Population plummets in Adelaide city centre in 1950s/60s as European migrants move in and flock to Central Market
The Central Market mainly escaped the 1950s/60s drive to modernise away heritage.
From 43,000 in 1915, Adelaide city centre’s population was down to 35,000 in 1951 and kept dropping during the 1950s/60s to be 14,000 in 1972. The physical state of the city was frozen and starting to decay in the 1950s, after hits from the late 1920s and early 1930s Depression followed by World War II building restrictions.
The rundown state of the city centre left a lot of heritage value being overlooked in the 1960s rush in to modernise buildings and widen roads for the rise in car ownership. New Housing Trust and war service homes added to the lure of the expanding suburbs for city residents. City shops were also being abandoned. The threat of suburban shopping centres in the 1960s was also hitting city retail.
European migrants – mostly Greek and Italian – moved in to buy the empty city cottages and shops that they saw as good value. City cottages also became offices.
Hindley Street was the meeting place for Adelaide Greek community in the 1950s. About 90% of that community lives in the inner city, with the others mostly in Mile End or Thebarton.
The only Greek church was in Franklin Street, Adelaide, and the nearby Church of St Patrick was a focal point for Italians living in the city.
The Central Market became the shopping destination for these migrants while suburban shoppers favoured Rundle Street and other big traditional stores.
The market hadn’t been altered in any big way since l93l. Long-time Grey Ward city councilor Bert Edwards was among those urging action to fix conditions in the market and especially in the city’s south-west
When the city could did move on changing the Central Market, it was in the spirit of times by getting rid of the old fashioned: all the iron and glass of the City Arcade. Only the Grote Street brick facade was kept and shops fronting Grote and Gouger streets. Also, typical of the times, a rooftop car park for 230 cars was part of a mid-1950s city council review of Central Market redevelopment.
