Jacob's Creek is a small

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: * Creek people, a former name of Muscogee, Native Americans * C ...

located 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 souther ...

region of the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Course and features

Jacob's Creek rises in the Barossa Ranges and flows westward through the

wine-producing region Wines are produced in significant growing regions where vineyards are planted. Wine grapes berries mostly grow between the 30th and the 50th degrees of latitude, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, typically in regions of Mediterranean ...

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 list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

, approximately north of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. The creek is 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 gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as river red gum, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to Australia. It is a tree with smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in ...

s. 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) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site of the colony's capi ...

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 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. 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 ca ...

, South Australia's first geologist, who lived for some time on an island and in a nearby cave on the creek. Here he grew vegetables, and was particularly struck with the possibilities for

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

. Menge was influential in facilitating the settlement from the Barossa Valley by German Lutheran immigrants. The creek lent its name to the wine brand Jacob's Creek, which is produced by

Orlando Wines Orlando Wines is an Australian wine company, well known for Jacob's Creek wine, first released in 1976. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Pernod Ricard since 1989 and is now known as Pernod Ricard Winemakers. The winery still ...

, 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— ...

along the

Barossa Valley Highway Barossa Valley Way is the main road linking most of the major towns of the Barossa Valley in South Australia, designated as route B19 for its entire length. It is 35 km long, roughly following the North Para River. Route Barossa Valley W ...

in the small town of Rowland Flat. Johann Gramp, 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 mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

, ash and

olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

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 semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

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