Jacob's Creek is a small creek located in

Mid North The Mid North is a region of South Australia, north of the Adelaide Plains and south of the Far North and the outback. It is generally accepted to extend from Spencer Gulf east to the Barrier Highway, including the coastal plain, the southern ...

region of 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 ...

Course and features

Jacob's Creek rises in the

Barossa Ranges The Barossa Range (Kaurna: ''Yampoori'') is a mountain range located in the Australian state of South Australia. Location The range is a part of the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and the western slopes primarily fall into the Barossa Valley. As ...

and flows westward through the

wine-producing region This list of wine-producing regions catalogues significant growing regions where vineyards are planted. Wine grapes mostly grow between the 30th and the 50th degree of latitude, in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Grapes will sometimes ...

of the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destina ...

, approximately north 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 creek is only several kilometres long and eventually meets the

North Para River The North Para River is a river located in the Barossa Valley of the Australian state of South Australia. The river's name is based directly on the Kaurna word ''pari'' which means river. The "north" descriptor distinguishes it from the South ...

at . The watercourse is studded with ancient and picturesque River Red Gums. It was first discovered (but not named) by Europeans in December 1837 by an expedition led

Colonel William Light William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839), also known as Colonel Light, was a British- Malayan naval and army officer. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site of ...

and was surveyed in 1839 by his assistant surveyor, William Jacob (1814–1902), as part of a wider survey of the Barossa region. Jacob settled here in the early 1840s, hence the origin of the name. In the local aboriginal dialect it is called "Cowieaurita", meaning "yellow-brown water", in an area known to them as Moorooroo, which became the name of the Hundred. In the early 1840s Jacob's Creek was briefly home to

Johann Menge Johannes Menge (4 January 1788 – 1852), is regarded as South Australia's first geologist, though he had no formal qualifications. An early explorer of the new colony, he was influential in the settlement of the Barossa Valley. He has been call ...

, South Australia's first geologist, who lived for some time on an island and in nearby cave on the creek. Here he grew vegetables, and was particularly struck with the possibilities for viticulture. Menge was influential in facilitating the settlement from the Barossa Valley by German Lutheran immigrants. The creek lent its name to the famous wine brand Jacob's Creek, which is produced by Orlando Wines, located

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

along the Barossa Valley Highway in the small town of Rowland Flat.

Johann Gramp Johann Gramp (28 August 1819 – 9 August 1903) was a Bavarian-born Australian winemaker, local politician and citrus-grower. He is best known for founding Orlando Wines in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia. Biography Early life Jo ...

, the founder of Orlando Wines, first planted grape vines on the banks of Jacob's Creek in 1847. In 1997 Orlando Wines, in conjunction with the Northern Adelaide and Barossa Catchment Water Management Board, commenced a rejuvenation project for Jacob's Creek. All non-native plants and trees, such as

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

, ash, and

olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

were removed, and replanted with blue gums, red gums and other Australian native trees and shrubs. As a result of the project, many native species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s, native fish, and waterbirds have returned, with the creek gradually returning to its former natural state.Jacobs Creek Rejuvenation Project
/ref>

References

{{Rivers of South Australia, state=autocollapse Rivers of South Australia Barossa Valley Mid North (South Australia)

Course and features

See also

References