Woodside 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 ...

region 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 ...

. The town is between

Balhannah Balhannah is a town in the Adelaide Hills about 30 km southeast of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It was established in 1839 as a farming community by James Turnbull Thomson, who built the first hotel. The town soon grew to inco ...

and

Lobethal Lobethal is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centre ...

, from the state capital,

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 ...

. Mount Barker is also nearby.

Description

The town is a useful traffic hub linking Oakbank,

and Charleston. It is on the Onkaparinga Valley Road, South Australian route B34, and is 25 km due East of Adelaide's CBD. Amenities include a swimming pool, library, second hand store, grocery store, Cricket Club, tennis club, netball club, two pubs, lawyer, bowls club, and playing fields. Local businesses include Woodside Cheese Wrights, Melbas Chocolate Factory, a Lobethal Bakery and

Bird in Hand winery Bird in Hand is a winery located near the town of Woodside in the Adelaide Hills wine region of South Australia. History The Nugent family, founders of Bird in Hand, have a long association with Adelaide through the health-care work of Dr Mich ...

. It includes Inverbrackie, the site of

Woodside Barracks Woodside Barracks is an Australian Army base located in Woodside in South Australia. History The base was established in 1927, and known as ''Woodside Camp''. It consisted of 162 hectares and was located east of Adelaide, South Australia. Th ...

which is the home base of the

16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery The 16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery is the Australian Army's only ground-based air defence (GBAD) unit. It also provides sense, warn and locate, ground liaison, and joint terminal attack control capabilities. Part of the Royal Regiment ...

ground-based air defence unit. Woodside Air Base was used by Aerotech for aerial firefighting, who relocated to

Claremont Airbase Claremont Airbase is a private airport near Brukunga in the Adelaide Hills east of Adelaide, South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Austra ...

near

Brukunga Brukunga is a small town in the Adelaide Hills, located approximately east of Adelaide and north of the town of Nairne. History Its name, derived from ''Barrukungga'' in the local Peramangk or Kaurna language, means "place of fire stone" or ...

in 2016.

History

The first European explorers through the Woodside district were Dr George Imlay and John Hill in January 1838. In 1839 the

South Australian Company The South Australian Company, also referred to as the South Australia Company, was formed in London on 9 October 1835, after the '' South Australia (Foundation) Act 1834'' had established the new British Province of South Australia, with the So ...

took out several special surveys which secured much of the central Mount Lofty Ranges and the sources of the Onkaparinga. The Johnston family of Oakbank founded Woodside in the 1850s, primarily to improve their brewery business. Gold was discovered in area. The largest mine was the

Bird-in-Hand mine The Bird-in-Hand mine was an underground gold mine near Woodside in the Adelaide Hills east of Adelaide in South Australia. It was the largest of 17 gold mines in the area, and operated between 1881 and 1889. It produced of gold at an average ...

which operated from 1881 to 1889. Annual motor races for bikes and cars were held on a

street circuit A street circuit is a motorsport race track, racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor racing, motor races. Airport Runway, runways and Taxiway, taxiways are also sometimes part of ...

in Woodside each October from 1947 to 1951 before the State Government banned the closing of public roads for racing. 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 ...

served Woodside from 1918 until 1963. There was an army base here. There was also an immigration detention centre here and it was open for many years.

References

External links

Welcome to Woodside, South Australia
Towns in South Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub