Williamstown, South Australia
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Williamstown is a small
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 ...
n town on the southern fringe of the Barossa Valley wine-growing region. It is 51 km north 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 ...
and 16 km south-east of Gawler. Williamstown was originally known as ''Victoria Creek''. The township was laid out in 1858 by Lewis Johnston, or Johnstone, on land he purchased in 1857, and named for his son. Williamstown has an elevation of 310 m and an average rainfall of 680 mm. It has a summer average temperature of 31 °C with temperatures often reaching the mid 40s, and a winter average temperature of 15 °C, with nights dropping below freezing, which makes the region excellent for the cultivation of fruits, especially grapes in the lower riverine alluvial deposits.


History

Williamstown was essentially a farming area with sheep and cattle in the early days with fruit orchards, mixed farms and vines. Williamstown also sustained a forestry and lumber industry from the earliest days with three sawmills. Today only a small family-owned timber sawmill and Cooperage remains with the closure of the two larger mills by 1990. Many local residents work in the wine / viticulture industry throughout the Barossa Valley. In the Australian Federation Year (1901) a local hay barn found along Yettie Road (formerly Yatta Creek Road) inhabited only by ducks and pigeons was discovered to be the remains of the alleged oldest slab and stone homestead in South Australia (circa 1841) which has been carefully restored to its former glory. Springfield Homestead, along Springton Road, was originally built by John Warren, who emigrated from Scotland in 1838, established Adelaide's first brewery, and then sold that to finance his share of the Special Survey for pastoral development in the Mount Crawford area (of which Springfield was part). The property was later taken over by youngest son, John Warren (politician), and then by that John Warren's son George. After George Warren died unmarried in 1957, the property was sold to local land baron pastoralist, BJ MacLachlan. MacLachlan was a contemporary of the more famous Australian pastoral entrepreneurs and cattle barons such as Kidman. His great-great-grandchildren still live at the historic Homestead. They operate one of the largest stations in Australia at Commonwealth Hill. The nearby South Para Reservoir was built in the early 1950s to help supply Adelaide with its demanding domestic water supplies, supplementing the earlier Warren Reservoir and Barossa Reservoir. The curved dam retaining wall at the Barossa Reservoir, known as the Whispering Wall because of its acoustic properties, is a tourist attraction. The Barossa Goldfields, scene of a gold rush in 1868 (as well as some smaller rushes later), lie to the west of the Barossa Reservoir. A handful of 'boutique' tourist gold mining operation were started around 1985 near Sandy Creek and the Barossa Goldfields. Williamstown is considered to be a 'Southern gateway' town into the Barossa Valley. It has one of the oldest public house hotels in South Australia dating from 1841 and several original farm homesteads built by the first homesteaders from rough-cut slab timber. One excellent example of this can be found along Warren Road towards Kersbrook. In the late summer of 1956 Williamstown was struck by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that lasted for almost eight minutes and caused structural damaged to many of the stone structures and brick buildings in the area. Domestic wells and sweetwater springs in the area dried up for several weeks thereafter due to the many landslips and seismic movements below the surrounding Gawler Ranges. In 1970 Williamstown hosted one of the last performances of the Barnum & Baily, Ringling Brothers Circus in the original Big Top at the Oval where their performing elephants were enjoyed along with 'the world's smallest horse' at just over five hands high.


Description

In the springtime, Williamstown is seen at its best, with a carpet of green grass and wildflowers along the many creeks and thick woodlands covering the low-rolling hills around the town, dotted with large dairy pastures and vineyards. To the East and South, Williamstown is skirted with Forestry Commission plantations open for public access, in certain areas, large swathes of National Park and the Hale Conservation Park for walkers and hikers. The Williamstown Oval is set in the welcome summer-shade of a large wooded hill in a small valley fed by crystal clear cold-water springs that feed the Victoria Creek stream that passes through the town centre. At the Oval there is a picnic area and small caravan park, serving visitors and transient workers, overlooking the local Football Clubhouse and 1950s-era public swimming pool. Williamstown is in the
Barossa Council Barossa Council is a local government area in the Barossa Valley in South Australia. The council area covers 912 square kilometres, and had a population of over 23,000 in the 2016 Census and 25,066 in the 2021 census. History Barossa Council ...
local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
, the
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
electoral district of Schubert Schubert is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly covering an area of 2,017.8 km2. It is named after Max Schubert, the winemaker of Penfolds Grange, Penfolds Gr ...
and the federal
Division of Barker The Division of Barker is an Australian electoral division in the south-east of South Australia. The division was established on 2 October 1903, when South Australia's original single multi-member division was split into seven single-member d ...
.


See also

* Para Wirra Conservation Park


References


External links

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Barossa Valley