June 2009

www.lazyballerina.com

Memory Lane
MCLAREN VALE. 1870S. JAMES HOOK -IMAGINES A TIME FORTY YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST MOTORCAR. SIXTY YEARS BEFORE THE TRAIN CAME TO TOWN. VINE EXPORTS ARE FALLING. SOUTH AUSTRALIA IS IN A DEPRESSION. THE REGIONS TWO OLDEST WINEMAKERS HAVE JUST DIED AND THE HIGHEST PROFILE WINEMAKER AND VITICULTURALIST WAS ABOUT TO GO BANKRUPT.
1875. It was the days before easy transport when people rode everywhere on horseback or by trap. Goods came by bullock train from Adelaide, via the horseshoe at Noarlunga, down a road they called Stump Hill. The trees were too large to dig out so, they tried to use explosives. The fuses were bad and they cut the stumps 3 foot above the ground. They were named Hawkers stumps, after the well known aide de camp to Governor Gawler. Hawker was a hard working man and in truth it was not his fault the fuses got wet. When he was doing his work it was 1839 and the colony was ramshackle at best. By 1875 though, at the base of the hills, small villages and farmlets were ringed around the twin towns of Bellevue and Gloucester. Some of the residents remembered the region was surveyed by the 1839 survey party. The survey team led by John McLaren and included Mr Hawker. McLaren was appointed as Senior Surveyor was given the task of surveying the southern districts of Adelaide. He was the only man in his party with a horse and Mr Hawker walked. Thats how the fuses got wet, as he battled to clear a cut track that became the first road from Adelaide to Victor Harbor.

Surveyor McLaren divided up the south of Adelaide into three districts - B, C and D to be released to the settlers in stages. Section C included all the land south of the Onkaparinga River to Willunga Hill and was released from 1840. He called the wide valley that he came to south of the Onkaparinga the McLaren Vale, meaning the McLaren Vale. Did he name the valley after himself? Or was it named after David McLaren, who was appointed as the head of the South Australia Company in the Motherland at the time? McLaren Wharf at Port Adelaide was named after Mr David McLaren. David McLaren was in a way the head of a company that employed John McLaren to do his work.

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By 1875 no one was sure who the valley was named after. It had become forgotten history and it seemed it did not matter who the valley honoured. In the 19 Century McLaren Vale was rarely seen on maps and addresses. Instead there were two towns, Bellevue and Gloucester, sitting three miles apart on the road from Adelaide to Victor Harbor. Each had its own unique character and was thought of as independent. Gloucester, was a triangle of houses between the Salopean Inn and Kangarilla road, established in 1851 and Bellevue, was located where The Barn and Limeburners stand, established in 1854. Gloucester was settled first. In 1841 two of the earliest settlers were Devonshire farmers, William Colton and Charles Hewitt. The farmers bought workmen with them and established neighbouring farms, Daringa and Oxenberry Farm. Daringa was named for the Kaurna name, meaning swampy place. Oxenberry reminded the Hewitts of their homeland. These farms were the nucleus for Gloucester which was proclaimed a town ten years after the first farms. There were other pioneers. William and Elizabeth Oliver traveled to South Australia from Scotland and settled in 1841. They called their lower farm Taranga, from Taranga or Tarangk, a native word, meaning middle place.
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You can imagine this slight couple weaving up a dirt track, with a horse and cart towing a scraped together collection of farming tools. The husband turns to his wife and says, We will farm here, this is good ground. Maybe she rolled her eyes at him. She might have had good reason, life was hard, in those days the McLaren Vale was a wild place with huge gum trees and thick wattle scrub. The trees went for wood, the wattle cut own for bark and oil. As land was cleared and sliced out on survey maps, small hamlets sprang up as short ride from the main towns - Landcross Farm, Tatachilla often written as Tortachilla, Bethany, McLaren Flat, Hillside, Beltunga and Seaview. These housed settlers, farmers, smiths, school teachers, preachers and the odd winemaker.

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Thomas Coulton, the second son of Gloucester pioneer William, set up house with his English bride, in the regions grandest estate. It was exactly half way between Gloucester and Bellevue. He called it Sylvan Park. During the 1860s and 70s he acted as the communities leader, and counselor. Further north Richard Bell had played at housing development. He built pug cottages with thatched roofs. His town he named Bellevue after himself. The feature buildings of his town were the Barn and Limeburners Cottage. He built a hotel in 1857 and named it the Clifton in honour of his wife, Ellen Bell nee Clift. He named a street after her, Ellen Street. Further to the south was Willunga, the districts thriving centre, with its rich slate mining industry. The plains grew wheat, shipped out from Port Willunga. Fortunes were won and lost. In 1875 the fledgling wine industry was lead by names like Manning, Kelly, Reynell, and some young punk Hardy having finished his apprenticeship in the Reynella cellar twenty years before, and mined for gold in Victoria had set up his own dream vineyard on the banks of the River Torrens. Thomas Hardy had gained a reputation as an ace wine marketer, but in all other ways the wine industry was not going well. The state was in a tough recession. Domestic sales were plummeting. Exports were a struggle. Dr A C Kelly was the Colonies gun viticulturalist. His first book, The Vine in Australia (1861) was an esteemed text, so well regarded another new Australian vine expert, the Reverend Bleasdale, owned a copy and kept notes in the margins. Kelly had spend his life studying vines and in his book displayed a deep understanding of making composts, recycling waste and caring for the environment. Despite of his knowledge, and the backing of many prominent Adelaideans like Charles Kingston, Kellys wine venture was not going well. He had his first try at planting vines in 1842 at Morphett Vale, too far from transport and at 12 acres too small to make itself pay. His second venture, planting a vineyard at Tintara and forming a wine company lasted barely twenty years. Kelly was not alone. During the 1860s the McLaren Valleys oldest winery, Hope Farm owned by George Manning had a cellar full of wine he couldnt sell. He kept stockpiling wine. It was only the young punk Thomas Hardy with his gold field money and his knack for marketing in the UK that kept the industry going. First he brought out half George Mannings wine stocks, saving Hope Farm, then after the crash of 1870s brought out the bankrupt Tintara from Kellys creditors. Thomas Hardy then went on to move operations to the Flour Mill in the main street of Bellevue. He called it Tintara Cellars. With success he brought up nearly

everything in Bellevue including the former Clifton Hotel, now the Belle Vue. He used the pub as his head quarters. In many ways he became Mr Bellevue, as he visited from his Adelaide operations every week.

The story of Hardy is well remembered due to his success and the powerful company he established, Thomas Hardy and Sons. Dr Kelly is still noted in the wine history books. He is credited as a pioneer but he did not have the sales skills to survive the downturn in the wine industry.

1895. TWENTY YEARS LATER HISTORY WAS ALREADY BEING FORGOTTEN AS THE FIRST GENERATION OF PIONEERS PASSED AWAY. BUT HISTORY CANT ALWAYS HIDE, SCRATCH BELOW THE SURFACE AND YOU CAN SEE THE OLD NAMES LIVING ON. THEY FIND WAYS OF LIVING ON LIKE ECHOS.

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Thomas Coultons Sylvan Park was accidentally responsible for the first loss of our names. As the population increased Bellevue and Gloucester grew together so that by 1923 McLaren Vale was gazetted by the Lands Office as a town. In the same year Mr CE Pridmore, the then owner of Sylvan Park, applied for a transfer of the portion of section 156 in the township McLaren Vale. All previous transactions for that locality were designated as the township of Gloucester in the McLaren Vale. After that stroke of a pen all transactions afterward referred to McLaren Vale as a town. In some ways the most significant historical site is the row of olive trees that marks the old Sylvan Park driveway. Sylvan Park was right in the middle of the two towns. When houses sprang up around it, the two towns became one. Today, you can barely tell where the old driveway was.

3 CHURCHES
THE CENTRE WHITE CHAPEL IS THE FIRST GLOUCESTER CHURCH FROM 1842. THE RIGHT IS THE SECOND FROM THE LATE 1850S WHILE ON THE FAR LEFT IS THE 1970S VERSION. BELOW RIGHT INGLEBURN FARM IN 1915. BELOW LEFT - 2009 LOVINGLY RESTORED AS THE PENNYS HILL CELLAR DOOR.

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TWIN IMAGES OF MCLAREN VALE.

6 1 BLACK AND WHITE SHOT TAKEN IN 1937. THE COLOUR IN 1974. 1 - HOSPITAL. 2 TRAIN LINE AND TALL TREES. 3 - WINERY. 4 - TINTARA WINERY. 5 - OLIVE LINED DRIVEWAY TO SYLVAN PARK. 6 - THE OLD GLOUCESTER VILLAGE. 7-THE OLD BELLEVUE VILLAGE.

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One little curiousity, until the 1980s, the boundaries of the District Councils of Noarlunga and Willunga were defined as the trainline that crossed the Main Rd, in the middle of the street, putting what turned into McLaren Vale in two different councils. It was as if the two towns still wanted to be apart even though they were joined. Gloucester and Bellevue are the two most obvious pieces of lost history, swallowed up by the town of McLaren Vale (above), but there have been others. Over time many of the old place names have been merged with, discarded by and subsumed into the towns we now call McLaren Vale, McLaren Flat and Willunga. A few of the original settlement names have been merged into common postcodes but survived as map or service addresses. Whites Valley and Willunga South, which are now loosely part of Willunga, are examples that live on as utility addresses. Tatachilla also remains in common usage both as an address, winery brand and school, despite being swallowed by the greater McLaren Vale town. Some names live on as business names, Hillside formerly in the hills near McLaren Flat, lives on as Hillside Haulage the Sullivan families freight business. Taranga, which was the southern section of a farm established by William and Elizabeth Oliver when they settled, lives on in several business and property names. Other names have fallen out of general use but remain as property names, like Beltunga near McLaren Flat, while others have fallen out of use entirely.

STREET CRICKET
IN THE 1960S PHIL CHRISTENSEN, LONGWOOD WINES PLAYED CRICKET IN THE MAIN STREET OUT THE FRONT OF THE BANK. HE MOVED WHEN A CAR CAME. ANYONE GAME ENOUGH TO TRY THAT TODAY?

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TWO WINERIES
AN AERIAL PHOTO OF TINTARA IN 1974. ACROSS THE ROAD IS THE MCLAREN VALE FRUIT PACKERS BUILDING. IN THE FAR DISTANCE THE FOUNDATION WINERY FOR TATACHILLA, NOW THE TATACHILLA CAMP. BEFORE THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930S, TATACHILLA WINERY HAD THE LARGEST VINEYARD IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
The reasons some names survived while others slipped makes an interesting story. The farms that formed the nucleus of the hamlet Gloucester, Daringa and Oxenberry, live on as cellar doors on Kangarilla Rd. Daringa as the home of Dennis Wines, and Oxenberry is being reborn as a fresh wine operation for the Scarpantoni Family. Bellevue, to the north, established on land purchased by Richard Bell where he built his little colony, is commemorated in wine in a more obscure way. Ellen Street, named after his wife, is now re- titled as part of Chalk Hill Road. Ellen Street lives on as a wine made by noted history buff Mark Maxwell. Is cellar door overlooks the former Ellen Street. One of the early settlements has survived as an outcast with a different postcode. Most visitors to McLaren Vale, and even a fair share of locals dont realize Landcross Farm, is uniquely grouped with Maslins Beach in a different postcode 5170. This is unique because the mailman for Landcross Farm does not think of it being part of McLaren Vale. Australia Post do not deliver. You wont often see a letter marked Landcross Farm, 5170, SA.
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Landcross Farm is centered on and named after an old sheep farm. The old farmlet has been rejuvenated by Paxton Wines as their cellar door. The Landcross Farm postcode is a throwback to an age when the farm and the buildings around it formed its own unique community.

Visit the interactive McLaren Vale map here

ABOVE - MCLAREN VALE (GLOUCESTER) AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY LOOKING TOWARDS THE CHURCH AT THE SOUTH OF THE TOWN NOTE THE OLIVE TREES IN THE FOREGROUND. THESE ARE STILL ALIVE TODAY AS THE OLD DRIVEWAY FOR SYLVAN PARK. A MAP OF THE HUNDRED OF WILLUNGA FROM 1890 SHOWS BELLEVUE, GLOUCESTER AND TORTACHILLA. MCLAREN VALE IS NOT MENTIONED. RIGHT - A PHOTO OF THE BELLEVUE HOTEL CIRCA 1910. LOWER - ACCORDING TO THE STATE LIBRARY THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE HOTEL MCLAREN, THEN CALLED THE BELLE VUE HOTEL, IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN JUST AFTER THE ADDITION OF THE VERANDAH, IN 1932.
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ABOVE - THE ORIGINAL TATACHILLA WINERY STILL STANDS AS THE TATACHILLA CAMP. THE THEN FOUNDATION WINERY IS SEEN HERE IN 1920 LOOKING SOUTH ALONG CALIFORNIA RD. IN THIS PHOTO IT LOOKS MUCH AS IT DOES NOW. RIGHT - TEN YEARS EARLIER IN 1910 THE SITE FROM THE SOUTH EAST. THE MAIN HOUSE IS RECOGNIZABLE IN BOTH PHOTOS. THE 1910 PHOTOS PREDATED THE LARGE WINERY BUILDING THAT STILL STANDS AS THE TATACHILLA CAMP.
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THE BARN
BUILT IN THE 1860S THE BARN WAS AQUIRED BY THOMAS HARDY IN THE 1880S AND USED AS A HORSE STAGING POST. LATER IN ITS LIFE IT HAS SEEN DEATHS AND BIRTHS AS A HOSPITAL, FINE FOOD AND MANY BOTTLES OF WINE.
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Four kilometres to the southeast of the twin towns was a Wesleyan church house opened in 1854 and given the name Bethany Chapel. It was so named because it was the same distance from the local Gloucester Post Office as the town of Bethany from Jerusalem in the Holy Land. What we now call McMurtrie Road was known as Bethany Road. The Chapel sat on the corner of Bethany Road and Strout Rd. It was considered a lucky place as on the day it opened the first rains of th the season fell, the 4 of June 1854. Other cottages were established nearby. Joining the Wirra Wirra farm which was across the creek. Further along Strout Rd, Mr Richard Strout also built a Church of England cemetery and chapel. However by 1892 it was a ruin. Over the next century any signs of the original church were washed away however new graves were added. We now know it as the Strout Cemetery. The cemetery is the last resting place of modern wine pioneer Greg Trott. In the 1940s a descendent of the original Richard Strout, also Richard owned all of the land in this area and was considered the largest producer of almonds in the Southern Hemisphere. Today vineyards are planted in most of these orchards.

BIBLE STUDY
ORGINALLY DIFFERENT FAITHS ESTABLISHED DIFFERENT CHURCHES FOR THEIR FOLLOWERS. SEAVIEW, BETHANY CHAPEL AND THE TWO CHURCHES IN MCLAREN VALE WERE ALL FOR DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS.

Later in its history Bethany was home to the first illuminated tennis courts which can still be seen on McMurtrie Road. Greg Trotts Wirra Wirra Church Block wines are named after the Bethany chapel as Wirra Wirra's vineyards sit directly opposite. It is fitting that the names of Trott, Bethany, Strout and Wirra Wirra are all intermingled and live on. North of Bethany is the town of McLaren Flat. McLaren Flat had its own satellite colonies, Hillside which was located west towards Kangarilla

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and Beltunga, near Douglas Gully to the north. Beltunga, was located north of McLaren Flat. Beltungas houses were built at the instigation of Richard Bell, founder of Bellevue. His second town did not develop beyond a few farms. Beltunga is still the name of one property on Blewitt Springs Rd, but Adele Pridmore notes in her 1949 book The Rich Valley, by her time local didnt remember that Beltunga was established as a separate town. Hillside was pioneered by a Waterloo veteran named Wickham his name lives on as Wickhams Hill. JB Wilson settled at the foot of the hill in 1840 and built a private town. His descendent Fred Wilson was both the Chairman of Willunga and Noarlunga Councils at different times. Fred Wilson also was pivotal in Hillside Cricket Club which it was rumoured was named because locals did not want their team called the Flats. Blewitt Springs was further north and consisted of a series of sandy ridges linked by roads that ran in between. It has maintained its independence on maps and as a street address although shares McLaren Flats telephone exchange and the greater 5171 postcode. As the name suggests, Blewitt Springs were the original source of water. One notable family, the Douglass, farmed the area first as managers of the

McLeods Roma property then on their own farm from 1839 until 1849. Douglas Gully gets its name from their efforts. Traveling further north towards the McLaren Vale Onkaparinga River a small township formed on the edge of the gorge near some fords that made crossing the river possible for much of the year. It was known as Seaview, often written in the earliest records as Sea View. The property was first taken up by a Mr Luney. A chapel was built at the end of the driveway, it is now the cellar door for Chapel Hill Wines. Fatefully the chapel was served by the Rev. James Way of Willunga, and

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his son Samuel Way became so attached to the place he later brought it after becoming one of the leading citizens of his day as Chief Justice for South Australia. Sir Samuel Way in turn lent his name to Justin McNamees Samuels Gorge. That winery is now based in the former Sea View blacksmiths workshop and later olive press house. Along the road back down the hill to the McLaren Valley townships, George Manning established Hope Farm in 1851, and planted vines in 1855. It was considered the second vineyard south of Adelaide after John Reynells 1840 plantings at Chateau Reynella. It is the oldest winemaking site south of Reynella and its cellars were established originally from mud bricks. A visit to Hope Farm by Dr AC Kelly, convinced him to plant a vineyard at Tintara, which sourced grape cuttings from the Mannings.

proposed road for the passage of a regular mail run to Encounter Bay which was established by the end of 1839. In 1841, Reynell began the planting of his vineyard with cuttings he had planted the year earlier at a temporary site. His first vineyard was called Stony Hill. By 1854 there was a demand for land for housing in the area and in February of that year, John Reynell drew up a Notice of Sale for a portion of his Reynella Farm for the establishment of the township of Reynella. Reynell subdivided his farm. By 1866 the town had the steam flour mill, hotel, post office, store, school . and chapel However by the end of the Nineteenth Century as many farmers had moved to the Norther agricultural lands, Reynella was said to be "a village of the past, as several ruined houses along the road remain to testify Back in Seaview and into the age of the motorcar, dArenberg, sprang up to become one of the most significant wineries in McLaren Vale. In 1912 Joseph Osborn, a teetotaller and director of Thomas Hardy and Sons, purchased the well established Milton Vineyards of 25 hectares.

George Manning died in 1872 and his sons carried on until 1892. Mr W.H Craven continued on the site until 1934 when Mr W.G Kay brought the property. Ancestors of the Kay Brothers are of course still in the wine business today at the neighbouring property, Amery, in their family since 1892. The Hope Farm vineyard and winery was renamed Seaview in 1951 by its new owners, Mr Edwards and Mr Chaffey. They re-branded the site with the common name for the area and today the names Seaview and Edwards & Chaffey live on as wine brands. The original Hope Farm winery is now called Rosemount. Back in the day both Kelly and Manning got their inspiration from John Reynell. In 1839, John Reynell claimed he was the first settler to enclose an entire 80-acre (32 ha) section. A little later he had to cut the fences to allow for the alignment of a

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I often imagine the original Kay Brothers, Frederick and Herbert calling the Osborns operation, when they opened their winery in 1928, Those newcomers down the hill which is pure speculation on my part. Both of the Kay Brothers were great contributors to the community and the wine industry and would have been an inspiration because they were partners for 57 years. Another notable wine family had a twenty year head start on Joseph Osborn. Pirramimma was founded by Alexander Campbell Johnston in 1892 and has been owned and operated by the Johnston family ever since. The Johnston family arrived in South Australia in 1839 and in 1892 Alexander, the tenth of thirteen children, purchased 97 hectares of farmland and built a winery. He named his land Pirramimma, an Aboriginal phrase meaning "the moon and the stars". Across the road from Johnstons stood a simple white washed, wattle slab winery called the The Wattles, another once famous name now part of the forgotten history of wine. In 1890 Horace Pridmore bought Woodley Estate, in Glen Osmond, and went on to plant more vineyards, built large cellars and increased the storage chambers. Horace then went on to buy land in McLaren Vale and in 1892 built the small Wattles cellar slabs and there made small amounts of wine. In 1894, Cyril Pridmore arrived from England to assist older brother Horace in the running of the cellars. In 1896, after a decade of encouraging growers in planting more vines, Thomas Hardy and the local growers faced a bumper year and called on the Pridmore brothers to assist in the processing of excess grapes. They built a bigger winery and cellar also named "The Wattles" on the grounds of Sylvan Park. It was completed in the same year as the purchase of the Coultons homestead in 1901. Cyrils shoulders sagged at the death of Horace in 1907 and he managed three more Wattles vintages until he sold his winery to Penfolds Wines in 1910. Then the winery was branded as Penfolds Southern Vales. The Sylvan Park homestead was however kept and passed down the family. As mentioned earlier as this all occurred the towns of Bellevue and Gloucester grew to be considered McLaren Vale.

Sylvan Park and the efforts of the Pridmore Brothers are remembered by the current generation, David Pridmores Sylvan Park. The larger, second Wattles winery was owned by Penfolds until the 1960s, and then it became the Southern Vales Co-Op, before morphing into the 1990s Tatachilla operation. The original Mark 1 Wattles lies derelict on Johnston Road across the road from the Pirramimma driveway.

DEMOLITION
IN 2009 BOTH THE 1980S SHOPPING CENTRE, FOREGROUND, AND THE 1901 WATTLES WINERY, BACKGROUND RIGHT ARE SET FOR DEMOLITION. THE MAIN STREET OF MCLAREN VALE CONTINUES TO CHANGE INTO A SHAPE UNRECOGNISABLE TO OUR FOREBEARS.

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Around the town of Willunga were Delabole Village where the slate mines were grouped and Whites Valley which lay on the direct road to Port Willunga to the north of Aldinga. The Whites Valley village was centered on Adey Rd, Aldinga Rd and Little Rd. James White built a flourmill in 1853. The valley was planted to wheat and other cereals. He owned two steam ships that traded along the coast, one of which was called Aldinga.

REMAINS OF THE DAY

TOP THE RUINS OF A FLOUR MILL ON ALDINGA ROAD, WHITES VALLEY. BELOW JAMES WHITES MILL IN WHITES GULLY C. 1890. LEFT HARVESTING WHEAT IN THE 1950S.
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MAIN TOWN
WILLUNGA WAS THE CENTRE FOR BUSINESS IN THE AREA AND MANY PHOTOGRAPHS DATING BACK TO THE 1890S REMAIN (LEFT) LOOKING NORTH AND THIS PICTURE (BELOW) FROM 1923 SHOWING THE ALMA HOTEL AND THE FUTURE SITE OF FINOS RESTAURANT.

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I have been told they were once known as the Front Hills, and are marked as such on some old maps. I have not seen these, but I believe it possible as this name was then corrupted to be called foothills. Foothills are dryly defined as gradual increases in hilly areas at the base of a mountain range. We get the sub-regional name Sellicks Foothills from this, but Front Hills has a ring to it in my opinion and might warrant a comeback. Sellicks Hill and Sellicks Beach were originally named after William Selleck of Reach Farm which covered the area. Postcodes were introduced in Australia in 1967 by the PostmasterGeneral's Department (PMG), the predecessor of Australia Post. At this point many of the smaller regional names were swallowed up. Landcross Farm survived with a fresh postcode but Tatachilla, McLaren Flat, Blewitt Springs, and remnants Hillside, Beltunga and Bethany were all merged into McLaren Vale, 5171. Willunga 5172 took over Willunga South and Whites Valley. Willunga Post Office also had responsibilities for Hope Forest, The Range, Dingabledinga, where Lazy Ballerina the cellar door is located across from the southern tip of Kuitpo Forest, Montarra and Kuitpo. What is in a name? More than can be written here.

THE COCA COLA OF RURAL SOUTH AUSTRALIA

THE MAIN STREET OF WILLUNGA IN THE 1960S. NOTE THE POST OFFICE ON THE RIGHT AND ACROSS THE ROAD THE WILLUNGA HOTEL. THE RURAL COMPANY ELDERS HAS AN OFFICE NEXT TO THE POST OFFICE. State Library of SA.
Aldinga is the English corruption of a Kaurna name for the region. In 1857 Aldinga was separated from Willunga and became a distinctive town and region. Interestingly the reason for this was a dispute over roads. Residents of the Aldinga region favoured an overland route to Yankalilla via Sellicks Hill. Townspeople of Willunga favoured a route through their town and then along Range Road West. The residents of Aldinga split from their cousins in Willunga and lobbied successfully for their road. A hotel was built to service trade along the route and named Normans Victory after Mr. Norman, who lobbied for it. You know it as the Victory at Sellicks Hill. While this was happening James White built a tower that looked out to sea where he received semaphore from his ships, when the prices were good he shipped the flour. Other farms and homes were built nearby. Several historic building remain from this time. Some have been restored while some of the farm houses and mills have fallen into ruin. James White moved to New Zealand. The cereal industry remained and many beers have been drunk at the Victory. Sellicks Hills is part of the Mount Lofty Ranges and these look over Whites Valley.

If you know more to these stories please let us know. Please check out Oliver Taranga's Cellar Door to see their old map of the region. The main sources for this article are the great books McLaren Vale: Sea and Vines by Barbara Santich (1998), The Rich Valley by Adele Pridmore (1949) and South Australia. Whats in a name? by Rodney Cockburn (1909).

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