Adelaide City Council: Australia's first ever council celebrates an unusual 175th anniversary

It was the first city council to be established in Australia, but what happened after the formation of the Adelaide City Council in 1840 was extraordinary.

Adelaide City Council senior archivist Robert Thornton said the establishment of the council on October 31, 1840 was a special part of the city's history.

"Adelaide was the first city in the nation to form a local government entity, and preceded the councils in Sydney and Melbourne by a few years," Mr Thornton said.

But Adelaide also had one of the first councils to quickly crumble, before a resurgence.

Following the election of 19 "Common Councilmen", James Hurtle Fisher was elected as the city's first mayor.

The first council meeting was held in private premises in Hindley Street on November 4, 1840, with following meetings held in various places across the city.

Following a boisterous start, the Adelaide's first council lasted only three years and collapsed in October 1843.

"It simply ran out of money and didn't have strong powers to raise revenue," Mr Thornton said.

"It had to suffer the final ignominy of having all of its furniture and possessions put to public auction."

City management returned to Colonial-appointed power from 1843 until 1849 with the police commissioner overseeing the running of the city.

In 1849 city commissioners were installed, a Municipal Corporations Act developed and in 1852 the Adelaide City Council was re-established.

"It has been in existence since then, uninterrupted," Mr Thornton said.

The Town Hall and the mystery foundation stone

Although the Town Hall land was bought on February 15, 1841, it was not until June 22, 1866, the building was completed and officially opened.

One of the great mysteries surrounding Town Hall has been the whereabouts of its foundation stone.

"We still don't know where the location of the foundation stone is, because nobody decided to record it at the time," Mr Thornton said.

Official records showed the stone was laid May 4, 1863, by then-Governor Sir Dominic Daly.

With numerous renovations and additions made to the building over the years, Mr Thornton said it was likely the stone had been inadvertently buried.

"It is probably somewhere underneath, because King William Street and the footpath has come up over the years," he said.

The quest to obtain a lord mayor starts with abrupt dismissal

In 1910, Adelaide mayor Lewis Cohen travelled to London to request the British Government adorn a lord mayoral title for the council.

"They refused and simply told him to go away," Mr Thornton said.

The council persisted with the request, and in what was perceived as a reward for allies support in World War I, in 1919 a lord mayoral title was approved.

Charles Richmond Glover was appointed the council's first lord mayor.

Within months Frank Beaument Moulden would replace Mr Glover.

Lady Esther Lipman-Jacobs becomes first woman in the council

Women were allowed to vote in elections from as early as 1843 if they owned property within the council's boundaries.

It was not until 1956 that Lady Esther Lipman-Jacobs became the first female elected councillor.

She went on to serve as the first deputy lord mayor from 1974 to 1975 and was elected again from 1976 to 1977 and remained on the council for 22 years.

Lady Esther was honoured for her service on April 27, 2012, when a bronze bust of herself and her father, Vaiben Louis Solomon, was unveiled near the Torrens Parade Grounds in the city.

Adelaide City Council will celebrate 175 years of the City Of Adelaide with a free community event in Elder Park from 11am till 3pm on Saturday October 31, 2015.