut through the coastal dunes to

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

, to drain the wetlands and eliminate the flooding. A large part of Lockleys is within a bend of the River Torrens. Hence, prior to subdivision, the area was renowned for its rich soil, market gardens and greenhouses. The name comes from a property (section 145) owned by

Charles Brown Fisher Charles Brown Fisher (25 September 1817 – 6 May 1908), generally referred to as C. B. Fisher, was an Australian pioneer pastoralist and livestock breeder. History Born in London, he was the eldest son of (later Sir) James Hurtle Fisher and ...

, then

Edward Meade Bagot Edward Meade Bagot (13 December 1822 – 28 July 1886) was an Irish-born Australian pastoralist and developer who held large properties in Central Australia. History Edward Meade Bagot was born on 13 December 1822, in Rockforest, Tubber, County ...

and

Gabriel Bennett Gabriel Bennett (23 December 1817 – 13 September 1895) was an auctioneer, stock and cattle salesman and horse breeder in South Australia. He founded the stock and station agents Bennett and Fisher. History Bennett was born in London, a son of ...

, who built a course there for amateur horse racing. The property was rented by trainers J. Eden Savill and C. Leslie Macdonald for their Lockleys Stables where many good racehorses were prepared.

Hank family

The area was divided for housing. However, the Hank family lived on Torrens Avenue, Lockleys and had established 11 acres of

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to s ...

there after world war I. The Hank brothers (Ray, Bill and Bob) all attended the Lockleys Primary (now called the Brooklyn Park Primary) School in Brooklyn Park and would all become footballers for the

West Torrens Football Club West Torrens Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) from 1895 to 1990. In 1991, the club merged with neighbouring Woodville Football Club to form the Woodville- ...

in the

SANFL 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. ...

Bob Hank Robert William "Bob" Hank (19 June 1923 – 14 June 2012) grew up in and lived in Lockleys and was an Australian rules footballer who played for West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Career Hank began h ...

would go on to become an

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

inductee, winning the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willi ...

in both 1946 and 1947 and winning a record 9 league best and fairest awards for his club. A pavilion in the eastern grandstand at

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

is named the Bob Hank Pavilion and the grandstand at

Thebarton Oval Thebarton Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia currently used for a variety of sports including Australian rules football. It was the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Torrens Football Cl ...

is named the Hank Brothers Stand after these

Australian Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

legends. Bob Hank also famously clean bowled

Sir Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

in a District Cricket final in March 1947 whilst playing for the West Torrens Cricket Club against Bradman's Kensington Cricket Club.

John Martin's warehouse

The former

John Martin's John Martin & Co. Ltd, colloquially known as John Martin's or simply Johnnies, was an Adelaide-based company which ran a popular chain of department stores in South Australia. It operated for more than 130 years, from 1866 until its closure i ...

department store had a bulk warehouse on Pierson Street, which was also a storage location for the floats used in the company's annual Christmas Pageant.Westpac Home Ownership Service Centre
Maras Group. Retrieved 19 February 2021. The warehouse was converted by EDS for a data and call centre, which opened in 1996, and later owned by the Maras Group and operated by

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...

as a mortgage processing centre. In September 2021 a development application was announced for rezoning the

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...

and adjacent child care centre, to allow a medium density residential development to be built on the site.

Windsor Theatre

The Windsor Theatre, located at 362

Henley Beach Road Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

RSL hall in March 1925, with the construction cost of £3,800 covered by community fund-raising, with much of it donated by John Mellor. It was called the Lockleys Memorial Hall. On 10 October in the same year, the hall was used by Lyric Theatres Ltd to screen a film, and soon became a successful

movie theatre A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

. At some point it was named the Odeon Star (indicating ownership by D. Clifford Theatres).PDF
/ref> The Windsor Group acquired the cinema in October 1948, renaming it as the Windsor Theatre, and by 1949 the lease had been acquired by

Ozone Theatres Ltd Ozone Theatres Ltd, formerly Ozone Picture Company and then Ozone Amusements Ltd, was a cinema chain based in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1911 until 1951, when it sold its theatres to Hoyts. It was founded by Hugh Waterman and friends, and ...

. During the 1950s the cinema was substantially upgraded. The "Nostalgia Walk" was created, with hundreds of original movie posters lining the walls. It seated 500 people, and was the first cinema in Adelaide to sell

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

. The Windsor ceased operating in August 2012, and remained mostly vacant for a couple of years after that. In 2018, the theatre was purchased by the

., who demolished it in early 2021 despite public debate and much resistance from organisations which saw its heritage and cultural value to the area. During demolition, a hidden basement was rediscovered, containing a kitchen and supper room. Lockleys now features many large modern homes including one shown on the Grand Designs Television show. Lockleys Street

Sport

Lockleys is home to the Lockleys Football Club, known as the Demons, their home clubrooms on Rutland Ave are a modern two-story facility that has won a state award for its architecture. The club play in the

South Australian Amateur Football League The Adelaide Footy League (AdFL), formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), is a semi-professional Australian rules football competition based in Adelaide, South Australia. Comprising sixty-seven member clubs play ...

AFLW AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

player

Ebony Marinoff Ebony Marinoff (born 15 November 1997) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club#AFL Women's team, Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She is a three-time List of AFL Women's premiers, AFL Women's pr ...

played for the club, as well as former

player

Jimmy Toumpas Dimitri "Jimmy" Toumpas (born 2 January 1994) is a former professional Australian rules footballer best known for his time at the Melbourne Football Club where he played 27 games from 2013 to 2015. He was drafted by Melbourne with the fourth s ...

and Brooklyn Park local and Port Power draftee Thomas Scully The Lockleys Football Club facilities are shared with the West Torrens Baseball Club. The South Australian Badminton Association is also located in Lockleys, neighbouring the football club and baseball club. The

Kooyonga Golf Club Kooyonga Golf Club is a private golf club in Australia, located in South Australia at Lockleys, South Australia, Lockleys, a suburb west of Adelaide. Members entry is off May Terrace, Brooklyn Park, South Australia, Brooklyn Park. Work on the c ...

is also located in Lockleys. Kooyonga was the name of the suburb before it became Lockleys.

Government

Lockleys is in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

, split between the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

electoral district of Colton Colton is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is a 26.2 km2 suburban electorate on Adelaide's western beaches, taking in the suburbs of Adelaide Airport, Fulham, Fulham Gardens, Glenelg Nort ...

and

electoral district of West Torrens West Torrens is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Named after the City of West Torrens (which is so-named because of its location on the River Torrens), it is a 25.1 km² suburban electorate in ...

, and in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

Division of Hindmarsh The Division of Hindmarsh is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in South Australia covering the north western and western coastal suburbs of Adelaide. The division was one of the seven establ ...

Education

Two schools are located in Lockleys – Lockleys North Primary School and St Francis School. Despite its name, Lockleys Primary School is located in neighbouring suburb Brooklyn Park.

Lockleys North Primary School

Lockleys North Primary School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

grades R-6 school located on Malurus Avenue. Students come from a wide variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds due to the demographics of West Torrens area.

History

With the expansion of the western suburbs of Adelaide the school was built in 1960. The school celebrated its 50th anniversary with an open day for old scholars and old staff on 14 November 2010.

Facilities

In July 2010, two new school buildings opened – "Tirkandi" (Library) and "Torrens" (classrooms for year 6-7's). The library was opened by

Steve Georganas Steven Georganas (; born 13 June 1959) is an Australian politician and is the Australian Labor Party member for the House of Representatives seat of Adelaide in South Australia since the 2019 Australian federal election. Previously, he had been ...

, the Member of Parliament for the seat of Hindmarsh. The school grounds also have a

soccer pitch A football pitch or soccer field is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural turf or artifici ...

which have not only used by the school, but also local sporting clubs. The gymnasium has also been used for

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

by local sporting clubs.

Special programs

Specialist programs are offered in science, physical education, music, German and Greek. File:Lockleys North 02.jpg, Auditorium File:Lockleys North 03.jpg, Sports fields File:Lockleys North 05.jpg, Quadrangle

St Francis School

St Francis School is a coeducational grades R-6 school located on Henley Beach Road. It is a private Catholic school.

References

External links

Geoscience Australia

South Australian State Gazetteer: Placenames Online

{{City of West Torrens suburbs Suburbs of Adelaide