It was proclaimed on 2 August 1883, when the area was separated from theDistrict Council of Stepney due to differing interests between the rapidly-growingSt Peters area, which contained five-eighths of the Stepney council's ratepayers, and slower-growing suburbs further east.[1] It was divided into four wards (Hackney, East Adelaide, Stepney and Maylands), each represented by two councillors, alongside a directly elected mayor.[2] The council initially met at the Bucks Head Hotel (later the Avenues Hotel), but rapidly sought a town hall due to a lack of office accommodation, and the St Peters Town Hall was built in 1885 at a cost of approximately £3,000, formally opening on 8 March 1886.[3][4][5]
The council undertook an important local role in social welfare during theGreat Depression, and from the 1960s had to deal with planning issues surrounding thePlayford government'sMetropolitan Adelaide Transport Study, theDunstan government's Hackney Redevelopment Scheme, and in the late 1970s and 1980s, theAdelaide O-Bahn, the latter which met local opposition over noise and its impact on the Torrens Gorge. It also developed zoning regulations protecting the character of the local area as a "low and medium density house-and-garden town". In later years, the council also built a new library, incorporating the former post office building, and the St Peters River Park by theRiver Torrens.[1]
In 1981, the council was responsible for an area of 3.7 square kilometres, with a population of 8,458, down from a peak of 12,522 in 1947.[1]
^"Obituary".The Chronicle. Vol. LXIX, no. 3, 666. Adelaide. 25 December 1926. p. 55. Retrieved13 December 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^The Critic (1909).The Tramways of Adelaide, past, present, and future : a complete illustrated and historical souvenir of the Adelaide tramways from the inception of the horse trams to the inauguration of the present magnificent electric trolley car system. Adelaide: The Critic.
^"A POPULAR MAYOR".The Register. Vol. LXXXVIII, no. 25, 876. Adelaide. 3 December 1923. p. 11. Retrieved13 December 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"ST. PETERS".The Register. Vol. XC, no. 26, 504. Adelaide. 7 December 1925. p. 11. Retrieved13 December 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"ST. PETERS".The Chronicle. Vol. LXVIII, no. 3, 612. Adelaide. 12 December 1925. p. 70. Retrieved16 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"NEW SUBURBAN MAYORS".The News. Vol. XI, no. 1, 663 (HOME ed.). Adelaide. 12 November 1928. p. 8. Retrieved16 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"SOCIAL TO MR. F. H. STACEY".The News. Vol. XIX, no. 2, 914. Adelaide. 19 November 1932. p. 6. Retrieved16 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
