1683
William Penn first advertised the layout of his 1200 acre town of Philadelphia. Penn designed the city as a rectangular grid joining the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers and surrounded by green space separating the commercial heart from the country districts. The two main streets crossed each other at centre square and divided the city into four quadrants. Additionally, each quadrant contained additional green space in the form of a small park. The city's principal public buildings were planned to border centre square.
Penn and his 'green town' plan became the role model for the founders of South Australia.

1825
Robert Owen, the famed socialist, purchased Harmonie, an Indiana religious community. His model village of New Harmony was to accommodate a population of 2,000 people all situated within a Beautiful Park of 2000 or 3000 acres. This was an expansion of Owen's philosophy of pleasant landscaped areas for the benefit and recreational health of the community, adopted at his New Lanark mill in 1817 - World Heritage Listed in December 2001.
Owen was a friend and supporter of the founders of South Australia.

1823 to 1827
Robert Wilmot Horton, Under Secretary of the British Colonial Office, set up a Select Committee on Emigration to organise Parliamentary grant schemes in support of Irish immigration to Upper Canada.
The Canadian schemes were extensively re-modelled and improved to suit the plan for South Australia by members of The South Australian Association.

1827/28
T.J. Maslen writes his book, Friend of Australia in which he advocates that the entrance to all towns should be through "a belt of park". Maslen also suggested that the streets and footpaths be of three widths and that the surveys be carried out with reference to the topography among many other suggestions.
Maslen was a friend and supporter of South Australia.

1829
The voluntary settlement at Swan River (Perth, Western Australia) fails because of want of labour and a harbour. This settlement had no planned centre of commerce, no restriction on the acquisition of land and no system of free immigration.
The founders of South Australia attempted to correct all of these defects in the Foundation Act of South Australia.

Robert Gouger enlists the support of William Hutt in forming a society for assisting paupers to emigrate to the colonies
The National Colonization Society.
Owen and Maslen were both friends of Robert Gouger.

1831
The power of the Monarch in relation to land, is handed to Parliament through the Privy Council by King William IV. All land deemed to belong to the people and held in trust by the Crown.
Outbreaks of cholera in Manchester and London.
1832 Parliamentary Reform Act passed 7th June leads to renewed attempts to found a colony in southern Australia.

1833
Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire.
Select Committee on Public Walks establishes the first piece of legislation allowing green space for the health of the citizens.
It cannot be necessary to point out how requisite some Public Walks or Open Space in the neighbourhood of large Towns must be;...

1834
New Poor Law Act passed. SA's Constitution is the first to assist paupers under this reform.
Aug 15th Foundation Act of South Australia receives Parliamentary sanction. The control of all the land is delegated by the Crown to a Board of ten Commissioners. The entire proceeds from the sale of land were to be put towards an Emigration Fund -
The Wakefield Land Scheme to Aid Immigration.

1835
Municipal Corporations Act creates modern borough government.
Colonel William Light is appointed first Surveyor General.
Colonel Robert Torrens, Chairman of the Commissioners, Colonization In South Australia, containing all the Land Regulations, is published.
Regulation No. 19
The streets, market place, quays, public promenade and other places of general resort, will be reserved as public property.

1836
February 19th South Australia erected a Province by King William.
August 19th - Colonel Light lands. Discovers the Harbour (Pt. Adelaide) on September 24th, the Holdfast Bay landing place (Glenelg) October 3rd; decides the general location of the Capital City on November 22nd.
November 10th Gouger, the Colonial Secretary and John Brown, the Immigration Officer, arrive at Holdfast Bay with the Africaine pioneers.
Dec 28th - Arrival of the Governor and Resident Commissioner, Fisher - Government inaugurated at The Old Gum Tree historic site Glenelg.
December 29th Light's selection of the site of the capital city and seat of government, (named Adelaide after Queen Adelaide), is finalised.

1837
Jan 3rd to 11th Light lays out the 1,000 acre town according to the course of the river, and the nature of the ground;....

The Survey then commenced with Light, Kingston and Neale only.
Finniss joined the survey on the 6th February.
Survey and staking of the Town Sections completed on the 10th March. As no transport animals were then available, all the surveying equipment had to be carried or pulled in hand carts.
Light's surveying was carried out by triangulations making the best use of the features of the landscape, and NOT by the conventional GRID or running survey method of parallelograms.

February 7th - Colonel Light's reservation of the 'Park Grounds' is written on his Map of 'The Port And Town of Adelaide'. His map also shows the nine Government Reserves. These included the Botanic Garden, the Government Domain, the Cemetery, the Hospital and the Market Place.

15th March, 1837 - The Park Lands, over 2,300 acres in extent and which completely surround North and South Adelaide, are 'dedicated' as a park or public place for the ornament and salubrity of the town, and the comfort and enjoyment of the public generally.

1838
First Government Notice issued 14th May to occupiers to remove from the Park Land under threat of ground rent.
June 30th first complaint about the wholesale destruction of the trees.
August 17th Government Notice - no more brickmaking will be allowed.
Sept 8th Government Notice - any persons destroying trees will be prosecuted for misdemeanor; and all constables and peace officers are hereby directed to use their utmost exertions in preventing such injurious practices, and in bringing parties so offending to justice.
Petition of the Occupiers asking for an extension of the period of location on the Park Lands denied.
Residents of the Emigration Depot on the west Park Lands to quit them within one week.

1839
The oldest wooden buildings on the park lands, those of Colonel Light, Fisher, and the Land & Survey Office, are burnt down. Light's original Plan of the Town is damaged but not destroyed.
The Colonial Surgeon attends at the temporary Hospital on the Park Land to perform Vaccination gratuitously against Small Pox for the Emigrants and the Native inhabitants.
A Collection of Weapons and instruments used by the natives in the neighbourhood collected for the Adelaide Museum.
John Gould, the famous ornithologist, collects information on the native birds for the same institution. Lecture later given in London.
Gouger appointed a Trustee of the Public Cemetery on West Terrace.
October 9th Duties of The Keeper of the Park Lands of Adelaide issued. Six Park Keepers appointed.
October 17th Heads of a Bill for an Act - for Improving the City of Adelaide and the Park or Public Lands thereto adjoining, and for preventing Nuisances therein. It is proposed that the limits of the city and park lands shall be defined by this Act.

1840
Select Committee of The British Parliament on Health of Towns.
Public Stock Market allowed on the East Park Land.
18th August - The Municipal Corporation of Adelaide instituted - the first in Australasia; 4th in the world, after the 1835 Reform bill. The election of the Council was the first example of 'quota representation' in the world, a system suggested by the S.A. Commissioners.
Corporation to take possession of acre reserved for Town Hall by Colonel Light in Victoria Square.
Huts for Natives erected at river location.
Slaughter-house erected on the Park Land near Thebarton.
Lord John Russell's Amended Waste Lands Act secures the 'dedication' of the Adelaide Park Lands. Select Committee on South Australia Report. Section 8 to replace section 6 of the original Foundation Act - power to reserve and set apart includes places to be devoted to the promotion of the public health or amusement.

1840 Derby Arboretum - claimed to be the world's oldest public park - see their website

1843 - 1847
"Birkenhead Park, in the UK, is acknowledged to be the first public park in the world, leading the way for the Victorian parks movement and inspiring numerous imitations both at home and overseas, including New York's Central Park. It is the only urban Park on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens to be listed Grade 1."
"Designed by Joseph Paxton (later Sir Joseph Paxton) in 1843 and officially opened in 1847."
140 acres (125 acres for public use) - one mile from Birkenhead
1877 Birkenhead becomes a Borough.

Saltaire UK listed as a World Heritage Site December 2001.
Justification for Inscription - Criterion (ii) Saltaire is an outstanding and well preserved example of a mid 19th century industrial town, the layout of which was to exert a major influence on the development of the "garden city" movement.
Built by Titus Salt in 1853 - Saltaire, West Yorkshire, is a complete and well-preserved industrial village of the second half of the 19th century. Its textile mills, public buildings and workers housing are built in a harmonious style of high architectural standards and the urban plan survives intact, giving a vivid impression of Victorian philanthropic paternalism.

1837 - Colonel Light and James Hurtle Fisher reserve the Park Lands.
1838 - Board appointed to assess rents upon the park land inhabitants.
1839 - Gouger, Jackson and Hall save the park lands for the people.
1840 - Amended Waste Lands Act secures 'dedication' of public land.
1840 - Adelaide Municipal Corp Bill passed making them the 'conservators' of the City and Park Lands.
1841 - Gouger, Hardy and Gawler praised for their protection of the trees.
1842 - SA's debts written off including promissory note for the park lands.
1842 - Councillor Mildred - citizens rights are being infringed by enclosures on the river bank.
1849 - Ordinance No. 11 reinstates care and management (custodianship), to the City Council.
1854 - Forster's first scheme to plant the park lands and squares.
1855 - Cathedral Acre case confirms that the Park Lands & Squares belong to the people & that the Adelaide Corporation are their 'duty bound' trustees
1869-1887 - Campaign of The Park Lands Defence Association.
1869-1898 - Thomas Worsnop, Town Clerk. Three publications and a public meeting of 500 people in the Town Hall 1878.
1877-1878 - George Strickland Kingston, Speaker of the House, denies the right of the Government to interfere with the Park Lands 'dedicated' by Colonel Light.
1885 - Purchase of the Adelaide Park Lands Report - ...the fee simple does not vest in the Corporation...
1893 - Australian Association for the Advancement of Science 5th Meeting, Adelaide - credit is universally accorded to Colonel Light for his selection of the site and for the design of Adelaide.
1903 - Park Lands Preservation League first formed.
1908 - Thomas Gill's, first biography of Colonel Light in S.A. published.
1916 - Charles Reade, City Planner - Royal Commission on Reserves.
1948 - Revival of The Park Lands Preservation League.
1977 - Dunstan Govt committed to the removal of the Hackney Bus Depot.
1987 - Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association Inc formed.
2003 - The majority of public submissions support an Independent Trust
2004 (July) - The Park Lands, Squares & Light's Plan (with his boundaries), nominated by the public for the new National Heritage List.
Assessment extended twice to March 2007.
2006 (Nov) - Colonel Light's boundaries of the Park Lands confirmed to be accurate within a third of a metre.