Historical Australian Towns

Maria Island, TAS: Deep History, Convicts and Wildlife

Accessible only by ferry, the island National Park, Maria Island, is located off Tasmania's East Coast.

There are no cars here, only historical buildings and ruins, white sandy beaches, rugged cliffs and wildlife. There are many trails and walks to explore as you absorb the complex and fascinating history of Maria Island, where the most intact example of a convict probation station in Australia can be found.

The Tyreddeme Band of The Oyster Bay People

The palawa kani name for Maria Island is wukaluwikiwayna. (Palawa kani is a constructed language)

The Oyster Bay People consisted of about 10-15 clans, made up of several family groups. Each clan occupied a specific area of land. Maria Island is believed to be part of the territory of the Tyreddeme clan.

It is believed that the Tyreddeme Aboriginal people travelled by canoes, constructed from rushes, between mainland Tasmania and Maria Island, but did not occupy the island permanently.

Aboriginal people first arrived in Tasmania about 40,000 years ago when Tasmania was a peninsula of mainland Australia.

Portrait de Bara-Ourou dans l'atlas du Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes, Charles Alexandre Lesueur et Nicolas-Martin Petit — Bibliothèque nationale de France, Création : 1 janvier 1811

Aboriginal Tasmanians became isolated from the Australian mainland by rising sea levels about 10,000 years ago. Entirely isolated from the rest of humanity and other mainland Aboriginal people for thousands of years until European contact, led to interactions between people with very different world views, practices and beliefs.

Before European contact, there were approximately three to five thousand Aboriginal people living in nine distinct tribes spread across the island of Tasmania.

The "Black War" was a period of violent conflict between the British and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832.

George Augustus Robinson was appointed by Colonial authorities as a conciliator and later “protector” of the Aborigines. Accompanied by Aboriginal woman Truganini, Robinson was successful in obtaining an agreement with the Big River and Oyster Bay peoples, to bring an end to the conflict. By the end of 1835, nearly all the Aboriginal people had been relocated to the new settlement.

The Flinders Island Aboriginal settlement was a failure and in 1856, the remaining Aboriginal people were relocated to Oyster Cove station.

Truganini (c. 1812 – 8 May 1876) often believed to have been the last "full-blood" Aboriginal Tasmanian by European colonists died in 1876.

However, many Aboriginal (Palawa) Tasmanians descend from the multicultural sealer communities of Bass Strait. (see here)

Europeans

Abel Janzoon Tasman in 1642, is believed to be the first European to sight Maria Island. Tasman sailed along the east coast of the island and named it Maria, in honour of the wife of Anthony Van Dieman, the Governor-General of Batavia.

Marion de Fresne, a French privateer and explorer sighted Maria Island in 1772, on his voyage of discovery to find the hypothetical Terra Australis (Southern Land). He was the first European to encounter the Aboriginal Tasmanians. In June 1772, du Fresne and 26 of his crew were killed by Māori people.

During James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific, Tobias Furneaux's ship became separated from Cook's vessel. Cook sailed to New Zealand and Furneaux travelled further north and sighted a group of islands off the south-west cape of Tasmania on 9 March 1773.

On 8 July 1789, Captain Cox and Lieutenant George Mortimer made the first European landing on the island, along with a few crew members, looking for wood and water. Cox named the bay, Oyster Bay. They found trees hollowed out by fire and heaps of shells and rough bark shelters.

The next day, Cox's party came upon a group of Aboriginal men, and the third mate made overtures of friendship. The Aboriginal people mimicked his actions exactly and laughed heartily.

Mortimer wrote that all were entirely naked "except one " man, who had a necklace of small shells, and some of the "women, who had a kind of cloak or bag thrown over "their shoulders." Several were observed to be scarred, and their bodies daubed with reddish earth. Read here

In February 1802, the French navigator Nicolas Baudin, along with zoologist Francois Péron, undertook a three-day navigation of Maria Island. Nicolas-Martin Petit, an artist trained by Napoleon's portrait painter, made sketches of Tasmanian Aboriginal people, but this task was difficult and often they became angry. On Maria Island, Peron had a long hatpin stuck in his leg and one of his earrings torn from his ear.

Géographe and the Naturaliste, from the drawing in Freycinet's Atlas of 1807

Aquatint by Pillement and Duparc after Lesueur, of a European looking at funerary memorials constructed by Aboriginals on Maria Island, Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Illustration from part of 'Voyage de decouvertes aux terres Australes, execute par ordre de S M l'empereur et roi', compiled by naturalist Francois Peron (1775-1810) and published in Paris in 1815

An Aboriginal man wanting Peron’s jacket became aggressive. Peron wrote of him “directing the point of his sagaie towards me”, and he seemed to say, “Give it to me, or I will kill you.”

By the beginning of the 19th-century whalers and sealers had arrived on Maria Island. A whaling station was operating at Whalers Cove in 1825.

The barque Aladdin spent nearly 40 years as a whaler out of Hobart for a succession of owners, Aladdin arrived at Hobart from her final voyage on 15 April 1885 News (Hobart, Tas. : 1924 - 1925)

The First Convict Period: 1825-1832

Governor Arthur directed that a penal settlement be established on the northern part of Maria Island, due to the isolation of the island being a deterrent to convict escape. It wasn't, as on one occasion, six men left the island on a rough bark raft.

In 1825, fifty convicts were brought to the island by English soldiers.

Darlington was chosen as a suitable site. Sandstone was quarried to the south of the Painted Cliffs and a Penitentiary and factory complex built. The Commandant, Major T. D. Lord, had his residence built on a hillside to the west of Darlington. Only the footings are visible today. Other brick and stone buildings were erected.

Brick making, lime making and sandstone quarrying and cultivation of crops commenced, including hops. Sawmilling, blacksmithing, tanning, and cloth-making were also conducted. There were never more than one hundred and sixty convicts on Maria Island during this time.

1830s

Due mainly to frequent escape attempts, the convict settlement closed in 1832 but would re-open again 10 years later. In the interim, the land and buildings were used for pastoral and whaling activities.

In 1832 a woollen factory was the main industry of the island.

Wauba Debar was an Aboriginal woman who saved the life of two European men. She drowned off Maria Island in about 1832 (there are variations of the story). Local settlers raised funds in 1855 to erect a headstone on her grave at Bicheno.

Advertiser (Hobart, Tas. : 1837 - 1840), Tuesday 29 October 1839

1840s

By the beginning of the 1840s, some buildings had gone or were very rundown.

The Second Convict Period: 1842-1850

The Convict Station at Darlington was reopened in 1842, for convicts on probation: those who had nearly finished their sentence. The remaining buildings were repaired and reused and more buildings constructed. The buildings were for military, punishment, educational, domestic, industrial and agricultural uses.

Convicts were divided into classes and allocated different jobs, accomodation, food and privileges. Moral and religious instruction was a strong focus. Well behaved convicts lived in dormitories while those judged to be the worst class lived in dwellings separate from others.

The northern end of the island was used for farming.

The Barn and the windmill with its attendant Miller's Cottage were built on the hillside overlooking the farmland.

In 1845, the Oast House was built to the south of Darlington.

By 1844 there were over 600 convicts on the island.

Smith O'Brien, an Irish political prisoner who would not accept a ticket-of-leave, was a convict at Darlington, in December 1846.

Contemporary portrait of William Smith O'Brien, Irish political activist and politician.

Five Maori political prisoners from New Zealand, involved in rebellion, were sent to the island. One of the Maori people died on the island. His gravestone states:

The house where William Smith O'Brien was confined on Maria Island, TAS, Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932

Here lie the remains of

HOHEPA TE UMUROA
A native of Wanganui, New Zealand, who died July 9th, 1847.

HOHEPA TE UMUROA
A native of Wanganui, New Zealand, who died July 9th, 1847. Maria Island, TAS

The main buildings' at Darlington that accommodated the convicts consisted of six large rooms housing 66 men each, 20 huts of various sizes, for 3 to 24 men in each and about 100 separate apartments.

Hobart Town Advertiser (Tas. : 1839 - 1861), Tuesday 20 April 1847

1850s

Maria Island was abandoned as a convict probation station by 1850.

First industrial era 1888–96

1870s

Darlington Probation Station, Maria Island, taken around 1870 (collected by E. R. Pretyman)

1880s

In the 1880s, Diego Bernacchi, an Italian businessman leased the land at Maria Island with ambitious plans to grow fruit and make wine and silk. Bernacchi re-purposed many buildings and constructed new ones.

Diego Bernacchi, Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Saturday 18 January 1896

By Oct 1886 thousands of grapevines were planted. One story about Bernacchi that may or may not be true claims that he tied bunches of grapes on the vines to impress visiting dignitaries.

At its peak, the island had a population of 500. Bernacchi renamed the island San Diego in 1888. He also started work on a tourist resort which included a hotel and the Coffee Palace restaurant.

The island had a school, shops, butcher, baker, blacksmith, shoemaker and post office at this time.

1890s

In Nov 1896 all the business failed and the Bernacchi family departed for London.

1900s

In the early 1900s, Ruby Hunt’s house was built high on the hill overlooking Darlington Bay.

Interior of prisoners' barracks, Maria Island, Tasmania ca 1900 [picture] / J.W.Beattie, NLA

The Bishop & Clerks [Maria Island, Tasmania]] 1912?, NLA

S.S. Mongana, Maria Island, Easter 1912 [Tasmania] NLA

Field naturalists at Maria Island, 1912 [Tasmania] NLA

Fossil Cliffs [Maria Island, Tasmania] 1912? NLA

Old flour mill, Darlington Pt [Maria Island, Tasmania] 1912? NLA

Hop kilns, Haria Island, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 15 June 1918

The commissariat store was built in 1825 to serve the convict settlement of Darlington, Maria Island, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 15 June 1918

Remains of old windmill, Darlington, Maria Island TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 15 June 1918

1920s

In 1924 Diego Bernacchi returned and opened a cement works with its own mini-railroad. Initially, the concrete enterprise was very successful, and the residents formed sports clubs, had dances and even a had a cinema in the old chapel. However, Bernacchi became ill and died.

Maria Island - settlement of Darlington - view from hill (c1924), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons)

The State School at Darlington, Maria Island, opened in 1925. The building was later removed and re-erected at Triabunna, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954)

National Portland Cement Company works, Maria Island, Tasmania, ca. 1927, NLA

Cement works, Maria Island, TAS

Cement works on Maria Island, TAS. LINC NS479_1_108

Farming era 1930–72

1930s

Concrete operations ceased in the 1930s, and most of Darlington’s residents left. The concrete silos adjacent to the jetty remain as a reminder of the islands commercial past.

Farming families continued living and working on Maria Island, including the Adkins, French, Howell, Robey, Hunt and Haigh families.

Maria Island Hotel, Darlington, Maria Island, TAS, 1935

1940s

Viv and Hilda Robey met in London during World War I, when Viv, a wounded South African soldier, was nursed by Hilda Saunders an English nurse. The couple moved to Maria Island and lived on a sheep farm near the bottom of the island.

Loaded with 501b. packs, Misses Theo Rennie, Daphne Parsons, and Yvonne Weymouth returned to Hobart aboard the George Bass yesterday after a week's hiking on Maria Island. The girls, who live in Hobart, are endeavouring to arrange transport to Lake St. Clair, where they intend to spend the remaining week of their holiday. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 7 February 1948

1950s

In the 1950s, Ruby Hunt operated a pedal wireless. If someone on the island wanted to send a message they would put it in a bottle outside Ruby Hunt’s door. After sending the message, Ruby Hunt would leave the answer in the bottle outside for collection.

Apparently, Ruby would also hang a lantern in her cottage window at night to guide the ship that collected and delivered the mail.

An Easter holiday on Maria Island and an unusual way of getting there! Beverley Binns (left) and Pam Matheson before taking off from Cambridge on Thursday in a plane piloted by Noel Hatton, Aero Club instructor. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 4 April 1953

Mr Robey of Maria Island, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 17 January 1953

1960s

Ruby Hunt was one of the last people to leave Maria island in 1968 before it became a National Park.

From the late 1960s, some wildlife species were released onto the island, including mammals and birds such as Cape Barren geese and emus.

1970s

The island was declared a National Park in 1972. The island's first ranger was Rex Gatenby.

1980s

The Robeys Farm, located on the west side of the south island, was still intact in the early 1980s, but there has been some vandalism.

1990s

Archaeologist Steve Brown in 1991 conducted a heritage survey of Maria Island and found Aboriginal shell middens and one stone arrangement.

2000s

In 2007 the 55m former hopper barge the Troy D was scuttled in Mercury Passage, just 1km off Maria Island, to create a diving wreck.

In 2012 four healthy Tasmanian devils, the first group of Tasmanian devils born and raised on mainland Australia, were released onto Maria Island. Maria Island is a haven from the deadly facial tumour disease that has killed so many devils,

The island has populations of wombats, pademelons, wallabies and Cape Barren Goose.

Maria Island, wombats, TAS

There are no cars on the island so you must walk or take bikes (possible to rent).

Around Maria Island

Bernacchi’s Terraces, Darlington, Maria Island, TAS, built 1886

Ruby Hunt's house, Maria Island, TAS

Cemetery near Darlington, Maria Island, Tasmania, in use from 1825 to 1942

Engine House, brick & Lime Kiln, Maria Island, TAS

Shearing shed at French’s Farm campsite, Maria Island, TAS

Maria Island wombat, near Coffee Palace at Darlington, TAS

The Robey farmhouse, Maria Island, TAS

Darlington, (the former penitentiary) Maria Island, TAS

The Convict barn in the Darlington Historic Precinct, Maria Island, TAS

Darlington, (the former penitentiary) Maria Island, TAS

Commissariat building, Maria Island, TAS, erected in 1825. Today an information centre, with scattered whale bones about

Bernacchi House; a rare, heritage listed housedating back to 1880, Maria Island, TAS

The remains of the Grand Hotel, Maria Island, TAS. Established 1887 by Angelo Diego Bernacchi

Built during the second convict period, this house was the chaplain's house. Diego Bernacchi lived here when he first moved to Maria Island in 1884, adding the verandah and kitchen, Maria Island, TAS

Located 10km south of Maria Island’s Darlington Township, on Maria Island, Point Lesueur Probation Station, TAS. Used as a probation station in 1845 these red-brick ruins once housed up to 336 men

Coffee Palace at Darlington, Maria Island, TAS, built 1888, built by Bernacch

Concrete silos adjacent to the jetty, Maria Island, TAS

The patterns on the Painted Cliffs at Maria Island, TAS, are caused by ground water percolating down through the sandstone and staining the rock. Waves and sea spray have added to the erosion, resulting in the interesting patterns and textures

Fossil Cliffs, Maria Island, TAS

Things To and Places To Go

Facts

Maria Island is off the east coast of Tasmania and can be reached by way of a 30-minute ferry ride. The ferry dock is 1.5 hours drive from Hobart and 2.5 hours from Launceston.

Walk or bike along the road from the ferry jetty for 500m to reach Darlington. Explore the Penitentiary complex. The former Coffee Palace is now a museum.

The ruins of 14 convict era buildings on Maria Island are recognized today as one of the most intact convict sites in Australia.

To get to the Painted Cliffs, walk or bike (about a 30 min walk) along the coast road through Darlington. The cliffs are 2.5km away from the ferry jetty.

The 2-hour loop walk passes historical buildings from the convict era, the Bernacchi era, and the cement plant era. Also, visit the cemetery.

The whole loop is about 4.5km long. There are hills and some sheer cliff edges.

The Reservoir Circuit walk takes about 1.5 hours to complete and is fairly easy, see historical ruins along the way.

The southern part of Maria Island. French’s farm is about a 3 hour walk one way, Point Lesueur is about 3.5 hours to walk.

There are only two choices of accommodation for an overnight stay on Maria Island: camping or staying in the old penitentiary.

Maria Island National Park

Point Lesueur Trails

Tasmanian Aboriginal Place Names

Tasmania 1642 to 1772

Glencoe, SA: Journey Back to The Early Pioneer Pastoralists

Glencoe is located on the Limestone Coast of South Australia, 27 kilometres north-west of Mount Gambier and 354.83 km from Adelaide.

Glencoe was first established in 1844 by Edward and Robert Leake as a sheep shearing station.

The Bungandidj people (spelled variously)

The name Bunganditj means Bung-an-ditj or “people of the reeds”.

The Aboriginal name for the wider Glencoe district was kilap meaning “deep water”.

Christina Smith, a Christian missionary who documented the lives, customs, legends, and language of the Buandig Indigenous Australians wrote (1880):

"The aborigines of the South-East were divided into five tribes, each occupying its own territory, and using different dialects of the same language. Their names were 'Booandik', 'Pinejunga', 'Mootatunga', 'Wichintunga', and 'Taloinjunga."

"The Booandik . . . was the largest and occupied that tract of country extending from the mouth of the Glenelg River to Rivoli Bay North, for about thirty miles inland. The other tribes occupied the country between Lacapede Bay and Border Town, abutting the Booandik country."

Neddy, from "The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends" ...by Christina Smith

Christina and her son Duncan Stewart learnt the Bungandidj language and Duncan was appointed an interpreter for this language in 1853.

According To Christina Smith: "Each tribe, as I have said, is divided into two distinct classes, the Kumite and Kroke. If a man is a Kumite, his wife must be a Kroke; and if a man is a Kroke, his wife must be a Kumite. The children belong to the mother's class."

"Infants are betrothed to one another by their parents. Girls are betrothed by the father, with the concurrence of his brothers, into some family which has a daughter to give in exchange. They term this "wootambau" (exchanging)."

In the Bungandidj world view, everything is divided into two halves. Fison and Howitt (1880) claimed that these moieties (class names) of the Bunganditj people as Kumite and Krokī, with feminine forms Kumitegor and Krokigor.

Within the Kumite class there were five major animal totems
boorte moola: fishhawk
boorte parangal: pelican
boorte wa: crow
boorte willer: black cockatoo
boorte karato: (harmless) snake

The Kroke class had 4 major totems:

boorte wirrmal: owl
boorte wsereoo: teatree scrub
boorte moorna: an edible root
boorte kara-al: white crestless cockatoo.Bungandidj people made digging sticks, boomerangs and throwing sticks out of wood from trees.

Queen Caroline, from "The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends" ...by Christina Smith

Tribal boundaries, according to Tindale, seemed to occur where there were topographical and environmental changes in the country.

Rock shelters and burial grounds may be found in the region.

In 1789, small-pox spread through the Aboriginal population, perhaps spread by sealers and whalers of south-eastern Australia, ahead of the appearance of Europeans in the region. Small-pox epidemics had catastrophic effects on Aboriginal people and populations.

Read (free) "The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends", by Christina Smith. (keep in mind that sources may come from a time that is very different to our own)

British Settlement

British settlement of South Australia began in 1836.

1840s

In January 1844, Robert Leake and his overseer John McIntyre, along with 15 men, drove 7,000 sheep from the Adelaide hills, settling at a lake they named Lake Leake. Originally their holdings consisted of 90,000 acres.

The station was named "Glencoe" by Robert Leake in honour of their manager John McIntyre's birthplace in Scotland. The Scottish Glencoe is infamous as a massacre site of 38 members of Clan MacDonald in 1692.

Glencoe means “Glen” meaning Valley, and “Coe” meaning View.

Hostilities and outrages between Aboriginals and Europeans commenced. Aboriginal people speared stock animals, and settlers retaliated with violence. Europeans abducted Aboriginal women for illicit purposes.

South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 - 1851), Friday 27 December 1844

The Leake brothers reported that they lost 1,000 sheep from their 16,000 flock during 1845.[18] In that same year, Leake and six other armed horsemen confronted about 200 Aboriginal people who had taken a large number of sheep, dispersing them with a few gunshots.

Hostilities are reported to have continued around the Glenelg River region for the next two years.

As hunting and gathering became more difficult due to conflicts over land use and access, many Aboriginal people began living and working on farms or living in camps on the edge of town. Later, missions and reserves were established.

By the late 1840s, some Aboriginal people were employed on the squatters' properties in a variety of occupations, men as shepherds, shearers, bullock drovers and horsebreakers. Women were often domestic workers. The Leake's employed many Aboriginal shepherds and stockmen.

1850s

The original Glencoe Sation in 1854, built in the 1840s without a nail, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931)

Lake Leake in 1854, SA, Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Tuesday 3 December 1940

John Bull and Paunchey. Two noted Lake Leake Aboriginals of the fifties, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931)

This long rectangular two storey house has a short verandah with an archway over its entrance. There is lawn and garden in front of the house and mature trees to the side. When this run was being established in the 1840s there was friction between settlers and the local Buandig tribe and even in 1854 when this homestead was built the situation must still have been tense. It is reputed that there were slits built into the walls of the homestead through which a rifle could be fired. [On back of photograph] 'Frontier House, Glencoe / built by Messrs Leake in 1854 / Undated, before 1926'. SLSA

1860s

Robert Leake died in 1860, and his brother, Edward took over management.

The Glencoe property was leased by John McIntyre from 1867 and later by John Tilley.

Built in 1863, the Glencoe woolshed, built from locally quarried stone and hand-hewn blackwood timbers, was never converted to mechanised shearing. During its heyday, around 50,000 sheep a day would be shorn here.

Glencoe developed from the early days, not as a town, but as two localities, known as Glencoe and Glencoe West.

The Glencoe area, however, did have a bakery, a hardware store, a mechanic, two cheese factories, two halls, two post offices, two sawmills, two shops, two schools and four churches.

1880s

In 1882 the majority of the Glencoe station was bought by the Riddoch family.

1890s

Frontier House : l-r Mrs Laird, Mr Laird, Frank Laird, Sophie Larid, - Harper, ?, Glencoe, SA. 1890, SLSA

In the 1890s the Riddoch family began selling acres of land to small landholders.

With the influx of families into the area, a school was established in 1894.

Shearers assembled by the woolshed, Glencoe, SA. 1893, SLSA

Frontier House - family members sitting on the verandah, Glencoe, SA. 1895, SLSA

1900s

The government divided Glencoe station in 1901 into settler farm blocks, with the first sold in 1902.

The shearer quarters at Glencoe farm was converted to the Glencoe Hall in 1904.

The Mount Gambier railway was extended to Glencoe in 1904.

The Parliamentary Party and Prominent residents of the South East at Glencoe., SA. Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 3 September 1904

The Commissioner of Public Works (Hon. J. Vardon) addressing the children of the Glencoe and Tarqua Schools on the arrival of the First Train at Glencoe, SA. Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 3 September 1904

The Glencoe Post Office, near the Railway Terminus, SA, Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 3 September 1904

In 1904, a man named J. Medhurst was driving his horse and buggy near his property while it was raining, when Mr Medhurst heard "thump, thump" sounds around him in the cart. He was surprised to find it was raining frogs in Glencoe.

The strange "shower of frogs" at Glencoe may have been due to frogs from a nearby waterhole being caught up in a whirlwind during a storm and dropping to the ground as the storm abated.

Glencoe West Presbyterian Church was built in 1906.

1. Main Street, Glencoe West, SA. 2. Post office and refreshment rooms, Glencoe West, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 9 May 1908

Cheese factory, Glencoe West, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 9 May 1908

Glencoe Racing club was established in 1909.

The Glencoe Football Club was in existence in 1910 and the original colours of the club were red, white and blue.

Glencoe West Hall was built in 1911 and opened by George Riddoch.

A timber Methodist church opened 1911, a Catholic Church (Saint Brendans ) in 1911, and an Anglican church (Saint Pauls) 1913.

Opening of St. Brendan's Catholic church, Glencoe, SA, 1911, SLSA

Group at the recent celebration of the Golden Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. W. Sporer, of Glencoe, SA. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 11 January 1913

Opening ceremony of Public Hall at Glencoe, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 25 May 1912,

WWI

Number 1105 BROOKS, Gordon Raymond. GRG26/5/4 Photographic Portraits of South Australian Soldiers, Sailors and Nurses who took part in World War One. Number 1105 BROOKS, Gordon Raymond. 43rd Battalion. Place of birth: Millicent. Residence: Glencoe West. SRSA ref GRG26/5/4/1105, State Records of SA

THE LATE PRIVATE E. MEDHURST. Private Edward Medhurst, who was killed in action in France on March 26, was the youngest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Medhurst, of Glencoe. He left Australia in August last. Private Med- Private E. Medhurst. Private E. Medhursthurst lived in Glencoe practically all his life, and was highly respected. He left a widow and three young children. He was 40 years of age, and was an expert shearer, having worked in all the principal sheds in the South East. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 28 April 1917

Letitia Leake, who grew up on the Glencoe sheep station, later inherited the equivalent of a $40m inheritance and moved to Britain with her family. During WWI, she and her husband donated their Harefield Park property, now in the London Borough of Hillingdon, to the Australian Government for use as an Australian-run hospital to help 50,000 wounded Anzacs. Letitia is buried with her family and many Anzac soldiers at Harefield.

As Glencoe had never had a hotel, in 1917, a vote was held on whether to establish a hotel in the town. The poll result was 34 in favour and 149 against.

1920s

Farmers and dairymen delivering their supplies to the Co-operative Cheese and Butter Factory at Glencoe, SA. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 22 May 1926

South Eastern Times (Millicent, SA : 1906 - 1954), Friday 18 June 1926

1930s

Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Tuesday 7 November 1933

A Methodist Church Hall was built in 1933.

Laying the foundation stone of the Methodist Church Hall, Glencoe, SA. Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 1 April 1933

Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Tuesday 13 March 1934

Six months ago the Highways Department erected a crusher adjoining the abrupt cliff at the Hanging
Rocks, a few chains from the Tantanoola Cave, to secure metal for the construction of the bitumen
road cn the Prince's Highway from The Snuggery to Glencoe. The stone is particularly suitable for road construction, and is somewhat similar to the red dolomite used for building, purposes. Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Thursday 1 March 1934

BASKET-BALL IN THE SOUTH EAST. The Glencoe West Old Scholars Basket-ball Team, Premiers of the recently-formed Association. The team had an unbeaten record in Association matches during the past season. From left: — Zetta Koop, Clytie Koop (Captain), Margaret Tregenza, Belle Copping, Linda Ferguson, Estelle Telfer, and Nesta Koop.— A.C. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 22 November 1934

GLENCOE FOOTBALL CLUB. Premiers of the South-Eastern B Grade Association. Back row(from left): A. Menzies, G. Copping, L. Widdison, R. B. KnowUng (treasurer) G Sporer E Menzips GTelfer Second: F. A Telfer (timekeeper), D. Menzies. C. Ferguson, A^Thompson, A ^^ Riddle T W Ron, G. R. Holloway (goalkeeper). Third row: E. HoUoway, I. W. Bateman (secretory) C RWdle fvicecaptain), S Burston (captain), P. J. Ryan (president), E. R. Edwards^ /N. Coping? RChilds. S?5n Tow' S. Hunter, Fred Bateman (mascot), L. Allen. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 28 November 1935, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 28 November 1935

GLENCOE WEST WINS. Premiers in the South Eastern B Grade Cricket Association, the Glencoe West team comprised : — Back row (from left) : T. Ryan, H. Koop, T. Michell, C. Ferguson (vice-captain), G. Sporer, G. Ferguson. Front row: G. Kennedy, G. Copping, G. Telfer (captain), F. Telfer (president), B. Morris, and N. Copping (secretary).Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 15 July 1937

VERNA CARTHEW, daughter ofMr. and Mrs. J. T. Carthew, of Glencoe West, who secured her A.L.C.M. for pianoforte recently. Verna is 13 years and 8 months old and is a pupil of Miss I. E. Dunning. Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 13 August 1938

WWII

Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Tuesday 13 May 1941

1950s

The railway closed in the 1950s when the main line was changed from narrow to broad gauge.

A South Australian Railways Y class locomotive departs Glencoe, SA, for the final time in 1957 (John Masson)

1970s

The Glencoe Central School opened in 1972, was an amalgamation of the Glencoe and Glencoe West schools.

Glencoe Football Clubrooms opened in 1973.

2000s

2012: Birds were blamed for starting a grass fire at Glencoe, sparked by corellas eating the plastic covering on a transformer.

2016: Glencoe Guernsey steer Big Moo is perhaps Australia's biggest cow.

Tourists were attracted by the glow-in-the-dark poisonous mushrooms (fan-shaped Omphalotus nidiformis ) growing in Glencoe Forest.

Around Glencoe