The council was proclaimed on 31 July 1872, following a 200-strong public meeting in May and subsequent petition to the government.
[1] In 1883, the new council conducted a beautification scheme in what was to become Victoria Square, replacing the "veritable eyesore" that had existed beforehand.
The council acquired the Kadina Institute in 1889 after the institute committee had struggled to make repayments on a loan for the 1883 addition of a hall; the building then became the Kadina Town Hall.
[3] On 23 June 1908, the council became the first municipality in South Australia to be powered by its own electric lighting plant.
[4] On 3 May 1917, it annexed the adjacent area of Kadina South, a residential area south of the railway land that had until then been controlled by the District Council of Kadina and thus lacked town council municipal services.