Holder is a locality in the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria downstream to Blanchetown. The major town centres are Renmark, Berri, Loxt ...

region 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 ...

. It lies on the inside of a bend in the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

east (upstream) of

Waikerie Waikerie ( ) is a rural town in the Riverland region of South Australia on the south bank of the Murray River. At the , Waikerie had a population of 2,684. The Sturt Highway passes to the south of the town at the top of the cliffs. There is a c ...

. Holder is bounded on the south side by the Sturt Highway and includes the Waikerie Airport and Maize Island Lagoon Conservation Park. The locality includes low-lying wetlands near river level and rising and higher ground up to the level at the top of the Murray cliffs where the airport and highway are. The sloping and higher ground is used for vineyards and fruit orchards, irrigated from the river. The school opened in 1925 and closed in 1991. Holder Settlement was established in 1894 and continued as a Village Settlement when that legislation was introduced. The Holder Settlement started out with one or two stone buildings, remnants of the earlier Waikerai Station. One of these immediately became the school house, public hall and church of the settlement The settlers travelled by train to Morgan then by the paddlesteamer ''Ellen'' to the site of their new home. Once they had cleared land to plant a crop and build the village, it was named Holder after Sir

Frederick Holder Sir Frederick William Holder (12 May 185023 July 1909) was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia from June to October 1892 and again from 1899 to 1901. He was a prominent member of the inaugural Parliament of Australia fo ...

, proclaimed on 26 July 1894. The town had 19 stone cottages, five of wood and iron, a post office, store, bakery, school and blacksmith. After initially flourishing, the settlement was officially abandoned on 27 August 1903, with the assets auctioned and the land leased to F. C. Howard from the Waikerie settlement.

References

Towns in South Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub