Berry, NSW: A Charming, Historic Town

Berry village is in the Shoalhaven region on the South Coast of NSW, 143 km (89 mi) south of Sydney.

The Wodi Wodi Clan Of The Dharawal people 

The Wodi Wodi people spoke the Dharawal language, which was similar to neighbouring coastal languages. These languages are often grouped together as dialects under the broader title of either the Yuin or Katungal language,

A.W. Howitt, a 19th-century anthropologist and explorer, documented the social structure, initiation ceremonies, and kinship systems of the Dharawal (Tharawal) people of the South Coast region of NSW in his 1904 text, 'The Native Tribes of South-East Australia.'

The Yuin are a group of Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast of New South Wales, who share close cultural similarities with the Dharawal people.

Howitt often grouped the coastal clans of southern NSW under the umbrella term 'Yuin'. He noted that while 'Yuin' means 'man' to the tribes further south, in the Dharawal language area, the word translates to 'yes.'

'When a child was born among the Yuin, its father pointed out some hills, lakes, or rivers to the men and women there present as being the bounds of his child's country, being that where his father lived, or where he himself was born and had lived. It was just the same with a girl, who had her mother's country, and also that in which she was born. Besides this, the father took the country where his child was born, if away from his own locality, and the mother took that where her daughter was born under similar circumstances.'

'.....the Yuin, who also divide their people into those who live on the coast, those who live in the forest inland from the coast, and those who live in the mountains.'

'Among the Yuin a man might not kill or eat his Jivibir, also called Budjan (totem). In addition to the group totem, the novice receives an individual totem at the initiation ceremonies from some one of the Gommeras. In one instance which came under my notice, this individual totem was Wombat, and the medicine-man who gave it said to the novice, 'You must not eat it.' The novice was of the
Kaualgar or Kangaroo totem hy inheritance from his father. Another man of the Kangaroo Jiinbir believed that animal gave him warnings of danger, by hopping towards him, and he said that it would not be right for a Kaualgar man to kill a kangaroo. This was the group totem of that man.'

Natives of New South Wales Advancing to Combat. From an engraving in Parkinson's Journal in the British Museum. Mr. Sidney Parkinson was with Mr. (afterwards Sir) Joseph Banks on H.M.S. Endeavour. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912)

Note: Tribal name may be of dubious origin, see here

1800s

Nicholas Martin Petit sailed with Nicolas Baudin on the French expedition of the Géographe and the Naturaliste, from 1800-1804. During this time, Petit made portraits of people of the Cadigal, Dharawal, Gweagal, Kurringai and Darug language groups of the Sydney Harbour region.

The natives of New South Wales, Nicholas Martin Petit, Nicolas-Martin Petit served as an artist and assistant gunner on the 1800–1804 French expedition to Australia.

In the Sydney Gazette, 4 June, 1814, there are reports that the combined Jervis Bay and Mountain tribes (the Dharawal and Gundungara people) will attack settlers.

'The hordes of natives that shew themselves at a distance in the environs of the Cow Pasture settlement, excite considerable alarm among the settlers. Many of their wives and children have forsaken their dwelling, and sought shelter in securer places. The natives of Jarvis's Bay are reported in good authority to have coalesced with the mountain tribes. They commit no depredations on the corn fields, but have declared a determination, that when the Moon shall become as large as the Sun, they will commence a work of desolation, and kill all the whites before them. - The full of the moon, which yesterday took place, was clearly understood to be the fixed period alluded to; and the settlers, in self defence, had formed a resolution to watch their respective farms by night, and by voice or gun communicating to each other any immediate danger of attack; in case of which all within the settlement were to repair to the place of danger.' here

Charles Throsby and Hamilton Hume explored the region in 1818.

Alexander Berry, after whom the village is named, had an adventurous life. Notably, he rescued four crew members of the Boyd after they were massacred and eaten by Māoris in 1809. He undertook a dangerous mission to save them, successfully negotiating with the chiefs involved in the massacre.

In 1822, Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft (nephew of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and cousin to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley), obtained a grant of 10,000 acres and 100 convicts from the NSW Government. Berry said that they settled ‘at the foot of a hill called by the natives ‘Collungatta,’  (the Aboriginal word for fine view)

An Aboriginal person named Toodwick, born in this area then known as Boon-ga-ree, showed Alexander Berry around the area. Toodwick was also known as Broughton (read here), so the creek and township were named Broughton Creek after him. In 1890 the town was renamed Berry. 

Portrait of Toodwick (Broughton) in 1819 by Jacques Arago

This grant, on the north side of the river, expanded south through purchasing grants of other settlers. By 1863, this property had expanded to more than 40,000 acres (16,000 ha).

Berry referred to convicts as 'Government Men.' Theses convicts and free settlers drained swamps, grew crops, farmed animals and created a village at Coolangatta. Thoroughbred horses raised here were also exported to India.

Alexander Berry had close and respectful relationships with local Aboriginal people including, Charcoal, Broughton, Broger, Wajin, Couray and Old Settler. (1.)

Shoalhaven News, Nowra (NSW : 1937 - 1945)

From 1825, the area became a private town called Broughton Creek, part of the large pastoral holding called the Coolangatta Estate owned by Berry and Wollstonecraft. Coolangatta became a self-supporting village, with its own mills, workshops and tradesmen.

1830s

242 men were employed by Alexander Berry by 1838.

Berry's three brothers and two sisters joined him at Coolangatta in 1836. His brother John managed the estate but then he died in a horse riding accident in 1848, and management was left to David Berry.

 Alexander Berry, a portrait reproduced from his book, 'Reminiscences of Alexander Berry.'

1840s

A ship built at Berry, Coolangatta, was wrecked near Point Danger off the NSW coast in 1846.

1850s

CONVICT CRAFTSMEN A visitor to the Shoalhaven about this period (the early 'forties) writes of Berry: "B., a Scotchman, has accumulated a large property by his own unaided exertions. He owns 70,000 acres, and employs 200 men. He has constructed a windmill and several sawmills, makes his own casks, and all his iron work, contracts largely to supply the Government with salt provisions; and the shoemakers, carpenters, smiths, butchers, and salters who are employed on his establishment were nearly all convicts." In 1851, the tenants and laborers and their families numbered 474.  Shoalhaven News

1860s

The Berry Hotel at 120 Queen Street, was established in 1863.

The Broughton Creek Literary and Debating Society was established in 1866.

1870s

Alexander Berry's death at the age of 92 in 1873.

1880s

Berry Museum at 135 Queen Street, was originally built in 1885 as the English, Scottish, and Australian (ES&A) Bank.

The post office with residence attached built in 1886 on land sold for this purpose by David Berry.

The Berry Register was established in 1886 as a weekly local newspaper in the Berry district. It incorporated the Broughton Creek Register and the Kangaroo Valley and South Coast Farmer.

The s.s. Meeinderry trades direct between Sydney and Broughton Creek twice a week, and I. S. N. Company's steamers connect with it by their draggers every Wednesday and Friday. The Coomonderry steamer also trades regularly between Broughton Creek and Sydney. A daily mail and passenger coach runs between Broughton Creek and Kiama and Broughton Creek and Moss Vale via Nowra, Cambewarra, and Kangaroo Valley. Broughton Creek Register, and Kangaroo Valley and South Coast Farmer (Berry, NSW : 1886 - 1890), Saturday 28 January 1888

Broughton Creek Register, and Kangaroo Valley and South Coast Farmer (Berry, NSW : 1886 - 1890), Saturday 28 January 1888

1890s

Berry Courthouse, at 58 Victoria Street, built in1890.

BERRY (late Broughton Creek) a post, savings bank, money-order, telegraph, and municipal centre, on a river of the same name 120 miles S. of Sydney. It is in the. south-east of the county of Camden electorate, and police district of Shoalhaven. Steamers ply to Sydney three times a week. Kiama is the nearest railway station, to which a coach runs daily, fare 4s. : coaches also run to Nowra. Banks: English and Scottish, Australian Joint Stock, and Commercial. One public school, average attendance 101, and a high class school for girls; three churches, Episcopal, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic, school of arts with 450 volumes, eight stores and two hotels, the Commercial and Great Southern. A Court of Petty Sessions is held every alternate Friday. A newcourt house is in course of erection to cost  £1,500. The country isvery mountainous, the ranges averaging 1,000 to 1,200 feet in height. The valleys are very fertile, and large quantities of maize and other cereals, as well as potatoes and other root crops are raised, but the principal staples of produce are butter, pigs and cheese. Wilson's General Store on the corner of Queen & Alexandra Streets, was built in 1892.Berry Railway Station on Station Road, was constructed in 1893. The Australian handbook, 1891

Berry Courthouse operated as a courthouse from 1891 to 1988.

The railway reached Berry in 1893.

Berry Showgrounds, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 5 December 1896

Berry, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 5 December 1896

Berry, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 5 December 1896

Built in 1888 as the Exhibition Hall for the Berry Agricultural & Horticultural Association, Saturday 5 December 1896

Berry, NSW, 1896, SLNSW

In the 1890s the Berry milk factory was the largest in the colony.

1900s

CARPENTER JACK, MARY HIS GIN, AND THEIR GRANDCHILD. Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), Saturday 10 June 1905 (originally, the word 'gin' came from the Dharuk (Sydney) word diyin, meaning wife or woman.). Carpenter Jack - An Aboriginal. Born on banks Shoalhaven River in 1807? who died in 1914, was on the books of the Berry Estate, Coolangatta in 1825 as being 18 years old. As a young man he was a stockman for the Berry estate. The way he keeps the burial ground of his children and grandchildren is an object lesson for many of the whites. He is conversant, and can relate many interesting stories of South Coast pioneer days. As a young man he was a stockman for the Berry estate. He obtains his living by fishing and marketing oysters. When told that he is now an old man he simply smiles - (15 December 1904 The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser)

Punt Over Broughton Creek, Five Miles from Nowra. NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 21 November 1906

The Sydney Rural Camp School was held the year at Berry, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 23 March 1907 

An Inland Cruise — Picnic Party on Broughton Creek, Berry.Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 21 October 1908

At Berry National Show, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 2 December 1908

Berry National Show, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 2 December 1908

Situated as lt is be tween Kiama and .Nowra, Berry is the centre of a large tourists' district, and is within easy driving distance of many of the South Coast sights. Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 21 November 1906

Old Coolangatta-road., Berry, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 25 November 1908

A Photographic Study on Mr. M- Pulman's Farm, 'Willow Glen.", Berry, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 17 , March 1909

Bomaderry Aboriginal Mission (1908–88).

 SALE OF THE TOWN. A reason for the town of Berry being of special interest at the moment is that the principal part of the township has been sold under the auctioneer's hammer. On market day, Wednesday, February 21, shops, houses, allotments, and great blocks of land in the main streets of the town were trans-ferred to the highest bidders from being a portion of the great Berry Estate. The es-tate was made up of 60,000 acres of rich agricultural and grazing land on both sides of the Shoalhaven and Crookhaven Rivers, being intersected by Broughton River, which was navigable for quite large vessels up to the present town of Berry. In early days it went by the name of Broughton Mill Creek settlement. FIRST SUBDIVISION. In 1892, three years after the death of Mr. David Berry, a first great subdivision sale took place by order of the trustees, the late Sir John Hay and the late Hon. Dr. Norton, M.L.C. .Besides what was then sold, there have been many private sales at different times, the public offices, churches, etc., hav-ing passed out of the estate as occasion de-manded, but although the sales had been ex-tensive in the surrounding country, a great portion of the lands of the town of Berry itself remained until the time of the recent auction sale as part of the colossal estate. The sale in one day of almost an entire town, for nearly a century owned by one man, and his heirs, is unique in the history of the Australian Commonwealth; Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 March 1912

Berry District Hospital, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 March 1912 (David Berry Hospital was established as a result of a bequest left to the people of Berry by David Berry, who died in 1899. Berry left £100,000 "for the purpose of erecting a hospital for diseases for the benefit particularly of inhabitants of Broughton Creek and the District of Shoalhaven")

Main Street of Berry, NSw, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 March 1912

Berry School of Arts, NSW, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 March 1912

AGED ABORIGINAL.Jack Carpenter a full-blooded aborigine, said to be over 100 years of ago, died at Roseby park Station. Croolchaven Heads. From records found locally, it. seems Carpenter wns a lad of 18 when Alexander -Berry settled at Coolangatta, in 1S28, and was marshal of a tribe which frequently waged war with blacks from Charcoal, lllawarra.Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), Monday 25 May 1914,

WWI (1914-1918)

Group portrait of three brothers. Left to right, 476 Corporal (Cpl) William De Boynton, 26th Battalion; 4544A Private (Pte) Francis De Boynton, 13th Battalion; and 3132 Private (Pte) Arthur De Boynton, 45th Battalion; all of Drake, NSW. Cpl William De Boynton, a labourer before he enlisted on 23 April 1915, embarked from Brisbane with B Company on HMAT Ascanius on 24 May 1915. He was killed in action in France on 29 July 1916, at the age of 29. Pte Francis De Bonyton was a farmer before enlisting on 21 August 1915. He embarked from Sydney on the RMS Osterley with the 14th Reinforcements, 1st Battalion, on 15 January 1916. On 4 March 1916 he was transferred to 23rd Battalion. He was killed in action in France on 9 August 1916 at the age of 20. Pte Arthur de Boynton, a dairy farmer before he enlisted on 1 November 1916, embarked on 25 November 1916 from Sydney on HMAT Beltana with the 8th Reinforcements. He was killed in action in Belgium on 10 June 1917 at the age of 24. AWM (1915)

Read more

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 23 September 1916,

1920s

JAMES WILSON, whose name goes down in the annals of local history as the first Mayor of Berry, started life as a ferryman. AND he rapidly rowed his way to a more solid means of livelihood. A magnificent home on the gorgeous heights of beautiful Bellawongara stands as a monument to his industry. THE late James Wilson was a man of many parts. He ministered to the sick—knowing a little of medicine—yanked out teeth, and carried out the duties of a veterinary surgeon, A TANNERY and flour mill on Broughton Mill Creek were further instances of this pioneer's industrial activity, THEN Mr. Wilson, with whom was associated the late James English, carried on a storekeeping business in Queen-street, Berry. This is the store now carried on by A. F. Hale &. Co. South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Friday 15 October 1926

1930s

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Tuesday 24 February 1931,

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Thursday 29 March 1934

"Mabel's Countess," a Jersey, champion dairy cow of Berry Show, with little Miss Chegwidden, daughter of the owner, Mr. E. Chegwidden, of Austral Park, Berry. Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 15 February 1935

1940s and WWI (1939-1945)

Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser (NSW : 1863 - 1947), Saturday 17 August 1940

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Thursday 5 June 1941

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Thursday 6 March 1941

Miss Robin Chittick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Chiltick, of Gcrringgong, preparing some of her father's exhibits for the Berry Show last Saturday7 Miss Chittick is a typical land girl, who has been borm to farm life and can do a man's work on a dairy farm. Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 9 February 1945

1950s

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Thursday 25 January 1951

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Thursday 2 July 1953

South Coast Register (Berry, NSW : 1926; 1929 - 1931; 1933 - 1953), Thursday 20 November 1952

Around Berry

Bust of Alexander Berry, Berry, NSW

The former Post and Telegraph Office in Berry, NSW, was built in 1886

Berry School of Arts, NSW

Berry, NSW

Berry, NSW

Berry, NSW

Berry Museum, NSW

A church was built in the town of Berry, NSW, in the late 1880s, and was replaced by the present Presbyterian church on 9th. May 1934 

St Luke's Anglican Church, Berry, NSW, was opened in 1885 on land donated by the Berry Estate

Berry, NSW - St Patrick's Catholic, The Church was established in 1870. A Foundation stone reads, "This Foundation stone of St Patrick's Church Berry was solemnly blessed and laid by His Grace The Most Rev M. Sheehan D.D. 24 November 1935"

The Berry Uniting Church, NSW, was built as Methodist Church in 1932

The Berry Courthouse, NSW, was designed by James Barnet in the Greek Revival style and built in 1890 and 1891

Things To Do and Places To Go

Australian languages and traditions / William Ridley (Aboriginal) (1873)

Berry Heritage Walk

Berry Museum

Birdwood, SA: Town With German Flavour

The town of Birdwood, originally named Blumberg, is in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia, around 44 km from Adelaide city centre.

Birdwood was settled by Prussian settlers originating from the area around Zullichau.

The Peramangk Aboriginal People

THE ABORIGINES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

The following letter is from a German Missionary to South Australia, to a member of the Aborigines' Protection Society in London, — Adelaide, June 12th, 1839. Read more

 As regards the manners of the South Australian Aborigines, they have many in common with other Polynesians, as tattooing, painting themselves with red colour, polygamy, &c. But there seems also to exist, a sort of limited polyandry, inasmuch as the brothers of a husband have a secondary claim to his wife. At first I was much struck, that whenever I got a married native brother (for I have many adoptive brothers and other relatives among the Aborigines), he would say his wife was ours, not knowing the connexion between brotherhood and this kind of polyandry. Hitherto it was generally believed, as also by myself, that there were no chiefs among the natives ; but I recently ascertained, that there is at least something similar to a chieftainship. They call such a man "Burka ;" i. e., a hoary old man, exactly corresponding with the latin, senator ; and his distinction is that the "Unjawaieti" play (corrobbery, the Europeans call it) is his, and that he has the honour of directing it. This dignity is hereditary from father to son. The present Burka of the Adelaide tribe is called "Kua Kartameru" by his countrymen, King John by the Europeans, and has four wives, more than any other native that I know of. The Unjawaieti before alluded to is a play, at which the women sing and beat their hands on their skins, wrapped up like a muff, in a sitting posture, while the men dance, flourishing their weapons and roaring like lions. Besides this, they have another play, at which the men, ornamented with white stripes over their faces, breasts, and knees, and a wreath of green leaves round their legs, stamp alternately with their feet on the ground at such a tremendous rate, that large clouds of dust rise towards the sky. Three are stamping at a time ; when one is tired, he sits down on the ground, which is accompanied by a loud shout of the rest, and another comes forward in his place. When we first came in the colony, they had this play almost every evening, this being always the time of their amusements ; but now never. This is owing to the fact, that this play goes from one tribe to another ; for they tell me, that they laid it down at a distance, from where another man fetched it, but by and by it would come back. To this custom the name of the play appears to refer, as they called it "Kuri," which signifies a ring or anything round. Many of the manners of the Aborigines evidently bear an oriental character, as for instance, circumcision, which they practise in almost all ages ; their lamentations over dead persons, every one repeating the name which the deceased bore as his relative, the one crying, "My father, my father !" another, "My brother, my brother !" &c., &c. (See Jeremiah xxii. 18.)South Australian Colonist and Settlers' Weekly Record of British, Foreign and Colonial Intelligence (London, England : 1840), Tuesday 17 March 1840

Portraits of Aboriginal Australian men of South Australia, 1847 / George French Angas.

The designs on Aboriginal shields often signify the artist's clan or family group. There were two main types of shields: broad shields and parrying shields. The narrow but thick parrying shield would deflect blows from clubs in close combat. While, broad shields are generally, wider and thinner, and intended to stop spears.

Outlines of a grammar, vocabulary, and phraseology, of the aboriginal language of South Australia, by Teichelmann, Chr. G. [from old catalog]; Schürmann, C. W., [from old catalog] joint author Publication date 1840. Read here

1830s

The first Europeans to explore the Birdwood region were Dr George Imlay and John Hill in January 1838.

Early settlers to South Australia were mostly British. The first large group of Germans arrived in 1838, with the financial assistance of the Emigration Fund.

1840s

The wool industry was the basis of South Australia's economy, with the first wool auction held in Adelaide in 1840.

George Fife Angas and the South Australian Company had taken up considerable areas of land —later leased or sold to settlers—but no real settlement at Birdwood (Blumberg) before 1848.

The centre of the first settlement appears to have been situated about a mile N.W. of the present town, on the other side.of the Torrens. (2.)

The town was settled in the mid 1840s by German (Prussian) immigrants, bringing their Lutheran faith. The German settlement was called Blumberg after a region of Prussia. (Some of the settlers were Germans fleeing from the Danish annexation of a part of previous Prussian territory)

The cemetery contains the remains of 10 first German settlers, with the first burial being of 7 year old Juliane Huebner in 1848.

1850s

Pastor Fritzsche, stated in letters, that he objected to the indiscriminate ring-barking and felling of beautiful gum trees since he was a lover of nature. (1.)

In 1850, a small Lutheran church was built.

Mr Bluemel laid out the town in 1853. The original flour mill was built in 1855 by German settler Gottlieb Blumel.

Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 28 October 1854,

George Fife Angas sold a portion of land in 1856 to J.C. Handell, a blacksmith, and J.G. Cloke, a wheelwright. Bluemel's mill stood on this land and the adjacent wheelwright and blacksmith shops were the centre of the town, which he named Blumberg.

The Napoleon Bonaparte Hotel was built about 1856. (now The Blumberg Hotel)

Responsible government was granted to South Australia in 1857.

By 1858 the district had a considerable population. The Lutheran congregation numbered about
500. Failure of the harvest caused many to leave. (3.)

1860s

Holy Cross Lutheran church 1860 built to replace an earlier 1850 church.

The opening of the bridge is reported in the Register, 23 May 1861.

Adelaider Deutsche Zeitung (SA : 1851 - 1862), Friday 31 May 1861

The first mill burned down in 1865 and was rebuilt in 1868 by William Beavis Randell, of Gumeracha, and his son Samuel.

The laying of the foundation stone of the Catholic Church is detailed in the Register, 12 June 1867.

1870s

A gold discovery in the district is reported in the Register, 5 February 1870.

1880s

The laying of the foundation stone of the Institute is reported in the Register, 14 March 1884.

1900s

A wattle bark industry is described in the Register, 29 January 1902. (wattle bark as well as providing work, provided tannin the tannery industry)

Mr. Diedrich Haeveker, who died at Blumberg, was born on Christmas Day, 182S. and he had lived in South Australia for 50 years. He was formerly landlord of the Napoleon Hotel, King William-street.Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 5 March 1904

A telephone office, on the condenser system, was opened ai Blumberg on -December 19. 1905.

Main Street of Blumberg, SA, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 19 May 1906,

THE SIENNA MINE AT BLUMBERG, S.A. The inspecting party grouped around the mam shaft.Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 20 June 1906

The Blumberg Hotel, SA (Birdwood), horse drawn vehicles, which include the Royal Mail Passenger Coach and an early make motor car wait outside, c1906. SLSA

MR. G. SHEPHERDSON'S SLEEPER-CUTTING MILLS NEAR BLUMBERG, SA (Birdwood) Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 17 August 1907

1. Main Street of Blumberg, SA, (birdwood) Showing the Old Institute on the left in Foreground. 2. VIEW IN RECREATION GROUND. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 6 January 1906

A NEW SOUTH AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY.THE MOUNT SIENNA T1UMENT AND TAINT MINE AT EDUMBEKG. THE ONLY MINE OF ITS KIND IN .AUSTRALIA.1. Shaft and Engine Crushing Room. 2. Shaft, Crushing Boom, and Settling Pitts. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 6 July 1907 

The insolvency case of Benjamin Adolph Stein and Alexander Albert Stein (trading as Stein Brothers). ' butter manufacturers, of Blumberg. Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Wednesday 22 July 1908)

ARBOR DAY AT BLUMBERG: FRIDAY, JULY 31. WHERE THE TREE-PLANTING TOOK PLACE. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 8 August 1908

Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Monday 1 February 1909

Blumberg (Birdwood) bridge on the road to Gawler, SA, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 20 August 1910

Blumberg (Birdwood) SA, people who want a railway and Main Street of the township. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 20 August 1910

Bullock team standing west of Rathjen's home, Birdwood, SA, 1910, SLSA

BLUMBERG LADIES' CLUB. Standing— Misses L. Crane, a Promnit?, S. Macrschel, B. Promnitz, and A. Fewster. Seated— Misses L. Verall, A. Klose ?ifcaptain), L- Ptevcus, and N1. McGlowh. RceJining— Misses I. Kaddin and G. Pflar.m (serretary). siadjin, photo. C- r- ? Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 24 August 1912,

SOME RESIDENTS OF BLUMBERG AND SURROUNDING DISTRICT. (Birdwood, SA) Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 6 April 1912

Residents of Blumberg, South Australia, 1914, State Library of South Australia

The opening of Angas Bridge on 17 April 1915.

The opening of Angas Bridge, Blumberg, SA, (Birdwood). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 17 April 1915

WWI (1914-1918)

THE LATE PRIVATE R. PFLAUM. Mr. and Mrs. Pflaum, of Blumberg, have been advised that their son, Private Ray Pflaum, has died of wounds, a prisoner of war in Germany. Private Pflaum, who had just attained his 19th birthday, was educated at the Blumberg Primary and High Schools and Prince Alfred College. He was a fine all-round athlete, and was an active member of the tennis, cricket, football and rifle clubs. He enlisted for active service in July, 1915, and sailed in November for Egypt, where his battalion was stationed on the canal defences until June of this year, when it was transferred to France. He was wounded in the big push in July and taken prisoner. He was greatly esteemed, and his death is much felt through the district. Two of his brothers, Private Elliot Pflaum and Sergeant Theo. Pflaum, are still at the front. The latter was mentioned in dispatches for gallant work in the attack in which Ray fell. He came across Ray lying on the battlefield, but the latter, though severely wounded, would not let him remain behind, telling him to go forward, and saying he would be quite all right. Later on the company was outflanked and had to retire leaving the wounded on the field.Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 30 December 1916

LATE PTE.F. S. JEFFERY. BLUMBERG August 2l;-On, Tuesday it was learned that Pte. F. S. Jeffery had been killed in France. He was formerly the high school teacher, and was highly esteemed by. all who knew him. His is _ the first death in the ranks of local soldiers. He was. for some time .at 'Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal zone before goi iz with his battalion to France. While in this town Mr. Jeffery was the Secretary:7 and promotor of the literary society, and he started the Blumberg Rifle Club just' before he enlisted. He was also also Secretary of the football dub, and a member of the institute committee.Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Thursday 24 August 1916

Pflaum and Co. 's Peerless Roller Mills. The original building on the right was built by the Randalls but was used later for the storage of bran and pollard. The extension on the left was built by P. Flaun in 1877. Birdwood, SA, (1916) SLSA

Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA : 1880 - 1960), Friday 19 April 1918

The German town name was anglicised to 'Birdwood' during World War I (1918, along with many others in the region). (there was a lot of anti-German sentiment in World War I). The town was named in honour of Sir William Birdwood, the general who led the ANZACs at Gallipoli during World War I.

1920s

The discovery of an extensive deposit of ochre and sienna at no great distance from the surface and within 30 miles of Adelaide, (Blumberg). New York Times (1920) Ochre and Sienna used in painting pigments since prehistoric times)

Main Street, Birdwood, SA, in 1924. This photograph was reproduced in the Observer on 5th July 1924. It depicts F. Pflaum and Company, millers and chaff merchants. Over the road from the millers is possibly the Bank of Adelaide building. The main road is a dirt road and bullocks or horses and carts can be seen in the distance, SLSA

BIRDWOOD AND MANNUM PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP THEIR STUDEBAKER SERVICEThere has been a great deal of discussion lately regarding the retention of Birdseye & Son's passenger service on the Birdwood and Mannum routes. It was stated at a deputation that waited on the Premier last Friday morning that the people at these towns, also those along the route, were quite satisfied with the service which they had received from Birdseye & Sons during the.last six years, and the Premier was asked to withdraw the railway buses from this particular route. The above photograph shows a Studebaker 15-passenger bus and three Studebaker Big Six 7-passenger ears that Messrs. Birdseye &;Son run on their service. The fact that the people in these districts are so keen to keep this service proves that Messrs. Birdseye & Son made a wise choice in purchasing Studebakers.News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Monday 1 March 1926

Birdwood District Schools, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Saturday 20 April 1929,

1930s

BIRDWOOD EN FETE. The main street at Birdwood on Saturday, when the picturesque hills town held a ' Back-to-Birdwood' celebration. His Excellency the Governor and Lady Dugan were present MEMORIAL GATES OPENED. His Excellency the Governor (Sir Winston Dugan) opening the Elliott Theel memorial gates at Birdwood Park on Saturday, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the town.Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Thursday 10 November 1938

1940s and WWI

Mr. Neumann, Mrs. Neumann There, Mr. Morphett says, one gets an insight into the grit, and persistence of the men who originally brought that countrvside into production. Mr. Neumann is a son of Gottfried Neumann, who left Brcslau. in search ; of religious freedom and tolerance, in j company with the Silcsian migrants. : gathered under Pastor Kavel. : They arrived at Holdfast Bay in ? Captain Hahn's Zebra on December 23. 1838, in the charge of Charles Flax- ; man. Pastor Kave] and many other ; religious refugees, had previously | landed from the Prince George. i Charles Flaxman was Mrs. George ! Morphett's grandfather ; Real Pioneering T-TERE is a story of real pioneering. After a brief sojourn at Hahndorf, Gottfried Neumann secured a section i of land at Blumberg (Birdwood). and ; erected a wattle and daub hut on the i site of the present high school. There, after strenuous work in clear ing the honeysuckle scrub and grub bing the mighty gum trees, sawn and ' split into fence posts. Gottfried died at i the age of 47. leaving his widow to support a family, ranging from 19 years to 18 months. : The widow toiled on. walking to Adelaide weekly, with a heavy burden of farm produce. .lust 'lien her five- ;year-old son -G.W.) started to help the family by milking the cow, collect ing bones, to be sold at 2/6 a bag; gath ering firewood, and starting on a useful lile. Today the veteran's main relaxation is to help with the feeding and milk ing on what Mr. Morphett describes as one of the cleanest and neatest | farms he has seen. i Mr. and Mrs. Neumann wall celebrate the golden anniversary of their wed ding on May 25. j Y.P. Pioneer 90 Today On Saturday Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Monday 29 April 1940

MONEY FOR AMBULANCE. Mr. A. V. Bawden handing to the Premier (Mr. Playford) on Saturday a cheque for £500 which the residents of Birdwood — many of them of German descent — sub-scribed for an ambulance.Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Thursday 15 August 1940

Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA : 1880 - 1960), Thursday 8 October 1942

Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Tuesday 21 December 1943

First Prize Pair Of A.M.&. Cows,  A. J. Mueller and Son, Birdwoo, SA. .Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1965), Thursday 3 April 1947

1950s

The Birdwood Mill finally closed in 1953. (now the site of the motor museum)

THEY'RE a versatile lot at Birdwood. In the field of farming and in the field of. sport they rank high with any other town in the State. Versatility is the keynote of the farms around the township, in the rolling country 28 miles east of Adelaide. With the good roads and fast transport these days, the townspeople say they are almost suburban. Department of Agriculture experts who keep advocating diversified farming must look kindly on Birdwood. Milk, eggs, wool, meat, potatoes, bacon and honey are among the primary products of the town. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 23 September 1953

CITY MOTORS PTY. LTD. o BIRDWOOD, SA. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 23 September 1953

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 23 September 1953

Coach driver likes -modern car He's just the man to draw comparisons between old and new methods of getting places. 'In the old days I used to drive the coach- - it had a three-horse team -between here and Mannuma," he said. "'We had up to 12 passengers on board in the holiday times. "Another coach, run was Birdwooti to Woodside, about· 12 miles over a metal road." Mr. Neumann thinks the cars of today do a great job." He followed the Redex trial keenly and barracked. for '"Possum" Kipling all the way. Mr. Neumann was born at Birdwood in a thatched roof cottage, and helped his father reap wheat with a sickle. He was 18 when the foundation stone was laid at the Birdwood Institute. He attended the one-room school. Birdwood Institute is 70 years old next March. One of its proud tiossesslons is the £500 full portrait of Lord .Birdwood, ....News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 23 September 1953,

Leader (Angaston, SA : 1918 - 1960), Thursday 27 August 1953

1960s

The National Motor Museum in Birdwood was started by Jack Kaines and Len Vigar after they purchased the old mill buildings in 1964, and opened as a museum the following year in 1965.

Around Birdwood

The Blumberg Hotel, Birdwood, SA, Originally built in 1856 as the Napoleon Bonaparte Inn, it was a single-story structure. It was later renamed the Blumberg Hotel in 1890. During World War I, due to anti-German sentiment, the town was renamed Birdwood and the hotel briefly became the Napoleon Hotel. However, it eventually reverted to its original name, the Blumberg Hotel.

The Blumberg Hotel, Birdwood, SA, Originally built in 1856 as the Napoleon Bonaparte Inn,

At National MotorMuseum in Birdwood, South Australia

The National Motor Museum, formerly also known as The Old Mill and Birdwood Mill (The original mill was built in 1855 by German settler Gottlieb Blumel)

The Birdwood Roller Mill in South Australia was built in the 1850s as the Randell Mill and later expanded with the adjoining Peerless Roller Mill in 1888

Birdwood, SA, dates from the 1850s

Birdwood, SA, (Blumberg). Holy Cross Lutheran church 1860, built to replace an earlier 1850 church. Near Birdwood.

Birdwood Primary School, SA. The state school opened in 1878 cross the street. This bulding was the former home of the local four mill owner

Stone cottage at Birdwood (Blumberg), SA, c1900

Stone cottage at Birdwood (Blumberg), SA, c1910

Birdwood Institute, SA, built in 1884

Things To Do and Places To Go

National Motor Museum  -history of motoring in Australia and collection of vintage cars.

Read, Early Days at Blumberg (free)

The Adelaide almanack town and country directory, and guide to South Australia ...
(1871) Directory District of Talunga here