Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Hindmarsh Square is one of the five public squares designed into Adelaide's original city plan by Colonel William Light in 1837, and each one tells a different story about the young colony.

This one was named after Sir John Hindmarsh, South Australia's first Governor, who arrived in Holdfast Bay aboard the Buffalo on December 28, 1836. The naming happened quickly, on May 23, 1837, when the street naming committee was dividing up the brand-new city. In 2003, the square received a second name, Mukata, in the Kaurna language of the area's original inhabitants, as part of the Adelaide City Council's dual naming initiative.

The square sits at the intersection of Grenfell and Pulteney streets, near the eastern end of Rundle Mall, making it a natural resting point for anyone exploring the city centre. It's a green, open space in the middle of the grid, exactly as Light intended when he designed Adelaide with an unusual amount of public parkland.

Colonel Light's plan for Adelaide was controversial at the time, and he was criticised for choosing the site and laying out a city with so much open space. History proved him right. The squares and parklands are now considered one of Adelaide's greatest assets.

If you're on a Questo quest through Adelaide, Hindmarsh Square might be one of your stops. The stories built into Adelaide's grid are hiding in plain sight.