Place Names Register Extract
Adamson Avenue
If you know of any information about this place name which does not appear in this extract, please let the Place Names Committee know by completing a submission form.
View in NT Atlas | Print Extract | Search Again| Name | Adamson |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Avenue |
| Place Id | 5017 |
| Place Type | Road |
| Status | Registered |
| Date Registered | 3 February 1971 |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| Gillen | |
| Local Government Area | |
| Alice Springs Town Council | |
| History/Origin | Adamson Avenue was named in 1971 after Dudly Adamson (1895-1962), who was Alice Springs' first postmaster and the inaugural president of the local Returned and Services League (RSL). Adamson was born on 14 October 1895 in Tanunda, South Australia. He began his career with the South Australian Postmaster General's Department in 1909 as a telegraph messenger and later worked as a telegraphist at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station (Territory Stories, 2022). In 1914, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served during World War I as a sapper in the 1st Australian Signal Squadron (Australian War Memorial, nd). After the war, Adamson returned to Alice Springs and continued working in telecommunications. When the post office was relocated to the township in 1932, he was appointed its first official postmaster (Alice Springs News, 2005). His civic involvement extended to veterans' affairs; he became the founding president of the Alice Springs RSL and took part in the dedication of the ANZAC Hill War Memorial, laying the first wreath there on ANZAC Day 1934 (Ausemade, nd). Adamson married Mabel Wilkinson on 14 July 1923. Mabel arrived in Alice Springs, then known as Stuart, after an arduous 11 day journey from Oodnadatta by horse and buggy. In her journal Alice Springs in the 1920s, she described a small, remote settlement with only a handful of buildings. Daily life was tough - without electricity, refrigeration, or modern appliances. The couple relied on a Coolgardie meat safe to keep food from spoiling in the desert heat (Wilkinson, nd). The Adamsons raised eight children in Alice Springs before Dudley was transferred to Port Adelaide in 1946. He later worked in Glenelg before retiring. He died on 29 June 1962 in South Australia, aged 66. His wife, Mabel, lived until 1998 and died at the age of 93. Sources: Australian War Memorial. (n.d.). Dudley Playford Adamson ? Service record. Retrieved 8 July 2025 from https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11053386 Ausemade. (n.d.). ANZAC Hill War Memorial ? Alice Springs. Retrieved 8 July 2025 from https://ausemade.com.au/destinations/northern-territory-nt-australia/alice-springs/alice-springs-attractions/untyeyetwelye-anzac-hill/anzac-hill-war-memorial/ Territory Stories. (2022). Dudley Adamson biography archive. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 8 July 2025 from https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/226368/0 Wilkinson, M. (n.d.). Alice Springs in the 1920s [PDF]. Retrieved 8 July 2025 from https://irp.cdn-website.com/1383e79e/files/uploaded/Mabel-Adamson-Alice-Springs-in-the-1920s.compressed-e3b0fef0.pdf |
Register & Gazettal information
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 03/02/1971 | NTG5 |