Belair, South Australia

Belair is a suburb in the south eastern foothills of Adelaide, South Australia at the base of the Mount Lofty Ranges.

Belair
Adelaide, South Australia
Part of the view north from Windy Point
Belair
Coordinates34°59′53″S 138°37′21″E
Population
Postcode(s)5052
LGA(s)City of Mitcham
State electorate(s)Waite
Federal Division(s)Boothby
Suburbs around Belair:
Torrens Park
Lynton		 Mitcham
Brown Hill Creek		 Crafers West
Lynton
Panorama
Blackwood
Glenalta		 Belair Crafers West
Upper Sturt
Eden Hills
Hawthorndene		 Upper Sturt
Hawthorndene		 Upper Sturt

Geography

Belair was established during the settlement of Adelaide as a source of timber. Parts of Belair have views of the Adelaide CBD, the Adelaide Plains and the coast. Belair National Park is one of the major attractions of the suburb. Windy Point, formerly known as Observation Point) provides a 230-degree panorama making it one of the best lookouts over the city, the plains and the coast.

Recreational facilities

Belair National Park is a very popular location for feeding ducks, cycling, walking or horse riding through the bush, enjoying the native flora and fauna, having barbecues and playing social games of tennis, football, soccer and 'backyard' cricket.

Belair is also a very popular area for mountain bikers. There are bike trails not just in the National Park but throughout Belair, and steep tracks down the hills face to railway stations on the Belair line, which terminates adjacent to the National Park.

History

The origin of the name 'Belair' appears uncertain. Gustav Ludewigs, who subdivided the area, may have named the suburb after Bel Air, Martinique, being his wife Maria's birthplace.[3] Another theory is that it was named in 1849 after Eugene Bellairs, a Government surveyor who lived in the area.[4]

Passenger train arriving at Belair train station

A Belair Post Office opened on 3 April 1859; it was relocated in 1881 to near its present position and the original office renamed Blackwood.[5]

Accessibility

Belair is approximately a fifteen-minute drive from the Adelaide city centre in good traffic. Belair railway station is the terminus of the suburban Belair railway line.

Education

Belair Primary School opened in 1957[6] or 1958.[7] It consisted of two campuses: a junior primary (originally known as "Belair Infant School", and later renamed to "Belair Junior Primary School", and a separate upper primary school. The junior primary campus closed in 1997,[6] and since then Belair Schools consists of a co-located junior school and an upper primary school situated on Main Road, Belair. The schools have Eco-school status,[8] and follow the International Baccalaureate syllabus.[9] In 1999 the schools twinned with Momoyama Elementary School in Kyoto, Japan.[9] Every two years, during May, a group of students and staff travel to Kyoto. In the alternate year, Momoyama students and staff visit Belair during August. These visits have become an integral part of the schools' Japanese language and cultural programme.

St John's Grammar School also has a junior campus adjacent to the railway station and senior campus located towards the west of the suburb. Actors Ben Nicholas and Sarah Snook are some of its more famous graduates.

Downhilling

There are numerous mountain biking tracks throughout Belair, and the City of Mitcham is expanded and formalised these tracks in the early 21st century. In November 2010 a two-metre-wide bitumen track opened between Caroline Avenue, Belair, and Beagle Terrace, Lynton, providing a trail for cyclists as an alternative to the dangerous curves of Belair Road. There are other tracks leading down to Lynton Train Station and Mitcham.

Climate
Climate data for Belair (Kalyra) (305m ASL)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 43.1
(109.6)		 40.9
(105.6)		 39.4
(102.9)		 34.2
(93.6)		 27.5
(81.5)		 21.5
(70.7)		 23.2
(73.8)		 25.2
(77.4)		 31.0
(87.8)		 33.3
(91.9)		 41.3
(106.3)		 39.0
(102.2)		 43.1
(109.6)
Average high °C (°F) 26.7
(80.1)		 27.0
(80.6)		 24.2
(75.6)		 20.3
(68.5)		 16.5
(61.7)		 13.4
(56.1)		 12.5
(54.5)		 13.8
(56.8)		 16.1
(61.0)		 19.5
(67.1)		 22.6
(72.7)		 24.8
(76.6)		 19.8
(67.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) 20.7
(69.3)		 21.2
(70.2)		 19.2
(66.6)		 16.2
(61.2)		 13.3
(55.9)		 10.6
(51.1)		 9.8
(49.6)		 10.6
(51.1)		 12.3
(54.1)		 14.8
(58.6)		 17.2
(63.0)		 19.0
(66.2)		 15.4
(59.7)
Average low °C (°F) 14.7
(58.5)		 15.3
(59.5)		 14.1
(57.4)		 12.0
(53.6)		 10.1
(50.2)		 7.8
(46.0)		 7.0
(44.6)		 7.4
(45.3)		 8.4
(47.1)		 10.0
(50.0)		 11.8
(53.2)		 13.2
(55.8)		 11.0
(51.8)
Record low °C (°F) 6.7
(44.1)		 8.4
(47.1)		 7.6
(45.7)		 4.2
(39.6)		 3.3
(37.9)		 2.6
(36.7)		 0.5
(32.9)		 2.8
(37.0)		 3.0
(37.4)		 2.9
(37.2)		 4.6
(40.3)		 6.0
(42.8)		 0.5
(32.9)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 24.4
(0.96)		 24.6
(0.97)		 30.8
(1.21)		 58.2
(2.29)		 93.2
(3.67)		 100.9
(3.97)		 97.5
(3.84)		 86.8
(3.42)		 73.5
(2.89)		 58.7
(2.31)		 40.1
(1.58)		 34.0
(1.34)		 724.0
(28.50)
Average rainy days 4.0 3.8 4.7 9.0 13.0 14.0 16.4 15.3 12.7 10.5 7.3 5.6 116.3
Average relative humidity (%) 46 46 47 60 69 76 77 71 63 58 54 51 60
Source: [10]

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Belair (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Belair (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  3. "The Manning Index of South Australian History - Belair". State Library of South Australia. Archived from the original on 29 July 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  4. "Belair". City of Mitcham. Archived from the original on 12 November 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  5. Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  6. School History, Belair Primary School web site
  7. Glenalta Chronology, City of Mitcham
  8. "Belair Eco School" Archived 28 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Environment and Heritage, accessed 8 July 2008
  9. "Belair Primary School" Archived 22 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Education and Children's Services, accessed 8 July 2008
  10. "Climate Data Online". Retrieved 14 January 2018.
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