Mawson Lakes is one of Adelaide’s most recently developed residential suburbs, situated due north of the CBD in the City of Salisbury. Previously home to the University of South Australia and Technology Park, the first residential land sales were released in 1998, and it has since been transformed into an appealing lifestyle destination.
The heart of Mawson Lakes is Main Street, where modern shopping developments such as Mawson Central provide an attractive commercial hub, together with Metro Parade which stretches north-west towards the Mawson Lakes Railway Station. To the east lies the Adelaide Planetarium, a state-of-the-art facility with live presentations that explore the solar system, stars and constellations, forming part of the University of South Australia campus which sprawls behind. To the south visitors will find the Lutheran school Endeavour College and Australia’s first tech park, Technology Park Adelaide, which boasts an enviable location overlooking one of the suburb’s lakes. It’s home to more than 90 different organisations and businesses with a technology or defence focus, including Optus, Lockheed Martin and Saab Systems. The Mawson Lakes Golf Club sprawls to the east where a 9-hole course comprises part of the newly developed sports precinct, while the rest of the suburb is largely residential, interspersed with lakes and green spaces. It was created with a dual water supply system to provide both recycled water and drinking water to residents through separate mains and at the time was the largest self-contained water recycling scheme in the country.
Mawson Lakes is connected to Adelaide’s city centre from the Mawson Interchange, with both public bus and frequent train services. The design of the suburb is also pedestrian and bicycle friendly, with its compact size and leafy parks making it pleasant to explore on foot.
The land on which Mawson Lakes sits was initially founded as a sheep-breeding station in 1877 by Edward J. Pitts, a prominent artist and pastoralist during the early days of South Australia’s colonisation. Previously known as “The Levels”, it gradually emerged into a non-residential educational and technology hub, before Mawson Lakes was created by property developer Delfin and named after the Antarctic explorer and academic Sir Douglas Mawson.