Sitting Down in the Square: Indigenous Presence in an Australian City

Writers with a particular interest in postcolonial geo-politics have argued that colonisation as an imperial project was dependent upon the occupation and control of space through planning and development.1 It is suggested that in taming the unruly ground, planning of space and the building of structures, the colonists of the new world would create places which might be known and where they could hope to feel secure. One such case was the new colony of South Australia. Adelaide is a planned city. In 1837, Surveyor-General Colonel William Light, under directions from the Colonising Commission in London, produced a city plan befitting of nineteenth century utopian ideals regarding urban civility. Key to Light's plan was the inclusion of wide boulevards intersected by five City Squares distributed equidistant to each other, and a parkland belt surrounding the city itself. The design, anticipating future use, sought to provide adequate space for ease of carriage and commerce, whilst its parkland spaces and squares were to both beautify and to provide recreational opportunities for those in and around the City. When taken as a whole, Light's plan might be understood as an emblem for how city life might be purposefully and humanely lived in the industrial age.