Special Council Meeting - City of Burnside
Special Council Meeting - City of Burnside
Special Council Meeting - City of Burnside
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Landmarks <strong>of</strong> <strong>Burnside</strong><br />
Glen Osmond Toll House | Glen Osmond Road<br />
Constructed in 1841 as a toll keeper’s quarters, the<br />
Glen Osmond toll house is one <strong>of</strong> the state’s oldest<br />
buildings. It was built to enable a cash strapped<br />
government to collect fees to help finance the<br />
construction <strong>of</strong> the Great Eastern Road, the main<br />
route to the eastern colonies. This was, and still is,<br />
the only toll road to have ever been built in South<br />
Australia.<br />
The amount <strong>of</strong> the toll depended on the type<br />
<strong>of</strong> vehicle or animal travelling on the road, with<br />
common charges being one shilling for a one horse<br />
coach, sixpence for every ridden horse and three<br />
shillings for a carriage drawn by six or more horses.<br />
Exemptions included the Governor’s horses and<br />
“persons traveling to divine service on Sunday.”<br />
Not surprisingly, the tolls were unpopular and<br />
inefficient, as travellers became adept at bypassing<br />
this section <strong>of</strong> road.<br />
In 1847 politician Sir Samuel Davenport<br />
successfully moved for the abolishment <strong>of</strong> the<br />
toll and the building became obsolete.The small<br />
hexagonal stone building still stands in its original<br />
position, now in the middle <strong>of</strong> a multi-lane highway.<br />
The single toll gate used to block the road was<br />
recovered and restored in the early 1950’s, and now<br />
stands on a grassed area near the toll house.<br />
Great Eastern Road c1903<br />
39<br />
The Toll House c1950’s
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