Oakbank is a town in the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

, east 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 ...

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 ...

. It is in the

Adelaide Hills Council Adelaide Hills Council is a local government area in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. It is in the hills east of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Aust ...

area. At the 2006 census, Oakbank had a population of 473.

History

The town was founded in about 1840 by Scottish brothers James and Andrew Johnston. The Johnstons had come out to South Australia on the East Indiaman Buckinghamshire in 1839, and by the following year were opening up the country in the Onkaparinga Valley near the present site of the township. The Johnston family hailed from Oakbank, Scotland district, and hence decided to name the new township Oakbank. A large oak tree that still stands in the main street of the town was reportedly grown from an acorn carried to Australia by one of the brothers James and Andrew Johnston founded the J. & A.G. Johnston brewery in 1845, tapping an underground spring fed by the

Onkaparinga River The Onkaparinga River, known as Ngangkiparri or Ngangkiparingga ("place of the women’s river") in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Southern Adelaide region in the Australian state of South Australia. Rising in the Mount Lofty Ran ...

. A second brewery was built by Henry Pike in 1889, which he named the Dorset Brewery. Both breweries were forced to shut down in 1938 due to a virus in the yeast, and therefore both turned to making soft drinks and cordials instead. Johnston's Cordial is still a popular soft drink brand, and one of South Australia's oldest family-owned businesses. The Dorset brewery site now produces hand-woven textiles. Oakbank is well known for the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival. Held over two days during the Easter weekend, thousands of visitors come to see the premiere event, the Great Eastern Steeplechase."The Oakbank Race Trains" Callaghan, W.H. ''Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin'', August, 1995 pp. 211–221. It is also on the Onkaparinga Valley Road, SA route B34.

Railway

Oakbank was served by Oakbank railway station, part of the

Mount Pleasant railway line The Mount Pleasant railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. It was opened between Balhannah and Mount Pleasant, South Australia, Mount Pleasant in September 1918 and ran until March 1963 as a freight and passeng ...

from 1918 to 1963.

References

Towns in South Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub