Torrens Parade Ground
The Department for Environment and Water are proud to own and manage a number of South Australia's highly significant State Heritage Places. The Torrens Parade Ground and Drill Hall on Victoria Drive, Adelaide, is one such place.
The Parade Ground and Drill Hall are available for hire for events. To find out more about hiring the Parade Ground and Drill Hall see our attached link below, or email DEW.TorrensParadeGround@sa.gov.au or phone us on 08 8203 9855.
To enquire about a booking, please complete the attached form and send it to: DEW.TorrensParadeGround@sa.gov.au
The Department for Environment and Water encourages all event bookings to be smoke-free events.
History
The site of the Torrens Training Depot and Parade Ground has been associated in the public consciousness with military activity since 1893. Prior to 1893, the Military Parade Ground was located in the area which is now the South Australian Museum forecourt on North Terrace.
The Parade Ground has been the mustering point for South Australian troops embarking for the Boer War, World War One and World War Two. It has been regularly used as a review and parade ground and a meeting point for military commemorative services such as Anzac Day marches.
It has been associated with various units, but most particularly the 10th Battalion which was originally the Adelaide Rifles (and known as the Royal South Australia Regiment). This Regiment has had a particularly illustrious career on the battle front: in Gallipoli and France in World War One, and in Tobruk and New Guinea in World War Two.
The Torrens Training Depot was built in 1936 and is an excellent example of the Inter-War Stripped Classical style of architecture in Adelaide, particularly as interpreted by architects working for the Commonwealth Government. The strictly symmetrical design of the building and its low scale with simplified classical motifs and Art Deco decorative elements make this one of the most notable buildings in Adelaide of this style to be constructed pre-World War Two.
The internal arrangement of the building typifies the functional organisation of the Army and its physical requirements. All external detailing which is original to the 1936 building is significant. The scale of the Drill Hall interior is also of note.
