Old SA place names

[grantleydawn]

I contacted the Burnside City Council Library and their Local History section advised;

“I can find no record of a locality called Stephen’s Dale in Burnside. The closest is Stevenson’s Gardens, more commonly known as Leawood Gardens. This was a nursery established by George Stevenson in about 1844 (perhaps slightly earlier), and was located near the acute bend in the Mount Barker road called the Devil’s Elbow. This is the only locality in Burnside with a name anything like Stephen’s Dale. Stevenson’s Gardens was very near Glen Osmond, but it is far from conclusive.”

As a note, they mention Devil’s Elbow. They are referring to the original Devil’s Elbow, on the Old Mount Barker Road. Leadwood Gardens was consumed when they created the replacement Mount Barker Road and the name Devil’s Elbow was then reused further down the road.

You can find Leawood Gardens on Google Maps by searching for “Leawood Gardens, SA”

Regards
Grantley

[krisesjoint]

Hi Folks,

You may note David from MAPCO has kindly uploaded a map for us of the Hills area. Fascinating to see. Lovely to see such detail of the area where my ancestors lived. Thank You David. 

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,390538.new.html#new

If he is able to turn up anything on Stephens Dale he will let us know.

I have to say I have my doubts it is in the Glen Osmond area. I have a feeling it may be much closer to town. I have spent my morning trying to chase this up. Haven't really achieved much I am afraid. I find 5 families baptising children at Holy Trinity in 1841 (3 on the same day) listing a residence of Stephens Dale. The thing I find most interesting is the census. Now apart from Grantley's Spencer family who are listed at Gilbert Street on page 15, I find the other four families are all neighbours and list as District A pages 186 and 187. No real clues from here on. Grantley's family seem to stay around Adelaide and nearby for the next few years with next child at Payneham and following one "on the Torrens" - that does not sound like they were living in a house. Didy's family are in Glen Osmond in 1844 followed by Old Tiers. The other families one stayed around Adelaide, one moved to  Tapleys Hill and then O'Halloran Hill and the last one Dry Creek and then Gawler.

Back to the census and trying to find clues. I thought I may have been on to something when on page 191 (handwritten Sheet 25) it noted "for sheets 23 and 24 see Magill". Unfortunately page 190 was sheet 22 so alas no real help. There was another note page 183 (sheet 15) saying for sheets  11- 15 see Payneham. again alas page 182 is Sheet 10 so it appears the notations were no help at all. There is no sheet number listed on page 15, Gilbert Street. Another failure.

Next I tried looking for baptisms of the other neighbours of the Farmilo's on pages 186 and 187. One of the neighbours the Fergusons baptised a child in March 1841 The address was Mackgill Village. Another neighbour the Overington family had a child 17 Aug 1841 residence Hawden St Adelaide. That baptism is the same day as William Spencer, but not the same address.

It has been an interesting morning but afraid I really achieved nothing 

Cheers Kris 

[cando]

Not really much help to find an answer but
the place name Stephens Dale was never gazetted. Link to database -

http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/pno/index.jsf

Cheers
Cando

[Roydie]

Have been consulting Mannings Place names of SA and have dug a few bits and pieces up in regard to place names mentioned in this thread.

He suggests that Tiers was the forests of the Mount Lofty Ranges, and notes that Samuel Stephens "facetiously" named them "Tiers D'etat"

Crafers appears  as a postal location by 1851, and a David Crafers had the licence for the Sawyers Arms on Mt Barker Road as early as 1839.

Forrest Range is descfribed as 6 ks s-west of Lobethal, and by 1890 was rapidly replacing "The Tiers" to describe the locality.(spelling changed to one r at that time too)

Blakiston originally was named by a Francis Davison (arr.1839) to 2 eighty acre sections in the Mount Barker district.

Native Valley 8 km east of Nairne named by 3 brothers Mullins early 1850's.

The 1908 Nomenclature of South Australia does not mention Stephens Dale- I found that book archived as a cd online.

Back in Mannings, Makgill Village is described as being situated about 4 miles from Adelaide, about a ¼ mile on this side of the 3rd stream to the north-east of the town, and near the foot of the mountains- and was laid out in 1838.

But no reference to Stephens Dale there either.

Interesting to research!

Cathy

[Dinkydidy]

Hello. Kris, Cando & Cathy - you HAVE been busy bees!

A thought came into my mind at Kris's mentioning of Grantley's family having children at Payneham and "on the Torrens". I wonder if there is a connection with what is now Stephen (formerly Stephens?) Terrace, which runs through Gilberton and St Peters and crosses the Torrens at a point which is quite expansive. Could that once have been known as Stephen's Dale?

I wonder how long the name has been associated with the area?

Didy

[MAPCO]

Hi Didy.

Stephen Terrace was formerly Walkerville Road back in the day. Take a look at this 1929 street directory page on the MAPCO website:

http://archivemaps.com/mapco/adelstreets/streets32a.htm

I am currently revising some of the Adelaide maps online. They will be much easier to use in a few days time, and may lead to a theory or two worth pursuing. 

I will keep you posted!

Regards,

David.

[Dinkydidy]

Thanks for the maps, David. It's interesting to see how names change over time, but unfortunate that history is often obscured in the process.

Presumably the Stephen Or Stephens name was originally part of that stretch of road before it was extended to the whole, as has happened elsewhere?

I have been skimming through early references to Stephens families in SA history to see what localities they might be linked with. Burnside is one of them, but perhaps the early name of Stephen's Dale was just so localised and temporary that it never achieved any official recognition.

Didy

[tropicalj]

Kris  has certainly  had a good  look for it.

What about  trying  SAGHS? (South Australian Genealogical and Heraldry Society)
http://www.saghs.org.au/

Or even Adelaide Proformat? the site by Graham Jaunay

http://www.jaunay.com/index.html

thanks Jenn

[Dinkydidy]

Stephens Dale does not appear as the place of birth in any registered births from 1842, so perhaps those 5 Holy Trinity records from 1841 mentioned by Kris are the only times it's been used.

Although I don't have access to marriages and deaths at home.

Didy.