Inman Valley, South Australia
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Inman Valley is a locality 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 on the
Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula () is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western side of the peninsula was occupied by the ...
about south of the state capital of
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 ...
. The valley is about in area. At the 2016 census, Inman Valley had a population of 343.


Origin of the name

Inman Valley, and
Inman River The Inman River is a small river draining the eastern side of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. Course and features The Inman River rises on the eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty Range and its headwaters drain ...
, was named through association with Inspector Henry Inman, founder and first commander of the South Australia Police, who pursued two allegedly escaped convicts there in August 1838. No Indigenous name is recorded for the valley itself, but two names are recorded for the river: Moo-oola and Moogoora. The mouth was called Mugurank, meaning 'place of hammerstones'.


History

The first recorded Europeans to sight the valley were likely the party that accompanied explorer
Collet Barker Collet Barker (31 December 1784 – 30 April 1831) was a British military officer and explorer. He explored areas of South Australia, Western Australia and Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory. History Barker was born in Hackney, England, ...
(but not Barker himself) in 1831. In its pristine state the valley abounded in
kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...
s, which were hunted for food by early sealers and whalers at
Encounter Bay Encounter Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the state's south central coast about south of the state capital of Adelaide. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his encounter on 8 April 1802 with Nicolas Baudi ...
. Inman Valley was surveyed in late 1839 by a party under Senior Surveyor N. Lipscomb Kentish, formerly of
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, assisted by Surveyor Henry Ide, formerly a corporal in the Royal Sappers & Miners (see
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
). They pegged out the sections and also a line of road suitable for drays leading from
Rapid Bay Rapid Bay is a locality that includes a small seaside town and bay on the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. It lies within the District Council of Yankalilla and its township is approximately 100 km south of the stat ...
to
Encounter Bay Encounter Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the state's south central coast about south of the state capital of Adelaide. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his encounter on 8 April 1802 with Nicolas Baudi ...
, which is now Inman Valley Road. Immediately following the completion of surveys the land was opened for selection and in early 1840 the first European settlers to establish a homestead at Inman Valley were the three young James brothers: William Rhodes James, John Vidal James and Richard Boucher James. They carved a shortcut—James Track—to their land. In 1858, together with partners, Richard Boucher James purchased the 60,000-acre Canowie Station, where he lived until 1863, when he returned to England. In Devon he purchased the
Georgian-style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...
mansion Hallsannery House in the parish of
Littleham Littleham is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of north Devon in south west England, about south of Bideford. The parish had a population of 446 at the 2011 census. The parish is bounded by the River Torridge in the north-ea ...
, from where he continued his interest and management of the Canowie Pastoral Company until his death in 1908. The other contenders at being first residents of Inman Valley, around the same time, are the brothers
Thomas Bewes Strangways Thomas Bewes Strangways (23 July 1809 – 23 February 1859), generally called "Bewes Strangways" and "T. Bewes Strangways", was an explorer, early settler and Colonial Secretary of South Australia. Strangways was the second son of late Henry Bul ...
and Giles Edward Strangways, but their land was near the mouth of the valley at Encounter Bay. Other pioneering settlers promptly joined them, including William Robinson, the latter being the first to drive a horse and cart over Mount Terrible. Other settlers soon followed, such as John Lush. Although various crops flourished, and sheep were successful, from the very earliest years cattle were known to thrive at Inman Valley and so they predominated. By the 1880s this led to an extensive dairying industry, including butter and cheese production, with a butter factory being established in 1890. Present-day land use is predominantly grazing, dairy farming, forestry and horticulture. The valley area also attracts bushwalkers and tourists.


Selwyn Rock

In the valley is Selwyn Rock () a
glaciated A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
pavement in the bed of the Inman River. It was first described in 1859 by, and later named for, A.R.C. Selwyn,Alley, N.F.. (1995): Late Palaeozoic. In: Drexel, J.F. & Preiss, W.V. (Eds.) The geology of South Australia. Vol.2, The Phanerozoic. p. 63. ''South Australia Geological Survey, Bulletin'' 54. who was
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
at the time. Glacial grooves and striations on the polished surface indicate glacial movement to the north-west.
Boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...
s,
till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
ites and erratics are also common in the area, which underwent glaciation during the
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
(approximately 270 Ma). The pavement was exposed during the
Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
when the Inman River eroded the
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
to its present-day surface. A cafe overlooks the glaciated bed of the river, with access onto the rock available via stairs and viewing platforms.


Gallery

File:Selwyn Rock 1.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 1, Interpretive sign at Selwyn Rock marking Selwyn's discovery of glaciation in Australia File:Selwyn Rock 3.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 3, Selwyn Rock – grooves and striations on exhumed
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
glacial pavement File:Selwyn Rock 4.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 4, Selwyn Rock – grooves and striations on exhumed Permian glacial pavement File:Selwyn Rock 5.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 5, Selwyn Rock – granite
glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundre ...
eroding out of unconsolidated Permian
till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
File:Selwyn Rock 6.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 6, Selwyn Rock – Weathering rind of large granite glacial erratic eroding out of unconsolidated Permian till File:Selwyn Rock 7.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 7, Selwyn Rock – faceted pebble eroding out of unconsolidated Permian till


References


External links


Postcards (Channel 9 TV feature)
{{authority control Towns in South Australia