Auburn is a small town in 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
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 ...
of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, 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 o ...
.
It lies in the northern
Mount Lofty Ranges just east of the
Skilly Hills
The Skilly Hills are a range of hills which make up part of the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia's Mid North region.
They comprise several long parallel ridges of low hills which run generally north south, parallel to the Horrocks Highwa ...
. Auburn is bisected by 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 ...
as it makes its way to the sea at
Port Wakefield.
It has strong poetical themes, being named from a poem and the birthplace of a famed poet.
History
The first European to explore through the Auburn district, in April 1839, was
John Hill, who was followed one month later by
Edward John Eyre
Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica.
Early life
Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved t ...
. On 10 March 1840
John Morphett
Sir John Morphett (4 May 1809 – 7 November 1892) was a South Australian pioneer, landowner and politician. His younger brother George Morphett was also an early settler in South Australia.
Early life
Morphett was born in London, th ...
selected a special survey of 4,000 acres on the Wakefield River as land agent for three English investors,
Admiral George Lambert,
Edward Rice M.P., and
Robert Slaney M.P.
Very soon after, just outside the southwest corner of this survey, a pioneering character named William Tateham squatted on the Wakefield River, living in a riverbank dugout from where he provided hospitality to travellers. The spot, which later became the site of Auburn, was for a time named ''Tateham's Waterhole'' or ''Billy Tatum's'' because of this.
In October 1849, Thomas Henry Williams, a copper-smelting superintendent at the
Burra mines, received a land grant for what was to become the Auburn area. During the next few years Williams sold off allotments to bullock teamsters and others. The first building – a well-appointed hotel named the Rising Sun Inn, which still stands – was built in 1850 and so Auburn Village was begun.
The hotel's enterprising proprietor, Joseph Edwin Bleechmore (c. 1809–1887), also founded the town's school, which opened in May 1855 under
Joseph S. Cole, later of
Stanley Grammar School
Stanley Grammar School was a private day and boarding school in Watervale, a small town in South Australia's Clare Valley. Its history, which dates from 1858 to 1904, is inextricably linked with that of its founder and headmaster, Joseph S. Co ...
.
The name of ''Auburn'', probably applied by Williams, is doubtless derived from a line in a poem by
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
, ''Sweet Auburn, loveliest village on the plain''.
Governance
Auburn is in the
District Council of Clare and Gilbert Valleys
The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council is a Local government in Australia, 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 ...
, 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 of the ...
Division of Grey.
Notable residents
Auburn is the birthplace of Australian poet,
C. J. Dennis
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...
(born 1876), who lived for a time in the former ''Auburn Hotel'', which has since been demolished. A small tributary of the Wakefield River,
Dennis Creek
Dennis Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of Delaware Bay in Cape May County, New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden ...
runs through the town and was named in honour of his father, who was a local publican 1868–80. The town was also the birthplace of Australian cricketer and Australian Rules football player,
Ernie Jones (born 1869). Mary "Maisie" Harriet Archer Thomas ''nee'' Smith, wife of South Australian newspaper proprietor
Evan Kyffin Thomas and daughter of the local doctor, Arthur William Smith was born at Auburn on 8 October 1878.
The town today
Often considered the Gateway to the Clare Valley, the town is on the
Horrocks Highway
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 ...
, approximately 111 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 25 kilometres south of the town of
Clare.
Auburn always was a transport hub. In the 1850s it was on the ''Gulf Road'', used by bullock teamsters carting copper ore from Burra, through Mintaro, to Hoyles Plains and on to
Port Wakefield.
[''Chronicle'' newspaper, 5 December 1946, p. 48.] Today it is on the Horrocks Highway, connecting Adelaide to the north, and also connects the
Riverland
The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...
district with Yorke Peninsula. The southern end of 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 ...
'' also begins here, alongside the former railway station, which is now a winery cellar door.
Auburn has many charming historical buildings. As a result, since the 1970s the town has become a popular tourist destination, with a number of local winery cellar doors and
B&Bs. Auburn is serviced by a pub and several cafes, a gallery, roadhouse, bike hire and internet cafe, a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
, hairdresser, Primary School,
CFS station, and a number of other services. The Auburn oval hosts sporting facilities for cricket, bowls and netball and is also the location of a small, self-contained caravan park.
References
Gallery
Image:Ford and footbridge over Wakefield, Auburn.JPG, Ford and footbridge, King Street
Image:Institute building, Auburn.JPG, Institute building
Image:C J Dennis memorial, Auburn.JPG, C. J. Dennis memorial
Image:CWA Clubrooms, Auburn.JPG, CWA Clubrooms, Main North Road
Image:Former railway station, Auburn.JPG, Former railway station, now a cellar door
Image:Rising_Sun_Hotel,_Auburn.JPG, Rising Sun Hotel
Image:Public library, Auburn.JPG, Public library (former Council Chambers)
Image:Footbridge over River Wakefield, Auburn.JPG, Footbridge over Wakefield River (part of the Riesling Trail)
File:Former mechanics institute building, Auburn.JPG, Former Mechanics Institute building, now an antique store
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Towns in South Australia
Mid North (South Australia)