Hindmarsh Square/Mukata (formerly Mogata) is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. It is located in the centre of the north-eastern quarter of the city, and surrounds the intersection of Grenfell and Pulteney Streets, near the eastern end of the Rundle Mall. Pirie Street forms the southern boundary of the square.
It is one of six squares designed by the founder of Adelaide, Colonel William Light, who was Surveyor-General at the time, in his 1837 plan of the City of Adelaide which spanned the River Torrens Valley, comprising the city centre (South Adelaide) and North Adelaide. It was named after John Hindmarsh, the first Governor of South Australia, in the same year by the Street Naming Committee. In 2003, as part of the Adelaide City Council's dual naming initiative, it was assigned a second name, Mogata (later corrected to Mukata), in the Kaurna language of the original inhabitants.
Hindmarsh Square was included by Colonel Light on his 1836 survey "Plan of Adelaide".[1] It was first named by the street naming committee on 23 May 1837 after Governor Hindmarsh.[2][3]The east side of the square was for many years dominated by the Congregational Church,[4] which later became the orchestral studio for ABC Radio and the South Australian Symphony Orchestra at No. 44, with other studios in adjacent buildings (48–56) and a rehearsal studio and recording facilities across the Square in the ground floor and basement of Football House (No. 55).[5]
The building then named CitiCentre, on the north-western side of the square, was the scene of the high-profile murder of psychiatrist Margaret Tobin in 2002.[6]
In March 2003, as part of the City of Adelaide's dual naming project in association with the University of Adelaide's project, the square was assigned the name "Mogata", from the Kaurna word Mukarta, meaning "head".[7] The spelling was later changed to Mukata. This was the name of one of the four wives of Mullawirraburka, a Kaurna elder and warrior, also known as "King John". Mukata was also known as "Pretty Mary".[8]
In 2018, two charging stations for electric vehicles were created in Hindmarsh Square, as part of a citywide plan which created a total of 46 EV stations across the city centre.[9]