Tanunda is a town situated in 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 ...

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 ...

, 70 kilometres north-east of the state 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 ...

. The town derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning ''water hole''. The town's population is approximately 4600. The postcode is 5352

Settlement

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

immigrants who arrived with Pastor

Gotthard Fritzsche Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche (20 July 1797 – 26 October 1863)The gravestone has birthdate as 20 June 1797, not July ("''Geboren'' 20. Juni 1797"). was a Prussian-Australian pastor who became instrumental in furthering that religion in South Aust ...

founded the village of Bethanien in 1842, the first settlement in the vicinity of today's Tanunda. One year later, Prussians relocating from Klemzig on the

Torrens River The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

, where they had settled upon immigrating in 1838 with Pastor August Kavel, came to the Barossa Valley and founded the village of Langmeil. Their new community bore the name of a Prussian town near Zullichau, from where the settlers had originated; it is now a Polish village known as Okunin. Sometime later, another village was founded and named Tanunda. Due to anti-German sentiments, both Langmeil and Bethanien were renamed during the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to Bilyara and Bethany respectively, although Bilyara reverted to Langmeil in 1975. As development of the Tanunda area continued, the villages of Langmeil and Tanunda were joined. Today the township is simply called Tanunda.

Industry

Tanunda and the

comprise one of Australia's premier wine-growing areas, and the town is surrounded by

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

. One such vineyard,

Turkey Flat Turkey Flat is an Australian winery located in Tanunda, in the middle of South Australia's Barossa Valley wine-growing region. It is described by wine expert Oz Clarke as one of the "cult wines" of Australia.Clarke, Oz. ''Oz Clarke's Austral ...

, is home to

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...

vines that were planted in 1847 and are believed to be the world's oldest continually producing commercial vineyard that has been authenticated.G. Harding ''"A Wine Miscellany"'' p. 20, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005

Culture

The German heritage of Tanunda is still present today. The town has a male choir the

Tanunda Liedertafel The Tanunda Liedertafel is a 45-member male choir in Tanunda, South Australia. Drawing its four-part (TTBB) singing material from traditional popular German culture. The group's origins date back to 1850, based on an entry in ''The South Australia ...

, the history of which is thought to date back to 1850. There is also a

Kegel (bowling) Nine-pin bowling (also known as ninepin bowling, nine-pin, kegel, or kegeln) is a bowling game played primarily in Europe. European championships are held each year. In Europe overall, there are some 130,000 players. Nine-pin bowling lanes are mo ...

club. The Tanunda Town Band celebrated 150 years as a band in 2007 and is the oldest brass band in the Southern Hemisphere. Tanunda served as the launching point for the Nazi party’s effort to expand in Australia.in the 1930s.

Media

Historically, Tanunda (and Adelaide) was the home to a number of the earliest

n newspapers that were printed primarily in German. German newspapers were set up by early settlers, but many were forced to close or merge due to labour shortages caused by the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capit ...

of the 1850s-1860s. * ''Deutsche Zeitung für Süd-Australien'' (1851) * '' Süd Australische Zeitung'' (1860–1874) - Tanunda/Adelaide * ''Australisches Unterhaltungsblatt'' (1862-1916) - a supplement to the ''Süd Australische Zeitung'' and ''Australische Zeitung'' * ''Tanunda Deutsche Zeitung'' (1863-1869) - later renamed ''Australische Deutsche Zeitung'' * ''Australische Deutsche Zeitung'' (1870-1874) - Tanunda/Adelaide: a Melbourne edition of the newspaper was also printed 1870–1872. * '' Australische Zeitung'' (1875–1916) - Tanunda/Adelaide: formed by the merger of ''Süd Australische Zeitung'', and ''Australische Deutsche Zeitung''; closed due to WWI * ''Australische Zeitung'' (1927-1929) - attempted revival Two weekly English-language newspapers served the area: *'' The Leader'', has been operating in the area since 1918. * The '' Barossa and Light Herald'' from 1951, though its antecedents date from 1860.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Barossa Valley

Settlement

Industry

Culture

Media

See also

References