Stepney is a small triangular near-city suburb of Adelaide within the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters. Stepney contains a mix of retail, manufacturing, professional services and distribution outlets within a cosmopolitan population strongly influenced by post World War II immigration. For much of its history Stepney has been largely working class with a preponderance of small houses and units on small blocks of land. However, Stepney is now the home of much light industry. Streets such as Nelson Street and Union Street have lost their residents whilst other streets have seen the number of residents diminish as houses have been sold to accommodate a wide range of enterprises. History Early European settlement Stepney was named after an inner-city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. George Muller, who hailed from there, created the "Village of Stepney" out of section 259, Hundred of Adelaide, in 1850. Muller built the Maid and Magpie Hotel. Whilst Adelaide was to be a city of fine buildings and a refined populace, free from the constraints of convict influence, George Muller's Stepney bore a strong resemblance to its less-refined namesake near the City of London, replete with slums. The early settlement of German settlers in Stepney was, however, somewhat unusual. Though not as well known as the Prussians who settled Klemzig, Hahndorf or Tanunda, they were there in sufficient numbers to develop schools for their children. Notable members of that community were Hans Heysen, and Carl Laubman of Laubman and Pank. During 2008, the last three cottages in Nelson Street, described as "built by Haken Linde, a successful member of the German community", were marked for demolition by the Norwood Payneham & St Peters council. Strong calls made for the cottages to be preserved were successful. The 19th century Stepney was, despite its humble beginnings, not without influence and in 1851 the South Australian Ballot Association was set up and at the Maid and Magpie Hotel, and on 11 February 1851 the secret ballot was advocated. This movement was most significant in the development of South Australia's democratic system. Returning miners from the gold rushes of Ballarat and Bendigo were instrumental in building many of Adelaide's fine homes and businesses. Stepney shared in this phenomenon with some substantial residences amid the poorer houses, though bankruptcy was never far from those who acquired wealth quickly. In the early 1860s semi-rural Stepney was the haunt