Stirling

Stirling is a town in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, approximately 15 km from the Adelaide city centre.

Stirling is a town in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, approximately 15 km from the Adelaide city centre. It is administered by the Adelaide Hills Council. Its population is about 2500. Neighbouring townships are Crafers and Aldgate. Other nearby towns are Heathfield and Bridgewater. Of those five, Stirling has by far the largest commercial strip, with the greatest number and widest variety of shops, the only police station, and the only banks.

Stirling East, a similar sized area towards Aldgate, is home to several schools.

Stirling is named after Edward Stirling. He was the illegitimate son of Archibald Stirling, a planter in the British West Indies, and a Creole woman. He was able to travel to South Australia because of a financial gift from his father who had been freshly compensated for his slaves on the emancipation of the British West Indies.Founded in 1888, Stirling grew rapidly as a result of the expansion of apple growing and market gardening to satisfy the demand of the expanding city of Adelaide, whose centre is only 15 kilometres from Stirling. It also developed as a residential address for Englishmen who could afford it, to escape Adelaide's hot summers, often 10 degrees cooler than Adelaide. As a result, many historic, grand mansions can be found in the area. Today, farming has declined as more of the region has been urbanised, with many Stirling residents commuting to Adelaide daily.

Stirling has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb). Owing to its location near Mount Lofty, Stirling is the wettest place in South Australia, receiving an average of 1,107 millimetres (43.6 inches) of rain per year—more than twice the average of Adelaide. Between May and August, the average monthly rainfall is as high as 155 millimetres (over 6 inches), and in June 1916, over 450 millimetres fell. Mean summer temperatures are about 5 °C (9 °F) lower than in Adelaide, which may explain why Stirling was recommended as a desirable residence for English migrants and Adelaide's high society in the 20th century. Winters are distinctly cool particularly compared to Adelaide, with an average minimum of 4 °C (39 °F) and an average maximum of 11 °C (52 °F).The Australian Bureau of Meteorology stopped the collection of weather data at Stirling from the 1980s onward.Weather recording instruments were removed from the grounds of Australia Post's Stirling office following a commercial dispute between these two Australian government organisations.