The District Council of Yatala was a local government area of South Australia established in 1853 and abolished in 1868.
The council was named after the Hundred of Yatala which was proclaimed in 1846 in the County of Adelaide, Yatala being a word from the Weira group of the Kaurna Aboriginal people meaning water running by the side of a river. The name was used to refer to a large portion of the Adelaide Plains either side of Dry Creek between the River Torrens in the south and the Little Para River in the north.
History
At the time of establishment in 1853, Yatala covered an area of approximately 58 square miles (150 km2) on what is now the inner suburbs north-west, north and north-east of Adelaide. It extended from Salisbury in the north, to the River Torrens in the south east, and to the borders of the former City of Port Adelaide in the west. The council area covered a major central portion of the cadastral Hundred of Yatala. North Adelaide's parklands clearly formed part of the southern boundary of the council area. The council area included the villages of Enfield, Prospect, Klemzig and Walkerville. Surveying of Yatala was started in 1837 and continued until completed in late 1850s. The survey showed the area had limited fresh water.
The first Clerk, Collector, and Surveyor to the District Road Board of the Hundred of Yatala, was appointed in 1850. This was architect Edward Prowse, who later came to prominence in Geelong, Victoria. Prowse resigned in 1852.
In 1854 Yatala Labour Prison was established near Dry Creek, which passed from east to west through the centre of Yatala. The location of the prison meant inmates were able to work at the creek quarrying rock for roads and construction.
In the first six years after the establishment of Yatala council, two pockets of land were removed from the council area to be local government areas in their own right. A part at the northern end was taken for the new District Council of Munno Para West The new Village of Walkerville split from Yatala on 5 July 1855. In November 1855 and April 1859 further portions of Yatala District Council were moved to the Village of Walkerville council.
Bailliere's South Australian gazetteer and road guide, published in 1866, contains a brief description of the Yatala council area. It recorded the population of the district as being 3091, the number of houses as 642, the cultivated land as being 15,194 acres (6,149 ha), and the council chair as J.W. Sudholtz of Gilles Plains.
In 1868 the District Council of Yatala was divided at Dry Creek into the District Council of Yatala South and the District Council of Yatala North. Yatala North ultimately was absorbed into the new District Council of Salisbury in 1933. Yatala South ultimately became the District Council of Enfield in 1935, after the much earlier severance of land for the Village of Prospect in 1872