History of the City of Burnside

The history of the City of Burnside, a local government area in the metropolitan area of Adelaide, spans three centuries. Prior to European settlement Burnside was inhabited by the Kaurna people, who lived around the creeks of the River Torrens during the winter and in the Adelaide Hills during the summer.

Soon after British colonisation of South Australia in 1836, settlers began acquiring property in the foothills lying to the east of the city of Adelaide. The village of Magill was subdivided in 1838. A Scotsman named Peter Anderson, who with his family were the first official settlers in the area now known as the suburb of Burnside in 1839, named the area after his property's location adjacent to Second Creek (in Scots, "Burn" means creek or stream). The village of Burnside was established shortly after, and the District Council of Burnside was gazetted in 1856, separating itself from the larger East Torrens District Council. The mainstays of the early Burnside economy were viticulture, mining and olive groves. Glen Osmond boasted substantial mineral deposits, and vineyards were established at Magill and Stonyfell.

The present council chambers were built in 1926 in Tusmore; the council became a municipality in 1935. With strong growth and development throughout the region, Burnside was proclaimed a city in 1943. The 1960s brought to Burnside a community library and a swimming centre; both were further expanded and upgraded between 1997 and 2001.