Work will soon commence at UnitingSA’s newest housing development at Noarlunga Downs with the site set to be transformed into a vibrant new community with a focus on affordable and social housing.
The 48-home Eleanora housing development will include 23 social and affordable homes and 23 townhouses that will be built on site and sold to market.
“This development will provide much-needed housing in Adelaide’s southern suburbs,” says Stephen Dawes, Acting CEO, UnitingSA.
To mark the beginning of construction, UnitingSA staff and project partners gathered at the site for a sod turn on September 23 2026.
L – R: Stephen Dawes, Acting CEO, UnitingSA; Ben Moore, Chief Development, Property & Housing Officer, UnitingSA; Nat Cook MP; Amanda Rishworth MP; Gael Fraser, Board Chair, UnitingSA.
Senior Kaurna man, Robert Taylor, led a Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country.
Other guests included Amanda Rishworth MP and Nat Cook MP, alongside representatives from the City of Onkaparinga, SA Housing Trust, Kennett Builders, City Collective and other project supporters.
The location has a significant history. It is on the traditional land of the Kaurna people and adjacent the Ngangkiparri / Onkaparinga River
Senior Kaurna man, Robert Taylor, led a Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country.
From 1867, the site was a farm established by Alfred Perry. The location is named after his wife, Eleanora Gordon Clark.
In 1958, the land was sold to Westbourne Methodist Church and operated as a campsite for around 20 years.
In 1980, Rev Jack and Peggy Goodluck, with the support of the Uniting Church, opened ‘Eleanora’ as a community centre. Over the years, the centre expanded to become a 26-bed homelessness shelter. It provided crisis accommodation to adults in the Noarlunga area until it closed in 2017.
L – R: Stephen Dawes, Acting CEO, UnitingSA; Gael Fraser, Board Chair, UnitingSA; Don Hopgood, former Chair of the Eleanora Centre; Ben Moore, Chief Development, Property & Housing Officer, UnitingSA; Tony Goodluck and Andrea Merrigan, children of Rev Jack and Peggy Goodluck, Eleanora Centre.
“This development has been cleverly designed. It will honour the site’s past, utilising buildings of historical significance, while also delivering contemporary homes for people to rent and buy,” says Stephen Dawes.
“The site holds meaningful history, having previously been used as a homeless shelter providing support to vulnerable people. It’s fitting that its next chapter will continue that legacy of support by creating much needed social and affordable housing.”
Artist’s impression of the Eleanora Development.
The project is supported through a $3.5 million investment through the Albanese Labor Government’s Social Housing Accelerator Program, facilitated by the Malinauskas Labor Government through the SA Housing Trust.
UnitingSA has engaged Kennett Builders to work on the development. Land division, civil and infrastructure works will commence at the site later this year.
With the additional development at Noarlunga, Uniting SA will now provide homes to over 1,000 South Australians.