Sandy Creek, South Australia
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Sandy Creek is a town in
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 ...
. The town is situated approximately 6 kilometres east of
Gawler Gawler, established in 1839, is the oldest country town in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the st ...
and is the last town passed through before reaching
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 ...
at
Lyndoch Lyndoch is a town in Barossa Valley, located on the Barossa Valley Highway between Gawler, South Australia, Gawler and Tanunda, South Australia, Tanunda, 58 km northeast of Adelaide. The town has an elevation of 175m and an average Precipi ...
. The Sandy Creek Conservation Park is nearby as is Tindo, a members only gated nudist enclave with several permanent residents and a fully functioning caravan park.


Geography

The surrounding fields are often populated by wild
kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s and a significant
brown snake Brown snake may refer to: * species of the genus ''Pseudonaja'', highly venomous snakes endemic to Australia * species of the genus ''Rhadinaea'', the graceful brown snakes, snakes endemic to North America and Central America * species of the genus ...
population. Nearby Cockatoo Valley is named for the flocks of corellas, a native
parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...
, which denude the pine trees and feed on the grain crops. Daytime temperatures can reach as high as 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees f) and often exceed 40 degrees. A Green belt between Sandy Creek and Gawler has been maintained and is policy, however this is being steadily nibbled away as sub-divisions are approved in order to meet the increasing housing stock demands required to service Defence Force, vineyard and mining labour needs.


History

The Sandy Creek Hotel, which has been open over 120 years, is a famous watering hole. The hotel is best known for the prodigious amounts of alcohol served to the US soldiers during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, who had a camp in close proximity. Several of these soldiers have returned in later years and have placed a plaque within the hotel in memory of the good times they experienced there and of fallen comrades. It is believed this pub still holds the South Australian record for the greatest amount of beer served in a single week. This was set, unsurprisingly, after the announcement of the ceasefire at the end of World War II. Sandy Creek was served by a station on the
Barossa Valley railway line The Barossa Valley railway line is a closed railway line in South Australia. It was first opened in 1911, extending from the Gawler line to Angaston with later branches being built to Penrice and Truro. Much of the line from Gawler to Penrice ...
, built in 1911, however the station was closed in 1927. The Sandy Creek
Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
Club recorded its first ever Para Districts Cricket Club Grade 1 premiership in the 2006/2007 season and boasts that former Australian cricketer
Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 an ...
had been a junior player. Ryan Harris (opening bowler for Australia) is also an ex player. This team now plays in a turf competition in the Barossa and surrounds, and has an upgraded oval. It has several senior and junior teams and has more members than the actual population of the town, drawing its players mainly from Williamstown and Gawler. The Sandy Creek Golf Club is a well regarded and challenging course. The club has a deep fresh water dam opposite Curdnatta Oval which for many years was the unofficial local swimming hole after a hot day of cricket. Sandy Creek is also the nearest town to Rosedale and the Turretfield Research Centre – the home of Matilda, Australia's first
cloned Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...
sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
. Sandy Creek is also the name of the small local spring which flows into 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 ...
. Sandy Creek originates on "The Glen", a historical property on MacCullum Rd, which is still owned by the family of former Federal
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
and Australian Democrat, the late
David Vigor David Bernard Vigor (26 June 1939 – 9 April 1998) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate, representing the Australian Democrats and the Unite Australia Party. Born in Elbeuf, France to an English mother a ...
.
McLeod's Daughters ''McLeod's Daughters'' is an Australian drama television series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton for the Nine Network, which aired from 8 August 2001, to 31 January 2009, lasting eight seasons. It stars Lisa Chappell and ...
, an Australian
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
, was filmed locally and much of the filming was done on location using the local farms and dirt roads as background. The locals were often recruited as extras or to supply livestock or for riding lessons. Wine is increasingly cultivated locally and many hundreds of acres have been planted in the last ten years so that the traditional mixed and share farming has been replaced on many properties. The Concordia Volunteer Fire Brigade services the area as do the
Lyndoch Lyndoch is a town in Barossa Valley, located on the Barossa Valley Highway between Gawler, South Australia, Gawler and Tanunda, South Australia, Tanunda, 58 km northeast of Adelaide. The town has an elevation of 175m and an average Precipi ...
and Williamstown brigades. The Sandy Creek Store, now closed, was the scene of a notorious murder in 1982. Much of the building was destroyed by fire not long after and only the Post Office boxes remain.


Education

Sandy Creek Primary School has for several years maintained a cultural exchange with the
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese community of Minami Aiki. There are bi-annual visits for the Sandy Creek students. Sandy Creek Primary and nearby Rosedale Primary sent students to Japan every even year for about 10 days. This Cultural Exchange Programme has seen a Japanese class visit the community every year since 1998 where they have been billeted with local families. In 2008 Sandy Creek sent its largest contingent of 21 students to Japan in its sixth visit to Japan and they were also billeted with local Minami Aiki families. Rosedale Primary School was closed by a policy to amalgamate schools into "Super Schools" by the Labor Government, after 156 years, in 2007.


Notable people

Notable people from or who have lived in Sandy Creek include: * Job Harris, publican and gold prospector


References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Barossa Valley