Historical Australian Towns: Riverton, SA: Along The Bullock Track

Riverton is situated in Mid North of South Australia, in the Gilbert Valley. The name of the town, which means "town on the river" -- the river in this case being the Gilbert River.

The Ngadjuri Aboriginal People

The Ngadjuri Aboriginal people of the Riverton area passed down Dreamtime stories orally to each generation, who also learnt the songs and dances of the clan.

Barney Waria, born in 1873 at Orroroo, is believed to be the last initiated Ngadjuri man on Ngadjuri Country. Waria's mother was the daughter of a medicine man (Sorcerer), his father was born at Booyoolie Aboriginal camp in the mid-north. Speaking to Ronald Berndt in 1944, Waria talked at great length about the creation of a "Mindaba" (Sorcerer) man and the powers and responsibilities that he wielded:

Traditionally, several years after a young man's wilyaru, and if he had shown considerable interest in magical matters, a Mindaba with some of his colleagues would take him out into the bush ... Here the postulant was red-ochred and smeared all over with fat ... The Mindaba taught him how to bring on a situation of trance and, in that context, to talk with spirits. He was also informed about various forms of magical healing and sorcery and, especially, how to control his own spirit, how to make it leave his body during a trance. Further, he would be instructed in the art of divination during an inquest that took place after a person's death, to discover who was magically responsible.
— Barney Waria 1944 & Ronald M Berndt 1986

It was generally believed that death was caused by sorcery, and so, the name of the deceased was never to be mentioned again.

Showing tribal marks (Peter, Munjena, Yarrie), Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 8 March 1902

Before or after birth, a child was given totems that link a person directly to the spiritual world of the Dreamtime. Totems also determine people’s relationships with each other and who one can marry.

According to the early resource, The Native Tribes of South Australia, girls would wear a sort of apron of fringe, called kaininggi, until they bear their first child. According to this source, boys from the age of ten could not cut their hair until they are initiated.

With European settlement and the establishment of farming, there were less opportunities for Aboriginal hunting and gathering.  

Conflict and disease to which Aboriginal people had no immunity severely reduced Aboriginal populations. 
Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 6 February 1936
In 1836 Captain John Hindmarsh claimed that Aboriginal people should have the same protection as the rest of “His Majesty’s Subjects”. This led to the appointment of the "Protector" of Aboriginal people. 

Missions were established to "civilise" and educate Aboriginal people and Ration Stations were set up to dispense food and blankets. 

Mr Ralph Kemp, who spent his life in the Riverton/Rhynie district remembered three Aboriginal campsites, one at McCaw Creek.
Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 23 September 1933
By the 1840s, many Aboriginal people were employed on farms and as servants and paid with food and lodging. Others, however, lived in camps on the edge of town.

Explorer

The explorer John Hill came to the Gilbert River early in April 1839 and named it after Colonial storekeeper, Thomas Gilbert, who was responsible for all government stores. The Ngadjuri name is not known.
Pastoralists

Pastoralists had arrived in the Riverton area in the 1840s. The stations belonging to George Anstey and Thomas Giles were situated to the south of today's town, while John Masters and Matthew Moorhouse station's were to the north.

James Masters, an Englishman, took up an area as a sheep run in 1840, from Riverton to Saddleworth and Auburn. Masters built a house about 1 km north of Riverton, naming it Saddleworth Lodge, after his hometown of Saddleworth, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Copper was found at Burra in 1846 and various private village were established as staging posts for

transporting copper from the Burra mines to Port Wakefield, along the route to the mining town, including Riverton. Each town was approximately 7 miles apart, about as far as the bullock teams could travel in a day. One route went from Burra through Saddleworth and Riverton, on to Port Adelaide.

Bullock teams, with mostly Irish drivers, were initially used for copper ore transport from Burra to Port Wakefield. Then The Burra Mining Company brought in mule drivers from Uruguay. 
The first building in the town was an unlicensed hotel that opened in 1853. The town was also surveyed in 1853 and farmers were sold 32 hectare lots of land.

In 1854 the post and telegraph office was established.

The Riverton Arms Hotel was built in 1855 by Frederick and John Hannaford and was licensed in 1857.

Riverton Hotel, SA, Illustrated Adelaide News (SA : 1875 - 1880), Friday 1 August 1879

The Holy Trinity Church was built in 1857-58 by James Masters.

Holy Trinity Church, Riverton, SA, Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 16 October 1903

Riverton's first storekeeper and postmaster was John Horner. Horner's store was a stone building at southern end of town.

The mounting stone on the corner of Masters Street and Torrens Road was placed there in the 1850s, so that people could alight from horse-drawn carriages and women would get onto their horses and retain their modesty. These mounting stones were once a characteristic of towns, but few remain.

Riverton's first blacksmith shop, opened by James Elliott, 1857.

1860s

"On Sunday, December 1st, the New Primitive Methodist Chapel, near Mr Olley's and Mr Hannaford's Farms, on the Gilbert, about a mile and a-half from Riverton, was opened for Divine Service.." RIVERTON. (1861, December 7). South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1867)
To service the bullocks and mules, various tradesmen set up business at Riveron, including, saddlers, wheelwrights and blacksmiths. 

August and Wilhelmine Scholz arrived in Riverton in 1865 and initially started a coach-building and wheelwright shop. By 1886 Scholz was involved in business as a wheelwright, machinist, coach-builder and blacksmith. The family's home is now a museum.
August Scholz, Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 6 April 1906
Sir David John Gordon (1865-1946), a prominent figure in the public life of South Australia, journalist and politician, was born on 4 May 1865 at Riverton, son of Thomas Gordon, carpenter, miller and farmer.
The Court House and Police Station were opened in 1866, the same year that the town was proclaimed.

From a newspaper article:

"The other day, looking through an 
old gazeteer of 1866, I came on a 

description of Riverton for that period.
To those who know the town today,
it makes interesting reading. For
instance, after enumerating several
neighboring towns, it remarks: — '"The
communication with these places is by
horse or private conveyance, and with
Adelaide 683 miles S.S.W., from

Marrabel or Auburn by Rounsevell's mail
coach to Kapunda, and thence by rail."
Later I read: — "Riverton has one
hotel— the Riverton — a post and money
order office, telegraph office, public
pound, five stores (one of which

employs two saddlers), a large wheat,

store, two blacksmiths' smithies (one
of which employs two wheelwrights),
three shoemakers' shops, and one

butcher's. The masons' and carpenters'
trades are well represented...."
"TOWNS, PEOPLE, AND THINGS WE OUGHT TO KNOW" Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954)

The Mill Inn opened in 1867 and was renamed the Central Hotel when rebuilt c1900.

The Peterborough railway line opened to Riverton in December 1869. The railway and Railway workshops which opened at Riverton were important to the town's development.

Riverton flour mill, SA, c1869, SLSA

1870s

General store at Riverton. Riverton is in the mid north of South Australia in the Gilbert Valley on the Gilbert River. It was settled in 1856 as it was along the track from Adelaide to Burra. The first store owner was John Jubb Horner and was built in the 1850s. Another store, the cobbler's was owned by Mr Payne. The photograph shows the store owned by G Gurner - grocer, draper, harness and saddlery and was taken in 1870. The owner and four assistants can be seen in the photograph. Approximately 1870. SLSA

The Railway Station at Riverton with G Class Locomotive No. 24. Riverton, Aprox. 1870, SLSA

The Community Hall was built in 1874.

The Railway Complex was completed in 1875. The station building was constructed from local bluestone.

The English, Scottish and Australian Bank and residence was completed in 1879.

1880s
During the 1880s (and 1890s), stone quarries for flagging and kerbing operated near Riverton.

Droughts and a drop in the wool, wheat and copper prices affected the economy of Riverton during the mid-1880s.

The Gilbert Valley has a history of wine production and grape growing dating back to the early 1880s.
Riverton was first settled in 1856 as a settlement along the bullock track from Burra to Adelaide. The Riverton Hotel was opened in 1855 and along with the two shops were the only business places in 1857. The Court House and Police Station opened in 1866 and the Post Office and Community Hall were built in 1874, c1880, SLSA

1890s

Eleven small pieces of land were designated as working men’s blocks in 1892, overlooking the River Gilbert, near Riverton.

Wooroora Winery was established by The South Australian Company at Macaw Creek and had planted 200 acres of vines by the late 1890s. 
1900s

Main Street, Riverton, S.A. - early 1900s
Snowdrop farm near Riverton, SA. Established around 1857 by Isaac Burridge and his wife Jane Roberts; they had 4 daughters. Jane was a sister of Elizabeth Jose (nee Roberts). About 1900, SLSA
J S Gordon's establishment, Main St, Riverton, SA, Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 30 January 1904, James Steele storekeeper Riverton
F H Mitton's Premises, Riverton, SA, Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 30 January 1904
James Wilson Jubilee Store, Riverton, SA, Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 30 January 1904
The Riverton Institute was opened in 1904, Riverton, SA, Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 22 December 1905
Gathering Christmas evergreens at Riverton' SA, Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 22 December 1905
Main St Riverton SA, showing police station and post office,  Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 6 April 1906
Riverton Cottage Hospital in 1909, SLSA
Sir Hugh William Bell Cairns KBE FRCS (26 June 1896 – 18 July 1952) was an Australian neurosurgeon who attended Riverton Primary School.
Riverton railway Station, SA, c1914, SLSA. The line closed in the 1980s

1915

Mr Hannaford, a farmer at Riverton, experienced the drought of 1914 and its effect on crops. This drought spurred him to invent the wet wheat pickler to prepare seed for sowing.

The railway branch-line from Riverton to Clare was officially opened on 4 July 1918. This junction increased Riverton’s importance as a railway centre.

Riverton Railway Station, SA, 1900-1912, SLSA

Snowdrop Farm

Mr and Mrs Burridge of Snowdrop farm, Riverton, SA. Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 20 August 1915

WWI

Private Gilbert Walter Davis, 10th Battalion, of Riverton, SA. A farmer prior to enlistment he embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT Aeneas (A60) on 11 April 1916. Pte Davis was killed in action on 8 October 1917, aged 26. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the The Ypres (Menin Gate), Belgium. He was a footballer and a favourite in his town

Members of Riverton's Women's Braneh of the Agricultural Bureau, the first of its kind in this State. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 24 November 1917

A bevy of workers who. styling themselves "'Magpies," have accomplished a great deal of useful work for patriotic funds. They are Misses L. Hannaford, I. Mildred C. Cooper, I. Kschenka, R. Burrows, L. Caetine, A. Cooper, M. Litchfield, J. Litohrield, and D. Hannaford, Riverton magpies, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 17 August 1918

1920s

A Russian man shot and wounded passengers on the train at Riverton. Percy Brookfield, a New South Wales M.P., Tackled the man and disarmed him, but Brookfield was fatally wounded and later died.

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 26 March 1921

The prisoner in custody outside the Riverton, SA police station, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 26 March 1921

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 19 May 1923

Murder

At Riverton on April 8 1925, a bag of bloody clothes was found.

The body of a Greek man named Joannes Vlachos was found in a disused quarry between Tarlee and Riverton. Mounted troopers and a native tracker were sent to the area. Mick, the native tracker, found the deceased. Joannes Vlachos met his death at the hands of one of his countrymen.

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 18 April 1925

Annie Lock (1876-1943), who was born at Riverton, became an active Aboriginal missionary durring the 1920s. Read about her here

The Mid-North Courier newspaper was printed between 5 January 1928 and 24 June 1942

Sport (Adelaide, SA : 1911 - 1948), Thursday 28 June 1928

1930s

Riverton Institute now used as the Town Hall. Riverton was settled in 1856 by South Australian pioneer James Masters. The settlement grow as a stopping point along the track from Adelaide to Burra. When the railway opened in 1869 the town prospered. c1933, SLSA

Torrens Road, Riverton, SA, showing the two storey premises of the Riverton Service Stores. The first storekeeper, John Jubb Horner, arrived in South Australia in 1853. His store built at the southern end of town was the commercial hub of Riverton. c1933, SLSA

A sight which used to-be a common one in South Anutralia-a bullock driver and his team of patient, lumbering beasts.. The animals are a slow but sure means of transport. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Saturday 25 February 1933

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 3 September 1936

Baby show at Riverton, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 2 April 1936

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 2 September 1937

Torrens Road, Riverton, SA, c1937 SLV

Torrens Road, Riverton, sa, now demolished. Oliver Colmer was the local carpenter and undertaker

Riverton water supply, Warren reservoir, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 3 February 1938

Flower Day at Riverton, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 19 May 1938

Golf at Riverton Links Miss Rita Burrows was the winner of the women's championship at the recent golf tournaments at Riverton and Saddleworth. She is shown here following another competitor across the stepping-stones to the second hole on the Riverton links. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 7 September 1939

1940s

WWII

Rosa Zelma Huppatz (1906-1982), of Riverton, who trained as a nurse at the (Royal) Adelaide Hospital, began full-time duty in the Australian Imperial Force on 9 February 1940. She nursed in the British military hospital in Egypt, during WWII.

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 24 January 1940

Lady Muriel Barclay-Harvey and Miss L. Watts (president of the advisory committee of the local V.S.D.) passing through a guard of honor of meltings on their way to the Riverton Town Hall, where Lady Muriel addressed 300 women from surrounding Red Cross centres. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 20 June 1940

One of the successful candidates, Pilot-Officer H. H. Du Rieu, of Riverton (left) talking to tbe Commandant of the R.A.A.F. Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 20 January 1945

Riverton accountant, Harold Du Rieu, published The County Light Times. It lasted only two years (1949-1951).

1950s

Staff of the Riverton Post Office. From left are Mr. L. C. Fernadez, Mr. M. C. Borman (postmaster), Miss J. Rogers, Mr, J. A. Lyall, Miss P. Kemp, and seated. Miss J. Longbottom (nearest camera), and Miss M. Green.Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 30 November 1950

Here are children who attend the pre-school centre with Miss M. Keast (extreme left) and Miss P. Knauerhase, Riverton, SA, (supervisor). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 30 November 1950

Riverton Personalities, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 23 November 1950

Southern Cross (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1954), Friday 6 April 1951

Around Riverton

Riverton Arms Hotel, Riverton, SA, was built in 1855 by Frederick and John Hannaford. It was a popular stop for the bullock drivers. It was licensed in 1857

Central Hotel, Riverton, SA, opened in 1867 as the Mill Inn. Named the Central Hotel when rebuilt c1908

Originally the Savings Bank of S.A., it was opened in 193 at Riverton, SA.

ANZ Bank Riverton, SA, built in 1915

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Riverton, SA, built in 1870

The Methodist Bible Christian Church, Riverton, SA, opened in 1874 and was sold to the Lutherans in 1964

Former butcher and bakery established 1874, Riverton, SA

Riverton, SA. The old bakery from around 1871. denisbin

Riverton. The Rectory adjacent to the Masters funded Anglican Church of 1858. The Rectory would have been built at the same time. The French doors are 1850s. denisbin