The area was subject to flooding by the
River Torrens, which originally ran into an area named "
The Reedbeds" in the upper reaches of the
Port River. In the 1930s the Torrens Channel, also named Breakout Creek, was cut through the coastal dunes to
Gulf St Vincent, 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, then
Edward Meade Bagot and
Gabriel Bennett, 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 there after world war I. and the grandstand at
Thebarton Oval is named the Hank Brothers Stand after these
Australian Football legends. Bob Hank also famously clean bowled
Sir Donald Bradman 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 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. 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 as a mortgage processing centre.
Windsor Theatre The Windsor Theatre, located at 362
Henley Beach Road, was originally built as a
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. The Windsor Group acquired the cinema in October 1948, renaming it as the Windsor Theatre, During the 1950s the cinema was substantially upgraded. The "Nostalgia Walk" was created, with hundreds of original movie posters lining the walls. 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
City of West Torrens., During demolition, a hidden basement was rediscovered, containing a kitchen and supper room. ==Sport==