Bridgewater is a town in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

located in the Adelaide Hills to the south-east of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ade ...

. It is the former end of the Adelaide-Bridgewater railway line; this route was closed in 1987. The railway was converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

in 1995 and continues to be the main line from Adelaide to Melbourne, but no trains stop at the now demolished

Bridgewater railway station Bridgewater railway station was located on the Bridgewater line, serving the Adelaide Hills suburb of Bridgewater. It was located 37.6 km from Adelaide station. History Bridgewater station opened in the 1880s and was the terminus of the no ...

. A portion of the Heysen walking trail runs through the town, as well as the Pioneer women's walking trail.

History

The origin of the name "Bridgewater" for the town is unclear. Early European settlement in the area resulted in a village, Cox's creek, at a point where bullock teams crossed Cox Creek (named after the explorer

Robert Cock Robert Cock (25 May 1801 – 23 March 1871) was one of the first European explorers of the Adelaide region of South Australia following the establishment of the colony in December 1836. History Robert was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland in 1801, ...

, who led an expedition through this area in December 1837). An early use of the name "Bridgewater" was in James Addison's (c. 1819 – 26 April 1870) "Bridgewater Hotel", and the town was renamed Bridgewater when the adjacent flour mill was built by John Dunn and the nearby land subdivided in 1857. Another potential origin of the name is from the first postmaster, William Radford, who claimed responsibility due to a successful petition in 1873 to change the post office's name from Cox's creek to Bridgewater.

Street names

The streets of one part of Bridgewater appear to have been named for

Orient Steam Navigation Company The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% shareholde ...

("Orient Line") steam ships: (1899–1918), (1891–1922), SS ''Orontes'' (1902–1926), SS ''Orotava'' (1889–1921) (though Oratava Street), (1909–1936), SS ''Orvieto'' (1909–1931), SS ''Osterley'' (1909–1929), SS ''Otranto'' (1909–1918), and (1909–1917).

References

Towns in South Australia 1857 establishments in Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub