Contents

Waymouth Street

Waymouth Street South Australia
Waymouth Street, looking east from Bentham Street towards King William Street
West end East end
Coordinates	34°55′35″S 138°35′16″E / 34.926354°S 138.587717°E / -34.926354; 138.587717 (West end) 34°55′33″S 138°35′59″E / 34.925768°S 138.599728°E / -34.925768; 138.599728 (East end)
General information
Type	Street
Location	Adelaide city centre
Length	1.1 km (0.7 mi)[1]
Opened	1837
Major junctions
West end	West Terrace Adelaide
	Light Square Morphett Street
East end	King William Street Adelaide
Location(s)
LGA(s)	City of Adelaide

Waymouth Street, often spelt as Weymouth Street in the early days, is an east–west street running between King William Street and West Terrace in the Adelaide city centreinSouth Australia. The street is named after Henry Waymouth, a founding director of the South Australian Company, whose name was also sometimes spelt as Weymouth.

Description[edit]

The street runs between King William Street and West Terrace, on the western side of the city centre. It is intersected by Light Square.^[2][3]

Eastern section[edit]

The section of Waymouth Street from King William Street to Light Square is lined by commercial office buildings with many restaurants and cafes at ground level. It is the location of the state headquarters of organisations including ANZ, the Department for Environment and Water, Beyond Bank Australia, EY and News Corp Australia. At the intersection with King William Street, there is a pedestrian scramble crossing and a Glenelg tram line stop named after Pirie Street, which continues to the east.

Central section[edit]

Waymouth Street forms the southern boundary of Light Square, an open grassy park in the centre of the north-west quadrant of the city centre. This section of Waymouth Street is one-way traffic to the west; east-bound traffic must detour around the square. Traffic signals control the intersection with Morphett Street where it divides to go around the square. A few bars, nightclubs and restaurants are located on the southern side of Waymouth Street and around Light Square.

Western section[edit]

The section from Light Square to West Terrace has lower scale retail and residential buildings, including several hotels, hostels, car and furniture dealerships. Across from the intersection with West Terrace is a service road for Adelaide High School and an entrance point to shared pedestrian and bicycle tracks in the western parklands.

History[edit]

The street was named after Henry Waymouth, a founding director of the South Australian Company, by the Street Naming Committee in 1837.^[4][5] Until 1863 it was almost invariably spelled "Weymouth"; the eponymous director was then given either spelling interchangeably.^{[citation needed][6]}

Incidents[edit]

On 2 March 1994, a bomb exploded in the National Crime Authority offices in a building on Waymouth Street, after being sent to NCA Senior Investigator Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen, killing him and severely injuring lawyer Peter Wallis. The initial suspect, Domenic Perre, who was released for lack of evidence shortly after being arrested, was re-arrested in 2018. Perre was standing on top of a nearby carpark and was later arrested at his house.^[7][8] He entered a plea (of not guilty) for the first time in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 17 February 2020 but his lawyer conceded that there is a case to answer and he was committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court of South Australia.^[9]

Historic buildings[edit]

There are several locally heritage-listed buildings on Waymouth Street, and as of 2024^[update] two on the South Australian Heritage Register:^[10]

• Woodards House, originally an office building designed by prominent architect F. Kenneth Milne (then in practice as F. Kenneth Milne, Evans & Russell) for Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society, which included ground floor offices for the Commercial Bank of Australia.^[11][12] The building contractor was prominent local builder Frederick Fricker, who died suddenly while on holiday, in Port Said, before the building was completed.^[13][14][15] The building was officially opened on 5 June 1929, after a dinner the previous night attended by many local dignitaries.^[16] The building was state heritage-listed on 23 August 2013, and described as "an outstanding example of a building constructed in the Inter-War Commercial Palazzo style". An additional floor was added in 1953.^[17]

• The Cumberland Arms Hotel, at no. 205, was designed by Henry Colls Richardson for Sir Edwin Thomas Smith and built in 1883. It was heritage-listed in 1986.^[18]

See also[edit]

Australian roads portal

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Trove search results for newspapers

34°55′34″S 138°35′37″E / 34.9261°S 138.5937°E / -34.9261; 138.5937