Robert Torrens the Transfer of Land by Registration" (1882). The River Torrens which runs through Adelaide, Torrens Bridge railway station, Torrens Linear Park, Torrens Parade Ground, Mount Torrens, Lake Torrens (and Lake Torrens National Park), and Torrens Island, were named after his father, Colonel Robert Torrens, chairman of the South Australian colonial commissioners. Places named after Sir Robert include the Canberra suburb of Torrens, Australian Capital Territory gazetted in 1966, the Electoral district of Torrens, the Adelaide suburbs of Torrensville, Torrens Park (and Torrens Park railway station) and Torrens Building on Victoria Square, Adelaide (and Torrens University Australia). He is honoured outside
River Torrens after him. In 1867, prison labour from Adelaide Gaol was used to build a wooden dam near the site of the current weir. The dam was poorly constructed and almost immediately the Torrens washed it away. Construction of a permanent concrete weir was begun in November 1880 and completed, at a cost of £7,000, in 1881. The sluice gates were closed to begin filling the Torrens Lake on 1 July 1881. At the lake's official opening on 21 July 1881 an estimated 40,000, almost the entire population of Adelaide, attended. During the 1889 flood, the weir was overwhelmed, its gates