News Corp Australia
First published 22 Jun 2026, 10:00am
An Evanston family is frustrated that Gawler Council has changed its street number without warning.
A northern suburbs family is being forced to endure the arduous process of changing their address – despite never having moved house.
Gawler Council wrote to Evanston resident Bev earlier this month, advising that her street number would be changed from 52a to 50a, which she believed was to accommodate a subdivision occurring next door.
The change was immediate, Bev said, with the council letter that informed her of the alteration even being addressed to her new street number.
No consultation over the change occurred, said Bev, who is now forced to change the contact details held by hundreds of organisations, including her employer, banks, utility providers, health specialists, those responsible for issuing driver’s licences and passports, subscription services and even the tax office and Australian Electoral Commission.
Who wouldn’t be frustrated at the thought of having to change their address on every legal document …
Two properties are affected by the street number change.
Bev said 52a was the number given to her house when it was built 12 years ago.
“The whole thing just stinks,’’ said Bev, who wished not to share her surname.
“A phone call (consultation prior to the change) would have been nice but there was nothing.
“It was all a done-deal.
When I asked (the council) when the decision was made (to change the street number), they said the decision was made on the same day (that the notification) was sent.’’
Property records show that four new lots on the block next to Bev’s home are all under offer. But given no housing had yet been built on the blocks, Bev said it would make more sense for her to retain her street number, with different numbers allocated to the new allotments.
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“I work full-time and it’s going to take a helluva lot of time to sit and do (change addresses on) everything,’’ said Bev, who must change the contact details for herself, her husband and her son.
“There’s three of us living here and hubby’s had two strokes – he’s OK but … (completing change of address details) would wear him out.’’
According to Australia Post, it costs $192.50 for a year-long mail redirection service.
After media inquiries, Gawler Council said it would foot the bill for the redirection and had also notified utility companies about the street numbering change.
“But it’s not just the time and cost. There’s other implications too,’’ Bev said.
Gawler Council’s chief executive says the street number was changed because it did not comply with Australian address standards – an error that was only identified during the subdivision of the adjoining property.
“A lot of places say (ask, for identity verification purposes), ‘How long have you lived at your current address?’
“What are we supposed to say to that? That we have actually changed address but we’re still living in the same place?
“It’s ridiculous.’’
Gawler Council chief executive officer Chris Cowley said the council was not obliged to consult residents because there had been no change to the numbering system used to determine property addresses.
Rather, the street number was changed because it did not comply with Australian address standards – an error that was only identified during the subdivision of the adjoining property, Mr Cowley said.
“From time to time, addressing needs to be corrected to ensure for logically sequential street numbers to be allocated if it has been deemed that addressing is confusing, could result in misdirected mail or difficulty for emergency services in locating properties,’’ he said.
Mr Cowley said had the council allowed Bev to keep her previous street number, it would have required a renumbering “further down the street’’, affecting 19 other properties.
– Lauren Ahwan
English (US) · 