Stepney was named after an inner-city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets by George Muller (its founder) who hailed from there and in 1850 created the 'Village of Stepney' out of section 259, Hundred of Adelaide.
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 the 11 February 1851, the secret ballot was advocated.