City of Salisbury
The City of Salisbury is a local government area located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Its neighbours are the City of Playford, City of Tea Tree Gully and City of Port Adelaide Enfield.
Encompassing an area of, the city is one of the most populous and fast-growing council areas in South Australia: the local government area's population in 2021, of 145,806, was an increase of 32% over the 2001 population of 110,676 and of 13% over the 2011 population of 129,109.
The Local Government Area's main town centre – Salisbury City Centre – is on the main street of the town of Salisbury, John Street. The centre also hosts the council's principal office, council chambers and library, on Church Street. There is also a centre at Mawson Lakes, a master-planned development that surrounds the large Sir Douglas Mawson Lake.
The current CEO is John Harry.
History
For millennia, the Aboriginal Kaurna people were custodians of the Adelaide Plains, including the Salisbury area.The township of Salisbury was laid out by John Harvey, who had migrated from Scotland in 1839. He named it after the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, near where his wife was born. Harvey purchased land beside the Little Para River in 1847 and in the following year sold allotments in the town. It became a service centre for surrounding farms and by 1881 the population was close to 500. Harvey's African heritage has often been ignored in South Australia's history, and the council website has not yet acknowledged that history, which Mayor Gillian Aldridge has said is needed.
The District Council of Salisbury was formed in 1933 by an amalgamation of parts of the abolished District Council of Munno Para West and the District Council of Yatala North. The population of the township at incorporation was 2385, but almost doubled from 1940 when the federal government built a munitions factory at Penfield, reaching 4160 by 1947.
The town council was briefly renamed the District Council of Salisbury and Elizabeth in August 1963, but reverted to its former name after the Elizabeth area was severed to form the new town of Elizabeth in February 1964.
City status was granted as the City of Salisbury on 6 July 1964.
Culture and events
Since 2005, the annual Salisbury Writers' Festival has been held in the city, co-hosted by the City of Salisbury, Writers SA and the Salisbury Library Service.The city has many recreational facilities and parks. The large St Kilda adventure playground, with its wheelchair-accessible picnic settings, barbecues, shaded area, toilets and parking, is very popular: there is a huge castle with slides and a draw bridge, a bouncy boomerang, flying fox, pirate ship, a large "volcano" with multiple slides, swings and a basketball court. On the afternoons of most Sundays and public holidays, the nearby tramway museum displays all types of trams that operated in Adelaide and has unlimited tram rides included with admission. The St Kilda Mangrove Trail and Interpretive Centre includes an elevated walkway over a flooded mangrove forest that meanders through tidal salt marshes, mangroves and sea grass channels to a lookout that has scenic views across the Barker Inlet.
In 2025, Salisbury was accredited as a Welcoming City at the 'excelling' level, the second local government in Australia to do so. The Welcoming Cities framework is intended to promote diversity, multiculturalism and social cohesion.
Sister City
The City of Salisbury has a sister cities relationship with:Mobara, Japan
Mobara Park in Mawson Lakes acknowledges their relationship.
A bronze statue in Mobara Park was gifted to the City of Salisbury by the City of Mobara, but it was stolen in 2023 when somebody used an angle grinder to cut through its ancles and removed the body, leaving only the feet. Mayor Gillian Aldridge described the incident as "the saddest thing that's happened since I've been mayor". The artwork was titled Nakayoshi, meaning "close friend".
Salisbury Community Hub
Council offices and council chambers are housed in the multipurpose Salisbury Community Hub, which includes civic spaces, a gallery, library and a cafe. The Salisbury Community Hub was opened in November 2019. It was built at a cost of $43,000,000. The building has received multiple architecture awards, including the Australian Institute of Architects' Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture for 2020.Councillors
Council consists of 16 elected members comprising a mayor, and 15 ward councillors. The Council area is divided into seven wards, with two councillors elected from each ward.Elections were last held in 2022 to cover the period to 2026. The voter participation rate was 26.9%. The city's Mayor and councillors as of 2023 were:
Council chairpersons/mayors of Salisbury
Council chairpersons/mayors since 1933 have been as follows:| Years | Chairperson/Mayor |
| 1933–1934 | Henry John Wynter Griffiths |
| 1934–1935 | Harold Lockheart Martin |
| 1935–1939 | Arnold Godfrey Jenkins |
| 1939–1942 | Harold Lockheart Martin |
| 1942–1953 | Andrew Thomas Goodall |
| 1953–1955 | Leslie Paul McIntyre |
| 1955–1957 | Keith Neil Davis |
| 1957–1961 | Harry Lyle Bowey |
| 1961 | Stewart Lynn Gilchrist |
| 1962–1965 | John Lawrence Lindblom |
| 1965–1978 | Harry Lyle Bowey |
| 1978–1983 | Ronald Thomas White |
| 1983–1987 | David Allen Plumridge |
| 1987–1993 | Patricia St Clair-Dixon |
| 1993–1997 | David Allen Plumridge |
| 1997–2007 | Tony Zappia |
| 2008– | Gillian Aldridge OAM |