Militarisation and Urbanisation: the Second World War, Public Housing and the Shaping of Metropolitan Adelaide

Adelaide entered the Second World War with an industrial urban axis extending north-west from the city to its port, and emerged from the War re-aligned to the north. This article asks why the re-alignment occurred. It argues that previous explanations for Adelaide's north-south alignment are inadequate, and concludes that the orientation is the result of Commonwealth Government investment in military-industrial development and accompanying urbanisation on a remote rural site to the north of Adelaide's metropolitan area. These explanations are now hidden in the landscape and almost forgotten in historical accounts.