District Council of Highercombe

The District Council of Highercombe was a local government area in South Australia. It was proclaimed on 14 July 1853 in the eastern portion of the Hundred of Yatala, and was the original council in the area. It was bordered on the west by the eastern boundary of the District Council of Yatala and on the south by the River Torrens. The five initial councillors appointed by the Governor were Joseph Ind, of Little Paradise, Robert Milne of Dry Creek, George McEwin from the Glen Ewin Estate, John Gollop from Highercombe (now Paracombe) and Henry Klapper from Hope Valley. The new council variously met at five local hotels before building its own council chamber in Haines Road, Teatree Gully in 1855. It was the first purpose-built district council chambers in South Australia; the building survives today and is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.

By 1858, disputes had arisen about the effectiveness of the original boundaries, in particular between residents of the north and south of the district. A petition campaigning for the south to secede argued that "the interest of the north and south portions being in no way identical", there was "an apparent impossibility of amicable working of the district...as at present constituted". It was not a unanimous view, being met with a counter-petition stating that its signatories were "astonished" by the separation proposals, arguing that the district was working satisfactorily and that separate councils would be unnecessarily expensive. Those arguing for separation won the debate, and on 8 October 1858, the District Council of Teatree Gully, consisting of the northern portion of the Highercombe council, was declared as a separate council, while the southern portion of Highercombe council remained under that name.

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