Wellington is a township 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

(River Murray in South Australia) just upstream of where it empties into Lake Alexandrina. Its postcode is 5259. Wellington is in the Rural City of Murray Bridge. At the , Wellington had a population of 295.

History

Because of its geographical similarities, the first European colonists likened the development potential of the site of Wellington to that of

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. In 1839 the London-based Secondary Towns Association, represented in Adelaide by

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, t ...

and John Hill, authorised expenditure on the special survey a proposed town to be named Wellington, with prior consent of the

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

himself. Despite never having seen the land except on a map, the directors of the Association had great hopes for Wellington becoming an important town. The survey eventually provided for 700 lots in Wellington (west side of the Murray) and 300 lots in Wellington East (east side of the Murray), as well as rural sections. Messrs Cannan and Henderson carried out the survey in November 1840 and the first lots were sold in July 1841.

Ferry crossing

Wellington was the original crossing of the River Murray for people, livestock, and goods travelling overland between

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and

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, until a bridge was built at Murray Bridge in 1879. There is still a free government ferry operating here. In 1852-53 much of the

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

escorted by South Australian Police from 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 capi ...

es crossed the Murray at Wellington. Even though the Murray has very little flow most of the time, and Lake Alexandrina is mostly only a few metres deep, the river at Wellington is about 25 metres deep. The surface is often less than one metre above sea level.

Township

Once established, Wellington became a busy ferry crossing point for several decades during the 1840s to 1870s. Servicing the local pastoral district, it soon had a school, police station, and hotels, but it never prospered beyond township status. The

government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

has stated its intention to build a weir at or near Wellington, despite opposition from environmental groups. Under the plan, no water would flow from the Murray into the lower lakes or Coorong during drought or other periods of low flow.

Notes and references

External links

Wellington – South Australia
Towns in South Australia Populated places on the Murray River {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub

History

Ferry crossing

Township

See also

Notes and references

External links