Balaklava, SA: A Charming Rural Town

The town of Balaklava is located in South Australia, 92 km from Adelaide and 26 km from Port Wakefield.

Situated near the Wakefield River, Balaklava was originally a private town, named after the famous Crimean War Battle of Balaklava. The name derives from the Turkish words balik - "fish" and yuva - "net".

The Kaurna and Peramangk Peoples

The Kaurna people, known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers, have lived in the region of the Adelaide Plains for thousands of years.

It has been claimed that the stringy-bark forests over the back of the Mount Lofty Ranges were the traditional boundary between Kaurna and Peramangk people. However, Kaurna and Peramangk people shared similarities in culture and some language.

The Peramangk people, who primarily lived in the Mount Lofty region, had access to Red Ochre, flint and mineral pyrites, also traded with the Kaurna.

As hunter-gathers, the Kaurna and Peramangk peoples moved about according to the sessions and sources of food. In the colder months, Kaurna and Peramangk people often wore a possum or kangaroo skin cloak.

There are some reports that enmity existed between the three tribes of the Adelaide region, Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri and Peramangk. And yet other reports state that the Peramangk were held with some reverence due to their cultural practices.

Aboriginal people of the region, frequently used hollow gums for shelter, to which they added branches and bark, grass and leaves in the winter. During warmer months, wurlies constructed of huge sheets of bark were used.

The caterpillar of the moth grub was regarded as a delicacy by the Peramangk. 

The Kaurna people practised chest scarification and circumcision as part of initiation.

 In Australia, scarring was once practised widely. Could be part of rituals of initiation. Cuts made with a stone knife or with a shell and rubbing/putting in ashes, chalk or in some cases ants, in order to produce a swelling before the wound was dressed. Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 11 June 1904

Kaurna woman named Ivaritji meaning “gentle, misty rain”, wearing a wallaby skin cloak, Adelaide, South Australia, 1928. Norman Tindale.

The earliest known list of Kaurna words was compiled by the French zoologist Joseph Gaimard aboard the Astrolabe at King George Sound, Western Australia, in 1826.

German missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schürmann began documenting the Kaurna language after they arrived in Adelaide in October 1838. In the following year, Schürmann established the first school for Aboriginal people in South Australia, on the banks of the River Torrens. 

In 1840, Teichelmann and Schürmann published Outlines of a Grammar: Vocabulary and Phraseology of the Aboriginal Language of South Australia, Spoken by the Natives in and for Some Distance Around Adelaide (1840). A book which includes over 2000 words from the tribe of the Adelaide Plains (now known as Kaurna language).

 
The Kaurna population was severely impacted by smallpox to which they had no immunity. 

The arrival of Europeans, with vastly different cultural beliefs, land use and technology, led to the disintegration of cultural practices and impacts on the traditional way of life for many Aboriginal people.

South Australian Aboriginal people, photo taken by Mr Max Doenau for the Adelaide branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia. Australasia (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 19 November 1898

Explorers

The first recorded sighting of the Wakefield River was in early April 1840, when John Hill (incorrectly named William Hill by some sources) named it after Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a key figure in the establishment of the South Australian colony. Hill was accompanied by explorer Thomas Burr.

The explorer Edward John Eyre passed through the area in late May 1839 and recorded that he encamped, "upon a chain of large ponds of excellent water called by Mr Hill the "Wakefield".

A carte-de-visite portrait of Edward John Eyre

Settlers

1840-50s

The first settlers in Balaklava were James and Mary Dunn, who came from Burra in 1847 and built Dunn's Hotel in 1849, on the Balaklava-Hoyleton Road (demolished 1950). The inn became a stopping point in 1850, for bullock teams from the Burra copper mines, on their way to Port Wakefield. The copper route to Port Wakefield ceased in 1856.

Dunn's Hotel, Balaklava, SA, Wooroora Producer (Balaklava, SA : 1909 - 1940), Thursday 9 March 1933

The brother's John and Edmund Bowman took up a large area of land, calling it the Werocata run (called Werockety by Bowman). The land along the lower reaches of the River Wakefield was held under occupation licence from 1845. However, they purchased the land in 1850.

 The original Werocata homestead, SA. Wooroora Producer (Balaklava, SA : 1909 - 1940), Thursday 9 March 1933

"The first man to travel through the country was Edmund Bowman who stopped his packhorse at the River Wakefield, which was never dry last century. Mr. J. Spillane, 73, owner of Pine View, a wheat and grazing property five miles from Balaklava, studied the history of the country. He said Bowman followed the River Wakefield and found good grazing country free of timber, north of Bowmans Siding, which was named after him. Returning through the scrub, Bowman was lost for three days. When found by a search party be was in poor conditon. Bowman brought sheep to the area and squatted there. Later he was charged at Clare with having been a squatter, and as a result bought a large tract of country stretching almost from Balaklava to Port Wakefield. It was known as Pine Forest when Mr. Spillane arrived in 1884. Part of tile land was subsequently bought by Mr. S. S. Ralii and called W"erocata, which built a reputation for its sheep and horses."

It was named after a battle but— Balaklava reaps fruits of peace (1952, October 8). News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

In 1847, an occupational lease was issued to Robert Fry of the Wakefield Plain, where he lived with his wife, Louisa Amelia.

Robert and Louisa Fry were seen leaving home together in a gig on 10 January 1850. The next day, Louise's remains were found about four miles away. Six months later, Robert's body was found in the same area. It appears that Robert Fry killed his wife and left her body in the scrub before later taking his own life.

The Hundred of Balaklava was declared in 1856. However, the town was not established until 1869, after the government decided to run a railway from Port Wakefield to Hoyleton (later extended to Blyth) at the foothills of the Clare valley. 

Bullock drays carrying copper ore would often become bogged at an area called Devil’s Garden, located on the Balaklava-Auburn Road. To overcome the problem, a Corduroy Road was laid. This road, was comprised of pine trees, cut down and the logs laid side by side along the boggy sections of the track. There is a replica of the Corduroy Road at the Balaklava Museum.

A Corduroy Road comprised of pine trees, cut down and the logs laid side by side along the boggy sections of the track. Daily News

The name Devil's Garden came from the teamsters, reflecting on the area at night, with vegetation alive with night animals. This part of the journey was also quite hazardous for the teamsters. Hellfire Creek was also named by the teamsters from Burra travelling the copper "Gulf Route" in the early 1850s. Hotels were often situated every 9 miles (15 km) to cater for the teamsters.

The copper route to Port Wakefield ceased about 1857 when a railway connected Gawler to Port Adelaide.

1870s

In 1872 six houses made up the settlement.

Verco Brothers Mill and Brebner's Hotel were erected in 1875.

The first town council meetings were held at the Balaklava Hotel when the Council formed in 1877. 

Before the railway line from Hamley Bridge to Balaklava opened, a coach service was run by the late Mr. D. N. Peek from Hamley Bridge to Snowtown through Balaklava.

1880s

The telephone was introduced in South Australia in 1880. 

1890s

George Mayo Pearce, a pianist, accompanist and teacher, was born at the Bible Christian Manse in Balaklava in S.A. on 14th July 1892.

George served in France during WWI in the original A.I.F. 11th Field Ambulance, while his brother John was wounded at Gallipoli. During the Battle of Messines in June 1917, George was gassed and then sent away to convalesce. While in France, George conducted the orchestra attached to the 3rd Division Headquarters under General Monash and performed in Paris with the Divisional Concert Party. After being discharged, he went to London to study the piano at the Royal Academy of Music. Read more

1900s

1. MONTHLY SALE IN WALSH'S YARDS, BALAKLAVA. 2. A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP OF BALAKLAVA RESIDENTS. Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 13 February 1904

1. Balaklava branch of the bank of Adelaide. 2, Nurse O'Brien's Private Hospital, Balaklava SA. Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 13 February 1904

Balaklava Business THE FEDERAL FURNISHING DEPOT, SA. Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 5 July 1907

GRIGGS' WHEELWRIGHTING AND BLACKSMITHS' PREMISES, BALAKI.AVA, SA. Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 5 July 1907

Institute Balaklava, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 16 February 1907

S. A. Geering the proprietor of '"The Busy Store," at Balaklava, SA. Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 1 November 1907

A Oehlmann Drapery, BALAKLAVA, SA. Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), Friday 10 May 1907

A 1908 photograph of the Terminus Hotel BALAKLAVA, SA. Wooroora Producer (Balaklava, SA : 1909 - 1940), Thursday 13 June 1935

The Showground Pavillion was built by Samuel Bowering Marchant in 1910.

BALAKLAVA SHOW., SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 8 October 1910

Main Street of Balaklava, SA.  Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 8 October 1910

Balaklava, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 3 December 1910

Edith Terrace, Balaklava, SA, c1910 SLSA

R J Finlayson was the son of Owen's first general storekeeper, started a storekeeping business at Owen, and later moved to Balaklava in 1911, where he opened a butter, ice and aerated water factory.

BALAKLAVA WATER SUPPLY. laying water mains, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 19 August 1911

Balaklava Croquet Club, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 14 September 1912

Balaklava Post Office, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 3 August 1912

MR. K. B. GRUNDY, K.C. LAYING FOUNDATION-STONE OF MASONICTEMPLE ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10. Balaklava, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 18 October 1913

 BALAKLAVA'S NEW COURTHOUSE, SA.Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 8 November 1913

BALAKLAVA, Winners of the Wooroora Football Association Premiership, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 20 September 1913

 Masonic temple, Balaklava, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 24 January 1914

The town of Balaklava procession, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 7 August 1915

Church of Christ Manse, Balaclava, SA. Australian Christian Commonwealth (SA : 1901 - 1940), Friday 14 May 1915

At Christ Church, Balaklava, on Wednesday, April 26, Mr. Thomas Goldsmith, an Aborigine person, who was born at Balaklava, was married to Miss Florence Ellen Salter, also of Aboriginal descent. The bride's wedding dress was a pretty white silk, with the customary veil and orange blossoms. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 13 May 1916,

WWI

BIOGRAPHICAL.THE LATE PRIVATE G. R. OLSEN. The late Private G. R. Olsen, whose death at the front has been announced, was the youngest son of Mrs. L. Olsen, of Balaklava. He was born at Mallala in 1891. Enlisting at Balaklava, he left for the front in May, 1915, with the 27th Battalion. He served for a time in Egypt, as a storeman, and in April last left for France, where he received wounds which resulted in his death. Prior to enlisting Private Olsen was employed in the building trade. His mother ia a widow. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 17 February 1917

1920s

The Balaklava Soldiers' Memorial District Hospital, Incorporated, was opened on March 8 1922.

THE BALAKLAVA HOSPITAL, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 18 March 1922

The children's playground was opened by Mr. A. W. Robinson in 1924, who contributed £100 toward the project. The playground occupied two acres of land, with playground equipment—swings, see-saws, a large shelter shed, and lawns.

Kindergarten Hall and Sunday school, Balaklava, SA. Balaklava  Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 15 November 1924

New Savings Bank at Balaklava, SA.  Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 2 August 1924

An Aboriginal returned soldier named Arthur Weetra, led what was called an Aboriginal street "riot"; later dubbed the Battle of Balaclava in 1925. Information surrounding this event is contradictory.

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 9 April 1925

Balaklava Show, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 10 October 1925

Two cars outside the front of Balaklava Memorial Hospital, SA. c1926, SLSA

The Adelaide Electric Supply Company Limited, began supply of electricity to the town and established a transformer substation in 1926.

The population of Balaklava town in 1927 was 1,500.

Balaklava golf championships, SA.  Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 29 June 1929

1930s

Balaklava School Band, winners of the competition, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 10 April 1930

Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 - 1954), Saturday 4 May 1935

Balaklava Wanderers, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 2 November 1939

1940s and WWII

Balaklava, SA, flour mill. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 25 January 1940

Total number of socks made for the Fighting Forces Comforts Fund by members of Balaklava Unit is 304. (Nov, 1940)

Forty-one British women and children evacuated from Malaya were billeted in private houses in Balaklava.

Private W. Offen of Balaklava, SA, sleeps amongst his gear after returning from a jungle patrol. Place made New Guinea: Huon Peninsula, Ramu River Finisterre Ranges Area, Ramu River Area
Date made 1 November 1943. Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945

The Balaklava Aboriginal Welfare Institution was established by the Commonwealth Government in 1942, at the Balaklava Racecourse, to serve as temporary accommodation for Aboriginal people evacuated from the Northern Territory during World War II.

Aboriginal children evacuated from the Northern Territory, billeted at Balaklava, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 27 January 1944

Balaklava Race Meeting, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 22 July 1948

1950s

Local millhands at Balaklava, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 20 July 1950

SEEN from the top of a grain elevator, Balaklava, SA, is a bustling town, 60 miles north of Adelaide, in the heart of the Lower North wheat-g rowing district. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 20 July 1950

Staff members of the Balaklava Soldiers' Memorial Hospital of 28 beds, established in 1921, are (from left), Nurse L. Herring, Mr. N. C. Walter (secretary), Matron V. E. Allasson, and Sister E. J. Dohrmann. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 13 July 1950

MEMBERS of the Balaklava, SA, Voluntary Emergency Firefighting Unit pictured here are (from left), Messrs. L. L. Lucas, M. G. Wright (chief), R. V. Zerk, H. R. Hancock and J. G. Kostera. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 13 July 1950

1980s

In 1988, a memorial was unveiled alongside Fry’s Clump, two kilometres south of Balaklava. It is a reminder of this terrible event in Balaklava’s pioneering history.

Fry's Clump, at Fry Flat near Balaklava, is situated on section 151, Hundred of Dalkey

Around Balaklava

Balaklava Uniting Church, SA. The fomer Methodist Church built in 1904, replaced an earlier 1871 Bible Christian church. It becmae a Uniting Church in 1977

Balaklava Courthouse, SA, erected in 1913

The opening of the Balaklava Institute is reported in the Register, 16 April 1881, SA

20 Edith Terrace, Balaklava, SA

Heritage house Edith Terrace, Balaklava, SA

Heritage house on Wallace St, Balaclava, SA

Balaclava, SA, Post Office

Balaklava cemetery, SA. Many fine headstones and statues in this cemetery. In the foreground the headstones of young Samuel and baby Melinda Hall 1905 and 1903 respectively. Both topped with angels, denisbin

Dunns Bridge across the River Wakefield, SA

Things To Do and Places To Go

Guided Self Tours

Balaklava Museums

Cummins, SA: Agricultural Past and Abounds With Art

Cummins, South Australia, is located on the Eyre Peninsula, 67 km north of Port Lincoln and 270km west-northwest of Adelaide.

This interesting rural town with a significant agricultural past abounds with art and places to explore.
The 

The Nauo Aboriginal People

The southern side of the Eyre Peninsula is part of the traditional lands of the Nauo people (various alternative spellings).

Christian Gottlieb Teichelmann (1807-1888), and Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann (1815-1893), Lutheran missionaries and pastors, were the first Europeans to work and establish schools for the Aboriginal people of South Australia. Their anthropological inquiry concerned such matters as, marriage laws, ceremonial life and religious beliefs of Aboriginal people; as well as linguistic and ethnographic records of various Aboriginal groups, including those living on the Eyre Peninsula. The Native Tribes of South Australia

They seem never in a hurry to start in the morning, and it usually requires a great deal of talking and urging, on the part of the more eager, before a movement is made. When arrived at the camp, which is always some time before sunset, the first thing to be done is to make a fire and roast the small animals that they may have killed (kangaroo and other large game, being roasted on the spot where it is killed, and what is not eaten then, carried piece-meal to the camp.) After the meat is consumed, the women produce the roots or fruit picked up by them during the day; and this dessert also over, the rest of the evening is spent in talking, singing or dancing. (Schürmann, 1879)

Never, upon any account, is the name of the deceased mentioned again for many years after, not from any superstition, but for the professed reason that their mournful feelings may not be excited, or, to use their own expression, "that it may not make them cry too much." If they have occasion to allude to dead persons, it is done by circumlocution, such as these: I am a widower, fatherless child, childless, or brotherless, as the case may be, instead of saying: my wife is dead, my father, child or brother is dead. If a death occurs among them in the bush, it is with great difficulty that the name of the deceased can be ascertained. In such a case, the natives will remind you of incidents that may have happened in his lifetime, that he did such a thing, was present on such an occasion, &c., but no persuasion on earth will induce them to pronounce his name. (Schürmann 1879)

Renowned as a fierce warrior and immoderate lover is Welu, who, being foiled in his amours by the Nauo people, determined to exterminate the whole tribe. He succeeded in spearing all the men except Karatantya and Yangkunu, two young men, who flew for shelter into the top of a tree. Welu climbed after them with the intent to murder them also; but they had the cunning to break the branch on which he was standing, when, tumbling headlong to the ground, a tamed native dog seized and killed him. He has since been changed into the bird that now bears his name, and which in English is called the curlew, while the memory and names of the two young men who escaped his fury are perpetuated by two species of hawk. (Schürmann 1879)

The Nauo is spoken in the southern and western parts of this district, and seems to deviate from the Parnkalla by a broader and harsher pronunciation and different inflexions or terminations of the words, verbs as well as nouns; many words, however, are totally different. (Schürmann 1879)

[T]hey seem to think that the fate of man in this world is in some degree dependent on his good or bad conduct. The following anecdote will best illustrate their views on the subject: It was reported by a native that at or near Streaky Bay a black man had been shot by a whaling party for spearing a dog belonging to them, and which had been furiously attacking the native; some time after, the crew of a whaler wrecked in that neighbourhood came overland to Port Lincoln, and when it was hinted that perhaps one of them had shot the black man, the natives at once assigned that act of cruelty as the cause of the shipwreck. (Schürmann 1879)

The picture represents four Aboriginalsgetting ready to dance at a "Corrobboree" at Carriewerloo Station.Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 1 July 1905

First Europeans

In 1627, aboard the vessel Gulden Seppart (Golden Seahorse), the Dutch Captain Francois Thyssen and Pieter Nuyts charted the area around Ceduna, SA.

In 1802 Matthew Flinders mapped the coastline of the South Australian coast between January and April 1802, in the HMS Investigator.

Matthew Flinders, English explorer

In January 1803, the Frenchman Louis-Claude de Freycinet charted the area for the Nicholas Baudin expedition, which circumnavigated the globe. In 1811 he published the first map showing a full outline of the coastline of Australia.

In 1836 Colonel William Light surveyed the Port Lincoln area. 

Edward John Eyre explored and extensively mapped the land of the Eyre Peninsula, 1839–41.

1900s

From 1846 South Australian counties and hundreds were established to enable regulation and administration of land transactions. The Hundred of Cummins was proclaimed in 1903, with land sales beginning in 1904. Prior to this, the area mostly consisted of pastoral leases. 

Farmers began buying land in the Hundred of Cummins in 1904, which was named after the politician William Cummins, a member of the Upper House in Adelaide, from 1896 to 1907, for the district of Stanley at Clare.

 MR. WILLIAM PATRICK CUMMINS,M.P. Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 14 November 1896

Ernest Albert Atkinson and John Durdin established a farm in partnership, on Sect 2 Hd of Cummins. Some of this land was subdivided to create a town at the junction of several roads beside the railway line.

 

Pioneering in Cummins District.

Wheatfields Replace Mallee Scrub. Experiences of Mr. John Durdin. 

CUMMINS, November 15.

Mr. John Durdin, of Cummins, who celebrated the 72nd anniversary of his birth on Tuesday was born at Cape Jervis. Although he left his native district at an early age. he can well remember the methods adopted there at harvest time, when the reaping was done by hand, and the wheat thrashed by a horse thrashing-machine. His father was the first farmer in the Cape Jervis district to use a Mellor stripper. The machine was drawn by a team of bullocks. With the opportunity of only eleven months at school Mr. Durdin started work at an early age, driving bullocks when only 11 years old. His father took up land at Kulpara, then known as South Hummocks, in 1869. A few years later he removed to Lochiel, where he resided for 6 years, then returning to Kulpara and taking up land in the hundred of Clinton. 

Mr. John Durdin was married in 1884 to Miss Bidgood, the 'ceremony being conducted at the Methodist parsonage, Kadina. Mr. and Mrs. Durdin lived on the farm at Kulpara for 25 years and in 1904 in company with Messrs. C. H. Atkinson and W. Farmilow, he left  for Cummins, travelling overland with teams and belongings. The journey occupied 13 days. The party arrived in this district on February 14, 1904, camping for a week near Cabot's Hill, The country was thickly covered with mallee and it was a difficult matter to find a clearing large enough on which to erect a camp. Mr. Durdin and his eldest son lived in bachelor style for 2 years, all provisions being procured at Tumby Bay. Other early settlers in the district were Messrs. O. A. Hall, B. Dangerfield, Laube Bros., and the Siviour family. 

The first post office was at White's Flat and later at Stokes. Mr. W. Cabot of Yallunda Flat for a considerable period was butcher for the district and the distributor of local mails. The settlers at that time realised the disadvantages of poineering, and always worked with a view to assisting each other. Mrs. Durdin joined her husband at Cummins in 1906, where they have resided since. Mr. Durdin has seen the district transformed from a forest of mallee without a 'railway to a prosperous wheat-growing district with the town an important railway junction. He has always been actively connected with the Methodist Church as trustee, Sunday-school worker and choir leader. For over 45 years he has been a member of the Albert District Independent Order of Rechabites and is a P.C.R. of the order. The members of the family are : — Mesdames A. J. Kock (Lameraa) and A. Fuss (Cummins), Miss Durdin (Cummins, Mr. J. R. Durdin (UnT garra), and Pastor Ira Durdin (Stradialbyn). There are also 17 .^randchildren, Mrs. Durdin's three brothers are J. J. Durdin of Prospect, S. DuWin (Wallaroo), and T. Durdin (Melton.) 

Port Lincoln Times (SA : 1927 - 1954), Friday 22 November 1929, page 3

The Cummins show was first held in 1904. 

The galvanised iron Institute, built in 1906, was used as the state school from 1912 to 1921. In the 1920s, the Anglican Church rented the building and bought it later, to use as a hall.

The first building in Cummins was the little wood and iron Institute on land donated by Mr John Durdin

The Port Lincoln-Cummins railway, completed in 1907.

Cummins Cashstore and post office, SA, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 23 January 1909

Cummins Show, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 11 November 1911

Cummins Methodist Church, completed in 1912, located at 68-72 Bruce Terrace, Cummins, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 21 December 1912

WWI

Ernest Albert Atkinson: ATKINSON. Service number 1878. Private 10th Infantry Battalion. AIF WW1. Born 5 Dec 1893. Home Town: Cummins, Lower Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Died Killed in Action, Hazebrouck, France, 18 April 1918, aged 24 years

1920s

The Tod River is the only stream on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia with a reliable water flow. The Tod River Reservoir was built across the river between 1918 and 1922. Port Lincoln and Cummins, and thousands of acres in the southern part of the Peninsula will receive water from this point. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 11 March 1922

SCENE AT CUMMINS RAILWAY YARD,. WHICH AT THE TIME OF TAKING PHOTOGRAPH WAS FULL FROM END TO END WiTH WATER TANKS AND EMPTY TRUCKS. Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 28 April 1923

Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 24 April 1926

Mr. P. D. S. Cooper, of Cummins, with the one-ton truck he purchased from Maughan-Thiem Motor Company. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Tuesday 20 December 1927

Henry Siviour, with his two sons, Messrs. William and Richard Siviour, took a tract of land comprising 14,000 acres at Cummins, Eyre's Peninsula, SA, in 1903. Mr. Siviour was the first farmer in that locality. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 2 May 1929

 The post office and railway yard garden at Cummins, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 17 October 1929

1930s

The new flour mill at Cummins, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 19 November 1931

Mr. A. C. Fuss's homestead at Cummins having spent a couple of years there, and helped to construct the railway line to Whyalla. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 7 September 1933

Cummins Ramblers, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 4 October 1934,

SA centenary hall opened, built from brick, in 1936. 

West Coast Recorder (Port Lincoln, SA : 1909 - 1942), Thursday 4 February 1937

Cummins Institute, SA, West Coast Recorder (Port Lincoln, SA : 1909 - 1942), Thursday 4 February 1937

1940s

DANCE AT CUMMINS. The R.A.O.B. Centenary Ball was held at Cumminsrecently. Some of the dancers who attended. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 30 May 1940

CUMMINS SHOW. A corner of the showground at Cummins, where a record show was recently held. The attendance was about 3,000, and the gate takings £190. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 6 November 1941

Private Advices: Mr. and Mrs. L. Schmitt of Cummins, have been notified that their eldest son. Pte. W. H. Schmltt. previously reported missing, is now a prisoner of war in Batavia. Pte. Schmitt has two brothers serving in the forces. Cpl. J. M. Schmitt (AIF, returned) and J. E. Schmitt (RAAF).
Private Advices (1942, October 2). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954)

The Cummins Area School was officially opened in 1942 by Sir Shirley Jefferies, Attorney General and Minister of Education in the Butler and Playford Governments from 1933 to 1944.

1950s

The Eyre Peninsula rail network in operation since 1907, was once the largest employer in the region, with over 600 workers in the 1950s and 1960s.

The new Cummins Hospital, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 4 October 1951

These women members attended the recent Lower Eyre Peninsula Agricultural Bureau conference at Cummins. They are, back (from left) — Mcsdrmes J. Walter, M. Murchison and T. Nicholls, Miss B. and T. Pope and Mrs. F. Rowe. Front —Mesdames F. Coles and B. Sharp and Miss M. Gardiner. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 2 October 1952

Eyre Peninsula country carnival footballers as they returned from a bus trip in the hills yesterday afternoon. They are (from left)— Top, W. Lawrie (Cummins),L. Freeman (Pt. Neill) and V. Woods (Pt. Lincoln). Front, F. Post (Cleve), J. Mo Gcever (Pt. Lincoln), D. Harvey (Pt. Lincoln) and J. Cronin (Cummins). Eyre Peninsula country carnival footballers as they returned from a bus trip in the hills yesterday afternoon. They are (from left)— Top, W. Lawrie (Cummins),L. Freeman (Pt. Neill) and V. Woods (Pt. Lincoln). Front, F. Post (Cleve), J. MoGcever (Pt. Lincoln), D. Harvey (Pt. Lincoln) and J. Cronin (Cummins).Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Thursday 2 July 1953

Cummins Ball, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 29 July 1954

Cummins SA Show, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 4 November 1954

A machinery field day was held at Cummins on Thursday last week when there was a big attendance of farmers from southern Eyre Peninsula. ABOVE (left to right): Messrs. R. Sands, D. Fitzgerald, H. Hodge, R. Lockwood and F. Roedigea interested in one of the many implements. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 26 August 1954

A spectacular parade of tractors and farm implements at a recent field day at Cummins, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 2 September 1954

2008

The Cummins Christmas Wonderland was started in 2008 by a very small group of volunteers, who created fun displays celebrating Christmas and other children's themes.

Around Cummins

House on Railway Terrace, Cummins, SA, built 1910

Cummins Institute, SA, built 1936

The Gothic porch and facade of the Methodist Church built in 1912 and still in use as the Cummins Uniting Church, SA. denisbin

The railway workers accommodation barracks in the Cummins Railway Station yards, SA. denisbin

The Presbyterian Church. First church in Cummins, SA. Opened October 1912. Closed 1921. Became the Masonic Hall 1926. Now privately owned. denisbin

The state school began in the Institute in 1912. This stone and brick school room was built in 1921. Now used as a kindergarten, Cummins, SA. denisbin

 Mosaics in the SAR South Australian Railways themed park. The bronze statue of a wheat lumper. Cummins, SA

 Mosaics in the SAR South Australian Railways themed park. The bronze statue of a wheat lumper. Cummins, SA

Cummins Milling was established in 1930 during the depression by Aubrey Heidenreich, SA. The first mill burnt down in 1933, so the existing building was rebuilt in 1934

Things To Do and Places To Go

Explore Cummins