Brighton | |||||||||||||
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 Brighton Jetty | |||||||||||||
  Brighton Location in greater metropolitanAdelaide | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates:35°01′08″S138°31′12″E / 35.019°S 138.520°E /-35.019; 138.520 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | South Australia | ||||||||||||
| City | Adelaide | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
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| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 3,834 (SAL2021)[2] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 5048 | ||||||||||||
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Brighton is a coastal suburb ofAdelaide,South Australia, situated betweenSeacliff andGlenelg and asideHoldfast Bay. Some notable features of the area are the Brighton-Seacliff Yacht Club, the Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club, the Brighton Jetty, and a beach. The Windsor Theatre, constructed in 1925, is a long-standing institution.
TheKaurna people inhabited the area beforeBritish colonisation of South Australia.[3]Witu-wattingga has become the accepted Kaurna name for the area, although its origin is probably arose through confusion with Wita-wattingga, the certified Kaurna name for an area around present-daySeacliff Park,[4][5] meaning "in the midst of peppermint gums".[6] (There is, however, aKaurna language meaning forwitu-watti, meaning "reeds in the middle", so could be applied to some small, intermittentswamps with reeds in the area, such as one near Young Street in Seacliff.[4])
Brighton Post Office opened on 27 August 1849. Brighton Jetty Post Office opened on 1 March 1950 and closed in 1979.[7]
Brighton became the seat of a newly-formed municipality, theCorporate Town of Brighton, in 1858.
The first Brighton Town Hall was built in 1869 and was just the fourthtown hall built in the colony of South Australia. The architect and builder was George William Highet, who arrived in the colony in 1836 and served as atown clerk and inaugural councillor. He died in Brighton aged 80 years. The hall was constructed of stone from Ayliffe's quarry in theAdelaide Hills laid on concrete foundations.[8] It was used as the civic centre of the City of Brighton from 1869 until 1936 when it was then leased by the RSL.[citation needed] The second town hall was opened in 1937, at 24 Jetty Road, and still fulfils a civic administration purpose, as one of twoCity of Holdfast Bay municipal offices.[citation needed]
Australian geologist,Antarctic explorer, and academicSir Douglas Mawson and his family, including his wife, community worker and writer LadyPaquita Mawson, and daughtersPatricia (later a noted parasitologist) and Jessica, moved into their new home, "Jerbii"[9] at 44[10] King Street, Brighton, in 1920. They had previously rented a home on the South Esplanade while it was being built, after returning from England afterWorld War I. The Mawsons lived in Brighton until at least 1958, when Douglas died.[9] Paquita Mawson was "a leading community figure" in Brighton, whose parents, Dutch-born metallurgist and businessmanGuillaume Daniel Delprat and his wife Henrietta Marie Wilhelmine Sophia Delprat, also lived in the suburb.[10]
Paquita Mawson, among her many other activities, was instrumental in establishing Hopetoun School, which operated out of the parish hall atSt Jude's Anglican Church.[11][12] The Misses Fleming ofEdwardstown opened Hopetoun School in 1922,[13] and Patricia Mawson attended the school for her early education.[11] The school moved to St Marys Church Hall inMitcham in 1962, operating there until 1965. It may have been the longest-operating totally independent school in South Australia.[13]
Social reformerCatherine Helen Spence, her brotherJ. B. Spence,[14]Pat Glennon, and photojournalistPaul Moran are buried atNorth Brighton Cemetery, at 301 Brighton Road.[citation needed]
Douglas Mawson, who died in 1958, was buried atSt Jude's Church cemetery.[15] After Paquita Mawson died in 1974, she was buried alongside her husband.[16]
Brighton has a large sandy beach which is patrolled by the Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club on Weekends and Public Holidays between November and March. Brighton Beach is popular for Adelaide beach goers as it is relatively safe – currently rated as Least Hazardous by Surf Lifesaving.[citation needed]
Asand replenishment program has been in operation for many years resulting in the beach sand dunes gradually increasing through the program of replacing eroded sand and replanting of the dunes with plants and grasses.[citation needed]
In summer, a sandbar normally forms in the water which can produce waves on windy days. Brighton is well known by local surfers for producing messy but fun "stormy sessions".[citation needed]
The Esplanade is an area of prime real estate which has been transformed over the years from a street of old cottages to new modern town houses.[citation needed]
Brighton's Jetty Road runs perpendicular to the Esplanade and is home to many restaurants, cafes and the local hotel, known as "The Esplanade", or "Espy".[citation needed]
The original Brighton Jetty was built in 1886 and stood for over 100 years.[17] Thejetty was badly damaged by winter storms in 1994 and was rebuilt using funds supplied by a mobile phone service provider,[citation needed] hence thetelecommunications tower on the end of the jetty.[18]
In 1926 the women of Brighton installed a drinking fountain near the entrance of the jetty to commemorate the death of Kathleen Duncan Whyte, who was fatally attacked by a shark while swimming.[citation needed]
At the shore end of the jetty is a War Memorial arch. Here, traditional Dawn Services are held annually onAnzac Day to commemorate fallen service men and women.[19]
Brighton is the home of theBrighton Jetty Classic, an Open Water Swim made up of the 1500 metre Brighton Jetty Classic Swim and the 400 metre Jetty Swim, aimed at first time open water swimmers. The Brighton Jetty Classic had its first year in 2006 when approximately 800 swimmers successfully completed the event. It is an annual event, being hosted on the first Sunday in February. The 2010 event had over 1200 swimmers, making it the largest open water swim in South Australia. The course is around the Brighton Jetty, which makes the Jetty a fantastic viewing platform for spectators.[citation needed]
Brighton Oval is the largest sporting complex in theCity of Holdfast Bay. It features a skatepark as well as football,lacrosse, cricket andrugby union clubs.[20]
The Windsor Theatre is located at 1 Commercial Road.[21][22] Opened in 1925, thepicture theatre was owned by theFreemasons (South Australian Lodge of Friendship). Unusually, theproscenium was situated in the centre of the building and was shared by two auditoriums.[23] By 1949, the lease had been acquired byOzone Theatres Ltd.[24]
The Windsor continues to operate as of December 2022[update], chargingA$10 per session.[21] It often showsdouble features, and its screenings include both mainstream films and indie /arthouse films.[22] It is one of very few cinemas from the era ofsilent films still standing and operating as a cinema in Adelaide.[25]
Although calledAdelaide Brighton Cement, the cement works are actually located in the nearby suburb ofMarino.
The Mawson's family home Jerbii, at 44 King Street Brighton was built in 1919.
Last edit: 07/13/2006
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