The council was proclaimed on 16 June 1853 with Thomas Abbot, Daniel Brady, John Chamberlain, John Harvey and John Ragless, the younger, appointed as inaugural councillors. At the time its establishment, Yatala council area covered approximately on what is now the inner suburbs north-west, north and north-east of Adelaide. It extended from Salisbury in the north, to the River Torrens in the south east, and to Torrens Road and the borders of the former City of Port Adelaide in the west. The council area covered a major central portion of the cadastral Hundred of Yatala. North Adelaide's parklands and the Torrens formed the southern boundary of the council area. The council area included the villages of Enfield, Prospect, Klemzig and Walkerville. Surveying of Yatala was started in 1837 and continued until completed in late 1850s. The survey showed the area had limited fresh water. The first Clerk, Collector, and Surveyor to the District Road Board of the Hundred of Yatala, was appointed in 1850. This was architect Edward Prowse, who later came to prominence in Geelong, Victoria. Prowse resigned in 1852. In 1854 Yatala Labour Prison was established near Dry Creek, which passed from east to west through the centre of Yatala. The location of the prison meant inmates were able to work at the creek quarrying rock for roads and construction. In the first six years after the establishment of Yatala council, two pockets of land were removed from the council area to be local government areas in their own right. A part at the northern end was taken for the new District Council of Munno Para West The new Village of Walkerville split from Yatala on 5 July 1855. In November 1855 and April 1859 further portions of Yatala District Council were moved to the Village of Walkerville council. Bailliere's South Australian gazetteer and road guide, published in 1866, contains a brief description of the Yatala council area. It recorded the population of the district as being 3091, the number of houses as 642, the cultivated land as being, and the council chair as J.W. Sudholtz of Gilles Plains. In 1868 the District Council of Yatala was divided at Dry Creek into the District Council of Yatala South and the District Council of Yatala North. Yatala North ultimately was absorbed into the new District Council of Salisbury in 1933. Yatala South ultimately became the District Council of Enfield in 1933, after the much earlier severance of land for the Village of Prospect in 1872
The following adjacent local government bodies co-existed with the Yatala council:
District Council of Munno Para West lay immediately north from its establishment shortly after Yatala council in 1853, and lay north west from its extension westwards in 1888.
District Council of East Torrens lay south east, across the River Torrens until the northern part seceded to form the District Council of Payneham in 1854. The District Council of Stepney seceded from the west part of Payneham in 1867, creating another south eastern neighbouring council to Yatala just a year before Yatala itself was split into smaller councils.
