Prior to the 1836
British colonisation of South Australia, Glenelg and the rest of the
Adelaide Plains was home to the
Kaurna group of
Aboriginal Australians. They knew the area as "Pattawilya" and the local river as "Pattawilyangga", now named the
Patawalonga River. Prior to European settlement huge
oyster reefs of
Australian flat oysters (
Ostrea angasi, also known as the Southern mud oyster) existed off the coast of Glenelg. Oysters were of huge importance as a food source for
Indigenous Australians at many locations around Australia, but the extensive reefs were decimated after colonisation; it is estimated that in South Australia alone, at least of coastal reefs were destroyed by the 21st century. Oyster fishing was practised by the early settlers, and much of the damage was caused by using
dredging to collect the oysters, which led to the reefs being damaged.
Settlement The first British settlers set sail for South Australia in 1836. Several locations for the settlement were considered, including
Kangaroo Island,
Port Lincoln and
Encounter Bay. The Adelaide plains were chosen by Colonel
William Light, and Governor
John Hindmarsh proclaimed the province of South Australia at the site of
The Old Gum Tree in
Glenelg North on 28 December 1836. The first
post office in Glenelg opened on 5 December 1849; the first postmaster was John McDonald of the St Leonard's Inn. A
telegraph office was opened in September 1859 and the two offices amalgamated in 1868. The present post office building on
Moseley Square was built in 1912. The sale of the surveyed lots that constitute the Town of Glenelg was remarkable: the right to purchase, at £1 per "
town acre", was allocated by means of a ballot held in February 1839. The "winner" was a syndicate of six led by
William Finke, with
Osmond Gilles, his nephew
John Jackson Oakden and H. R. Wigley (father of
W. R. Wigley) notable members. Among the town's earliest public buildings were the Independent (Congregational) church, opened 7 March 1848, St Peter's (Anglican) church, opened 28 March 1852 and the Pier Hotel, opened Christmas Day 1856, all the work of
Henry J. Moseley, for whom Moseley Street and Moseley Square were named. No trace of the original structures remains. The
Corporate Town of Glenelg was proclaimed in 1855, separating local governance of the township of Glenelg from that of the
West Torrens and
Brighton district councils. Construction of the Glenelg Institute, which is now the Glenelg Town Hall, started in December 1875. The institute opened in 1877, with lecture rooms, a concert hall and a library. The classical structure was designed by
Edmund Wright, whose works include the Adelaide Town Hall and
Adelaide General Post Office on
King William Street. The hall sits on Moseley Square, just off the beach. The
Holdfast Bay city council acquired the hall in 1887. Passengers were also able travel from the Glenelg jetty to
Kangaroo Island by steamer. Various additions to the jetty were made, none of which stand today. A
lighthouse was built in 1872 at the jetty's end, but a year later it caught fire and was cast into the sea to save the rest of the structure. A replacement lighthouse was built in 1874, and was 12.1 metres (40 ft) tall. Other additions included
public baths, an
aquarium, a police shed and a three-story
kiosk with
tea rooms. The jetty kiosk was wrecked in a storm in 1943, and the jetty was severely damaged by a freak
cyclone in 1948. Most of the structure washed away and the remaining structure was deemed unsafe. Just two weeks later, the local council began drafting plans for a new jetty and construction was completed in 1969. The new structure was just 215 metres (705 ft) long,
The Glenelg Blocks An ill-fated breakwater construction project was conceived in the early 1900s, intended to create an artificial harbour for the protection of yachts and the local fishing fleet. Parliamentary approval was granted in 1905. In 1909 and 1910, work was dogged by losses of machinery to rough seas and concrete piles that shattered when driven. Pile-driving for seabed study had some success in 1913. By mid-1916 the project remained incomplete and its future was uncertain. In 1918, the contractors took legal action against the Government seeking damages of £80,000. By 1919, the project had become an embarrassment and an "eye sore" without providing a safe harbour as originally intended. Today, the structures are heavily eroded and are colonised with marine life. The site is an artificial reef known to divers and snorkelers as "The Blocks" or "The Glenelg Blocks".
Amusement parks on the foreshore at Glenelg Glenelg has been a popular spot for recreation and leisure for much of its history. Following the success of
Luna Park, Melbourne, a similar amusement park was constructed on Glenelg's foreshore in 1930.
Luna Park Glenelg was placed in voluntary liquidation in 1934, and all the rides (excluding a single
carousel) were disassembled, purchased by the directors, and transported to
Sydney, where they were used in the construction of
Luna Park Sydney. As part of the Holdfast Shores development, Magic Mountain was finally demolished in 2004 and replaced with
The Beachouse, a 5-storey modern centre with a more conservative design which still incorporates the historic carousel; it opened in mid-2006. Since its opening, The Beachouse has been a widely popular attraction of the Glenelg area, appealing to both adults and children. A 25-metre single-arm
Ferris wheel was a prominent feature of the area until its closure.
Wastewater treatment plant South Australia's second largest wastewater treatment plants is located in Glenelg. It was first established in 1933, and was upgraded in 1945, 1962, 1973 and most recently in 2002. A pipeline pumps 2.8 gigalitres of treated wastewater to Adelaide where it is used to irrigate green spaces, such as parks and ovals. The facility also conducts tours for school groups and visitors to learn about water supply and treatment. The plant also returns treated wastewater to the ocean. The most significant pollutants discharged to the sea (by mass) in 2018/19 were:
nitrogen (180 tonnes),
phosphorus (78 tonnes),
chlorine (32 tonnes),
ammonia (14 tonnes),
fluoride (14 tonnes) and
zinc (1 tonne).
High-rise development Atlantic Tower was built in the late 1970s and was Adelaide's tallest residential building at the time. The fourteen-story tower featured a revolving restaurant on its top floor, and was part of a larger development plan that never eventuated. Many other high-rise buildings exist in Glenelg, including the fifteen-story Stamford Grand hotel on
Moseley Square, built in 1990, and the twelve-story Liberty Towers, built in 2004. The Holdfast Shores development, starting in the late 1990s, included the construction of the Marina Pier apartment building with its own private marina in
Glenelg North, and the Pier Hotel, founded 2001, and unrelated to the historic
Pier Hotel on Moseley Square. The development was met with strong opposition, from both local residents and the City of Holdfast Bay, fearing overdevelopment would ruin the area. Parts of the plan were scaled back, with the Platinum Apartment building scaled down from fifteen stories to nine, and the cinema complex cancelled. ==Demographics==