Marryatville, South Australia
Marryatville is a small suburb about east of Adelaide's central business district, in the local council area of City of Norwood Payneham St Peters. Comprising low- to medium-density housing, two large schools, a church, and several shops, including the Marryatville Shopping Centre. It also has two creeks running through it. The first European settler on the land was George Brunskill in 1839, with part of the land purchased and laid out as a village in 1848 by James Philcox. He named it after Augusta Sophia Marryat, wife of the fifth Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Young, after their arrival in the colony in 1848. Among the heritage-listed buildings in the suburb, the historic home Eden Park is now part of Marryatville High School, and The Acacias is part of Loreto College. Hackett's Nursery was in operation from 1854 until 1952, alongside what is now Hackett Terrace.
Location
The suburb is bounded by Portrush Road in the west, Kensington Road to the north, Tusmore Avenue to the east, and Alnwick Terrace/Romney Road to the south. Along with neighbouring Heathpool to the south and Kensington to the north, it is part of the City of Norwood Payneham St Peters council area, adjoining the City of Burnside suburbs Leabrook and Toorak Gardens on the eastern and western sides.Creeks
Both First and Second Creek, originating in the Adelaide Hills, run through the suburb. First Creek surfaces on the northern side of Alnwick Terrace, within the Marryatville High School grounds, then flows through the grounds and out under The Crescent, while Second Creek passes under Hackett Terrace at its northern end, flowing through several properties on either side of the road before being canalised. Severe floods in November 2005 overflowed both creeks' banks and caused some damage to both MHS and Loreto, as well as some houses.General history
Early history of the area
Before British colonisation of South Australia and subsequent European settlement, Marryatville was inhabited by one of the groups who later collectively became known as the Kaurna peoples.George Brunskill, left Sandford, Cumbria with his wife Sarah, departing London in November 1838 on board the Thomas Harrison and arriving in Port Adelaide in February 1839. Both of their young children died before the ship sailed. Brunskill first "leased a portion of section 290, comprising, from the South Australian Company with a right to purchase the freehold", in the area now known as Marryatville. An undated document, estimated c.1840 by the State Library, shows a mortgage agreement for the sum of £300 between Brunskill and the Savings Bank of South Australia, describing an eight-roomed brick home to be built on 6.5 acres.
In a letter written in August 1839, Brunskill describes the countryside as "magnificent" after rains, with trees, flowers, vegetables all flourishing. The settler population of Adelaide is reported as 8,250. In a letter the following April, he says that in contrast to when they arrived, when the area was almost totally uninhabited, they were now surrounded by neighbours. His 67 acres leased from the Company provide lizards and goannas for "excellent eating", and he says that "the Blacks" hardly ever come near them, are "harmless" and do not steal; he lent an axe which was promptly returned. He later describes their house, comprising three bedrooms and other features which will make it "the best in the colony".
On 31 August 1850, were registered in Brunskill's name, with the other purchased on 25 September 1848 by James Philcox, who laid out the "Village of Marryatville". This followed an announcement in the press in July of the engagement of "Miss Marryat, niece of the Lord Bishop of Adelaide" to Sir Henry Young, the new governor of Adelaide, before their departure from England. The suburb's name thus came from Augusta Sophia Marryat, wife of the fifth Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Young, after their arrival in the colony in 1848. Augusta was the niece of the novelist Captain Frederick Marryat, and sister of Charles Marryat, who from 1887 to 1906 was Dean of Adelaide. Her mother was Caroline Short, whose brother, Augustus Short, was the first Anglican bishop of Adelaide. Philcox was probably responsible also for naming Burwash Road, after his home town of Burwash in Sussex.
Brunskill's property ran from Portrush Road to Ringmore Road, and the village to the east of that. The records mention a church to the west of the village, and company-owned lands to the east. In the village, one of the first buildings was the Marryatville Hotel, a single-storey building on the southern side. This was near the building which still stands, built in 1908 on the site of a brewery and used as a police station until 1971, and today by private businesses. Woodcutters would gather there on their way back from a day's work in the hills.
The village was advertised on 23 September 1848 as:
In 1851, George Hall founded one of South Australia's first aerated waters companies in Ringmore Road. In 1872 the company, then known as Geo. Hall & Sons, moved to Edward Street, Norwood. The highly successful company's Halls label produced soft drinks, surviving for 149 years.
Heathpool was one of three large properties, along with Eden Park and The Acacias, which made up Marryatville.
The Kensington line was the first of several trams in Adelaide, firstly horse-drawn and later electrified. There was a tram terminus in Marryatville, near the home of state Treasurer Lavington Glyde, who often travelled home with fellow politicians Wentworth Cavenagh and Sir Edwin Smith.
20th century
In 1919, St Matthew's church was renovated, maintaining as many original features as possible. A roll of honour of the World War I war dead was added to a wall, and a new organ was installed in honour of former warden George E. Stevens.In 1923 Sun Street was widened from a lane to a road, and renamed Hackett Terrace, after the nursery.
In 1937, Alfred Traeger, inventor of the pedal radio, moved his workshop to larger premises at 11 Dudley Road, where the firm stayed in operation until his death in 1980. A memorial plaque marks the building, which is still in existence.
History of notable properties
Eden Park
Brunskill built the first home for the family shortly after arrival in 1839, on land later owned by Sir Edwin Smith, on the site of the present Loreto College, then another cottage on the present Dudley Road, and finally the most elaborate of all, a house which they called Sandford, on the site of the current Eden Park. A huge Norfolk pine planted by the Brunskills still stands. Brunskill ran a brick-making business and grew crops such as wheat and kept cattle, while Sarah tended to pigs. He was a businessman in the city. The Brunskills sold up when they moved to the Barossa Valley in 1857, when they also subdivided and sold more land to the church.Sandford passed through several hands before being purchased in 1899 by Thomas Roger Scarfe, brother of George, one of the founding members of the Harris Scarfe department store. Thomas was also a member of the firm. He found the two-storey home unsuitable for his needs and built the grand Victorian mansion now known as Eden Park, designed by architect Alfred Wells. Thomas lived there until his death in 1915, with his widow staying on until her death in 1942.
The house, garden and about of land were bought by the state government, after which it was used as a residential home and then a school for nurses, before becoming SA Health's conference centre. In 1993 it was acquired by Marryatville High School and since then has been used as a campus for final year students.
The Acacias
The large house on the corner of present-day Portrush and Kensington Roads, known as The Acacias, was built in 1874-5 by Dr J.M. Gunson to the design of renowned builder and architect Michael McMullen. The land was originally part of land grant to George Fife Angas, Henry Kingscote, and Thomas Smith, all founding directors of the South Australian Company. After several other owners, Gunson purchased the land in August 1874, built the house on a terrace above First Creek and developed the gardens.Gunson sold the house to Sir Edwin Smith in 1878, who greatly extended the home, including a verandah and balcony imported from Glasgow and a large ballroom, to the designs of architect Thomas English. The building, built as a residence in Victorian Italianate style, is heritage-listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. The largely original 1880s decorated interior includes hand-painted motifs, gilding, and faux wood grain detailing.
In December 1920 Loreto Convent bought the house on, opening at that location in February 1921. The home was originally used as a dining room for boarders at the school.
Further conversions have been undertaken by the school over time, and the building has been more recently used as the school's boardroom.
In January 2026 the school announced plans to restore the building, led by South Australian heritage artist Marisha Matthews, who teaches art at the school. Architects Woods Bagot are responsible for developing the plans.
Hackett's Nursery
The smallest street, now Hackett Terrace, was formerly named Sun Street, the name deriving from Hackett's Nursery, a family concern created by brothers Elisha and Walter Hackett in the 1850s. Elisha Hackett cultivated the garden of his house in Sydenham Road, creating the nursery, and in 1854 persuaded his brother Walter, who had gone to Victoria in 1851, to join him in business. Walter, after his marriage, built a house in Marryatville designed by architect George Abbott in about 1866. The plot was bought from Brunskill, and was described as a long strip of land, formerly part of a paddock used as a shortcut by Burnside people going to St Matthew's Church. There were several wells, and the property had to be locked against bushrangers, who were active in the area. Walter first planted fruit trees, but as the nursery grew, the fruit trees were removed. More than 100,000 roses as well as shrubs and trees were grown and sold; there were also glasshouses to house begonias, maiden-hair ferns and other house plants, and a shadehouse for palms, tree ferns and staghorns. Native plants were cultivated with care. Walter's sons, first John and then William, lived in the house after their father moved to Brighton, but Walter travelled up each day to work in the nursery until his death in 1914.In 1917 the nursery was sold to a limited company, E. & W. Hackett Limited, with William continuing as director for three years. In the same year the business bought a plot in the Millswood Estate for over £20,067 to accommodate the nursery, which drew glowing praise in a 1923 newspaper article and continued to do business there until 1952.