Part Plan of Township of Kooringa 1849 showing Paxton Square and 14 cottages

 Paxton Square Site

Paxton Square occupies one complete block of the old mining township of Kooringa.  Its area is approximately one hectare.

 The first of the present three rows of cottages was completed by the builder William Henderson in 1849 facing the Burra Creek.  They were built for William Paxton, a Director of the Mining Association, for the leasing to miners.

The architect of the two, three and four roomed miners’ cottages was George Strickland Kingston, a Director of the Mining Association.  Who surveyed and laid out the company township of Kooringa in 1846.  His name is commemorated in Kingston Terrace.

His plan included walkways leading into a common reserve named Paxton Square, an assembly place for many miners’ meeting.

After 1914, Paxton Square with its cheap rents (one shilling per room per week) for poor families was named, Humanity Square.

Missing now are the 33 ‘necessaries’ more commonly referred to as ‘Dunnican Row’, and the back yards, once enclosed by paling fences.