History

Edwardstown was a place name either as one word or two, eg  Edward's Town - named of course after a Mr Edwards.  South Road, or Main Road south was the major thoroughfare from the city to all places East and South from the time emigrants first began to move out into the country to own  or lease land.  In my own family, an female ancestor was a passenger on a ship full of young single females from Scotland.  On the voyage to South Australia she met a young man who was part of the crew.    When they arrived, they walked to the city, along the Main Road south  to Old Noarlunga as we now call it, and were married in the lovely church atop a hill. They  walked down 'south' to nr Mount Gambier where they set up home together.  

By 1839, Edwardstown was being sold by the Government Auctioneer, Mr Bentham.  Adelaide was the city and even though only 4 miles out, Edwardstown was country.
The large blocks of land were being divided into smaller allotments which afforded many more people to take the opportunity to buy or lease land for farming, growing fruit trees, vegetables. If on or near the main road, a small business to take advantage of traffic going to and fro from Adelaide city could become profitable.

Below is a copy of an advertisement from a local newspaper in South Australia.    It makes me smile to read the beautifully written words and so polite. Not long after this article appeared, Mr M'Kevvitt put his land at Edwardstown up for sale!     Trove newspapers are available to all  from  the National Library Canberra, and is a growing collection of Australian newpapers which have been digitilised for everyone  to read, research and enjoy.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/71685208 searchTerm="edwards%20town"&searchLimits=l-state=South+Australia|||l-decade=183|||sortby=dateAsc

It can be seen that in 1839 Edward's Town was seen as a village, but this did not last.
Marion and Mitcham for instance became villages which stayed, as they were built around a water feature eg creeks etc while Edwardstown was not.  South Road - or Main Road south did not have a central place or feature.   A big factor was that Edwardstown did not stay in the one place as did Marion village.    
It did however, become an important place for the people who lived in the area, or who were travelling down south, to the hills or back to the city.    Also it was about 6 miles of travel, which meant a place was needed for travellers, for food and water and other essentials.

At this time, the oldest building in our area would be the Maid of Auckland on South Road, Edwardstown.  In the last half of 1850 Alfred Bachelor Evershed had built, a ten roomed building - he called the London Tavern, which he envisaged as a licensed inn/hotel.  Licenses were reviewed monthly and the following month, Mr Evershed had offered the building for lease - a 'stone and brick home which he had built for the purpose of an inn'. The gentleman had a slaughterhouse licence for 2 years at this spot.    In the Adelaide Times P 8 28.9.1850 is a wonderful read about the granting or not of licences in South Australia.  It does deny Evershed the licence but states that he spent  £400 on the house. October and November, Mr Evershed put in ads re the house for lease.  December 14th newspapers show that Evershed was granted a licence finally not for the London Tavern next to steam mills, but the Maid of Auckland next to steam mills!  Another time in the blog I will write a little about Mr Evershed and his wife.  What a story that is!

Over the  decades there have been a few changes to the Maid as she is affectionately called, but one can see the original shape, the original bricks and stone and feel the history inside and out.

Large tracts of land became available as big stakeholders sold off their land.  It began in 1838 when Edward sold off 80 acres in Sect 51. Now known as Glandore.