Leasingham is the name of a hamlet on the southern edge of the

Clare Valley The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...

, in the Mid North 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 is approximately 117 kilometres from the state's capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and 17 kilometres south of the town of Clare. Although the surrounding country is elevated, the township is located in lower country at the intersection of

Main North Road Main North Road is the major north-south arterial route through the suburbs north of the Adelaide City Centre in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It continues north through the settled areas of South Australia and is a total of long, fro ...

and the connecting roads to Mintaro (to the East) and Hoyleton (to the West). Leasingham is bisected by the Eyre Creek as it makes its way to the

Wakefield River The Wakefield River is an ephemeral river that flows to an estuary in the Australian state of South Australia. Course and features The river rises above , flowing southward, passing the towns of Watervale and Auburn, where it is fed by seve ...

. The ''

Riesling Trail The Riesling Trail is a long walking and cycling track located in the Clare Valley, South Australia. Established for recreational purposes, it runs between Auburn and Clare, passing through several towns and villages along the way, including ...

'' is on the western fringe of the township, following the former railway route between Auburn and Clare.

History

The Leasingham district was the ancestral home of the

Ngadjuri The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north. Name Their ethno ...

people. The first European explorer, John Hill, passed through the district in April 1839. Surveys soon followed, the township being named after the village and civil parish of Leasingham in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the site was once owned by E. Campbell, who held approximately 120 hectares (60 acres) of freehold land, which he sold in 1853. By 1866 Leasingham had about 130 residents and, although ribbon development occurred around the Main North Road crossroad, it never prospered into a town.

Governance

Leasingham is in the

District Council of Clare and Gilbert Valleys The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council is a local government area located in the Yorke and Mid North region of South Australia. The council was founded on 1 July 1997 with the amalgamation of the District Council of Clare, the District Council of ...

, the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

electoral district of Frome, and the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

Division of Grey.

Land use

Leasingham is an agricultural district in which dry grain farming predominates. Additionally, being centrally located in quite a picturesque district, it caters for tourism and has a restaurant, caravan park, bed and breakfast accommodation and a number of tasting/cellar door sales operations of local wineries.

References

Towns in South Australia Mid North (South Australia) {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub