Mitcham

The City of Mitcham is a local government area in the foothills of southern Adelaide, South Australia. Within its bounds is Flinders University, South Australia's third largest, and the notable, affluent suburb of Springfield which contains some of the city's most expensive properties. History Before the arrival of European settlers, the Kaurna people lived in the region. The first Europeans to settle in the area were a group of sailors who jumped ship in 1837 and founded a settlement at Coromandel Valley as a hiding place. Mitcham village was established on Brown Hill Creek in 1840, named after Mitcham, a village in Surrey. The council was founded on 10 May 1853 as the District Council of Mitcham and was the first local government area formally founded in South Australia after the City of Adelaide. The council initially covered an area of 108 square kilometres, stretching from the Adelaide Park Lands in the north to Mount Barker Road in the east, with the Sturt River forming the southern boundary. It lost the part of the council west of South Road to the District Council of Brighton (later the City of Marion) on 19 December 1854. In 1871, Unley and surrounding areas were severed from the Mitcham council to create the Corporate Town of Unley. It lost another area on 25 October 1883, when portions of the council around Stirling were detached to form the new District Council of Stirling.