The first District Council of Payneham in South Australia was formed in 1854 when the year-old District Council of East Torrens was split, for more effective governance, into three separate local governing bodies, including the original East Torrens council and the District Council of Burnside. In 1867 the new District Council of Stepney was detached from Payneham council to better represent the more urban interests of the western wards. In the following year, on 27 February 1868, Payneham was renamed the District Council of Campbelltown. The name "Campbelltown" had been decided upon at a meeting held at the Glynde Inn on 9 December 1867 and was named after Charles James Fox Campbell. The Stepney council was later renamed in the 1930s to the District Council of Payneham, making it the second council of that name. On 1 January 1946, the Campbelltown District Council became a town with its own municipal office and, on 6 May 1960, it was proclaimed a city.
Lochend
Campbell purchased Sections 309 and 310 on a fertile plain near the River Torrens in 1842 and built a home he called "Lochend" after the ancestral home of his family in Scotland. Lochend was built of local river stone and included a stucco porch, hall and living room with a finely moulded ceiling. Campbell later substantially expanded Lochend by the addition of three bedrooms and a cellar. Lochend included of garden and in the estate, primarily used as pastoral land. In 1849 he subdivided into 40 gardening blocks under the name "Campbelltown". In 1852, Campbell leased the house to James Scott. By this time, the house had six rooms. Campbell sold Lochend to Scott in 1858 for 2,600 pounds, and Scott lived there until 1875. The Scott family enlarged the house to eleven rooms, a stable, coach house and cottage, all surrounded by vegetable and fruit gardens and 58 acres of crop growing land. The next owner, retired sheep farmer David Mundy, built the two-storey house Lochiel Park, on a rise just to the south of Lochend. From 1898 to 1957, Lochend and Lochiel Park were owned or lived in by members of the Hobbs family. The Hobbs sold both houses to the SA Government in 1947, and Lochiel Park became a junior boys' reformatory. In the early 1980s, ownership of Lochend was transferred to Campbelltown Council. Empty, partly demolished and isolated, Lochend had deteriorated, was in a dangerous condition, and was in almost irretrievable condition. In 1998 Campbelltown Council began efforts to save the building; it was faithfully restored to near original condition with the guidance of the Campbelltown Historical Society, and was officially reopened on 29 February 2004.
Lochiel Park development
In 2004 the South Australian Government announced the development of an ecovillage named Lochiel Park on the site the Lochiel Park junior boys' reformatory. The development was planned to cover an area bounded by the River Torrens, Lochend House, grounds and entry road, Hobbs House, the O-Bahn, and a wet-land. Announcing the Development Premier Mike Rann said: "I want South Australia to become a world leader in a new green approach to the way we all live. The Lochiel Park Development will become the national model 'Green Village' incorporating ecological sustainable development technologies". Work on the development began in 2006, and by 2010 there were 60 residents at the site. It has been touted as "an exemplary 'green' urban development incorporating 'best practice sustainable technologies' to assist in educating the public and industry about sustainable housing and land development". However, "opinion remains divided about the worth of a so-called 'green village' at the site".
