SLSA catalogueCatalogue recordSLSA referenceFirle, Part Section 303 (map)
Details
TitleFirleDatenot datedDescription
A plan of the subdivision of the suburb of Firle, showing allotments offered for sale by the S.A. Real Estate Investment Company. The shaded parts are possibly those allotments already sold or occupied. Four photographs edge the map; these are of Glynde Road, 'Firle' homestead and two bungalows adjoining and opposite Firle. The photographs are possibly aimed at showing the quality of the area. Although the map has not been dated, a note above the main map area which mentions the Town and Planning Act of 1920 indicates that it was made after that date.
A careful look at the plan reveals the name Louis Bailey, Licensed Surveyor, Pirie St, Adelaide. Bailey was born in Port Adelaide in 1862 and became a licensed mining and land surveyor. He served for many years on the Council of the Town of Kensington and Norwood. Bailey died in 1951.
The suburb of Firle was laid out in 1881 by Edward Castres Gwynne who was born at Lewes in Sussex, England, near the towns of Firle and Glynde, where his father was a rector. He came to South Australia on the Lord Goderich in April 1838 and purchased 500 acres of land on the foothills east of Adelaide. He was elected to the first representative Parliament in 1857 and twenty years later was appointed a judge. Upon his retirement in 1881 he laid out the suburb on sections 303 and 265, Hundred of Adelaide (Manning, 2006). Initially, parts of Gwynne's estate was subdivided into large blocks which were used by settlers for large market gardens, orchards and paddocks of wheat and hay. Gradually the area developed as a residential suburb as transport services such as trams and buses were introduced in the early 1900s. Post war migrant settlement also brought many people to the area.
Firle House (pictured at top right of map) was built by Henry William Martin in about 1882, but it was demolished in the 1980s (Warburton, 1983). The original family homestead of Edward Gwynne, known as 'Glynde House' has managed to survive at 54 Avenue Road, Glynde, and is on the South Australian State Heritage Register. An interesting feature of the plan is that is shows the subdivision of the allotments of Firle in relation to the surrounding area and suburbs, such as Payneham and Norwood.
