Historical Australian Towns

The Great North Convict Road, NSW

The Old Great North Road was constructed using convict labour, working in isolated and harsh conditions. This immense undertaking took place between 1826 and 1836, linking Sydney with the Hunter Valley.

Convict road gangs built the 250-kilometre long road at a time when the colony was transitioning from a penal colony to a free-market colonial settlement.

Undertaken by Governor Darling, the Great Northern Road was important infrastructure providing transportation and communication connections throughout the colony.

The Great North Road begins at Parramatta Road, Sydney (Five Dock), and proceeds in a mostly northward direction for about 250 kilometres to Jerry’s Plains in the Hunter Valley. Northward from Dural the road runs through farmland to the Hawkesbury River at Wiseman’s Ferry.

On the northern side of the Hawkesbury River, the terrain rises steeply to a heavily dissected sandstone plateau cut by rivers, creeks and ravines. The road rises from the Hawkesbury via the Devine’s Hill ascent to the plateau and then follows the narrow ridge-top of the Judge Dowling Range before descending at its northern end to the rich lands of the Hunter River Valley.

The road travels through rugged and isolated bush edging on the Dharug National Park, through Bucketty to Wollombi. From there, a fork in the road continues to Warkworth via Broke, in one direction and in the other, to Cessnock, Maitland and Newcastle.

The surveying, engineering, quarrying and masonry of the buttressed retaining walls and drainage system on the Devine Hill segment are particularly notable as an impressive and challenging part of the the 250km long Great North Road.

It is also possible to observe the surviving 25 Road Party Inscription, the powder magazine, a cave at Devine's Hill used during the period, convict graffiti, including a carving of a man with a hat and pipe and the remains of a stockade where the convicts were housed.

"The first portion of this road is now known
as the Five Dock and Abbotsford Road.
After crosslug the Parramatta River at
Abbotsford it eventually joined the first
road sat the 25th mile post thus-efecting
a saving in mileage."

"....the old punt at Abbotsford, which in the days gone by
brought all the traffic across the river
for the northern districts,.."

Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), Thursday 2 July 1914

Solomon Wiseman on arrival in Australia:

"presented recommendations to
Governor Bligh and was given a grant of 200
acres of land on the banks of the Hawkesbury
opposite the first branch of the river, and adjoining
Singleton's Mill grant, the place famous in the history
of this country, and known as Wiseman's Ferry. Three
hundred assigned Government men were allotted to him
as superintendent of road construction, in order to make
the portion of the North Road (two miles of the road
being cut out of the solid rock immediately on the north
side of the river) over the range of hills on to Wollombi,
thence to Maitland. On the hill to the right on the
north bank are the ruins of the old convict stockade,
with one or two other official buildings, long since fallen
into disuse; but time was when they had their uses,
and to pretty lively purpose. In the days when the
settlement was in going order a number of soldiers
were quartered there, their duty being to see, in the
last resort, to the general good behaviour of the gangs
of convicts employed in road construction and in work-
ing on Solomon Wiseman's farming estate."

"At one time, three convicts escaped from the stock-
ade and swam across the river with their leg-irons on. On
reaching the southern bank they scaled the stone wall
round the homestead and stole some pumpkins. On
returning two were drowned, and the survivor on reach-
ing the stockade was discovered by one of the guards.
The following day he was given fifty lashes with the
"cat-o'-nine-tails" by the "scourger," at the instance of
the discoverer. The flogged man made a promise to his
fellow-convicts that he would kill him when he got the
chance, which he did shortly afterwards by driving a
pick through the overseer's skull in an unguarded
moment. The prisoner was afterwards hanged on
"Judgement Rock," a high towering rock on the nor-
thern side of the river above the oldstockade ruins,
where punishment was meted out to the convicts who
offended."

Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 3 September 1924

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 6 August 1904

Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW : 1839 - 1843), Friday 21 February 1840

The cultural significance of the road was recognised when it was included on the Australian National Heritage List on 1 August 2007 as a nationally significant example of major public infrastructure developed using convict labour and on the UNESCO World Heritage list as amongst:

" .. the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts."

Due to the rugged terrain and isolation, much of the road fell into total disuse. However, some parts were absorbed into newer road systems.

Old Great North Road, Wisemans Ferry in background 1890, NSW

Great North Road above Wisemans Ferry c.1900, NSW

Great North Road, Wisemans Ferry about 1920, NSW

In 1990, the "Convict Trail Project" formed to restore, maintain and promote the road as a monument to convict engineering.

On The Convict Trail

Wisemans Ferry Inn, Wisemans Ferry. NSW. Established in 1827

At St Albans near Wisemans Ferry on Hawkesbury, NSW

Found on the Great North Road now on display at the Hawkesbury Regional Museum, NSW

Remains of convict stockade above Wisemans Ferry, NSW

Sandstone retaining walls built by convicts on Old Great North Road, Wisemans Ferry, NSW

Convict graffiti from 1830. Near the Convict Stockade site on The Great North Road, North of Wisemans Ferry, NSW

Convict-built road, Mount McQuoid, Great North Road, Bucketty, NSW

The Great North Road Devine's Hill section. NSW

One of the many Culverts along the old Great North Road, NSW

Convict-built Embankment, Mount McQuoid, Great North Road, Bucketty, NSW

The grave of Solomon Wiseman. He is best remembered for the lease he obtained in 1827 for what became known as Wiseman’s Ferry on the Hawkesbury River. He arrived as a convict on the Alexander in August 1806. He died on 28 November 1838 and was buried on his property. He was later reinterred first in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene at Wisemans Ferry, and after that church was destroyed, was buried in the cemetery at Wisemans Ferry

Old Great North Road – World Heritage walk

Great Northern Rod Convict Trail Map

Wisemans Ferry Forgotten Valley

Hawkesbury Regional Museum

Victor Harbor, SA: Rich Maritime History

The coastal town of Victor Harbor in South Australia is located on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula, just over an hour's drive from Adelaide.

Set in a landscape surrounded by beaches, islands, rocky cliffs and granite boulders, Victor Harbor has a significant maritime history to discover, along with horse-drawn trams and heritage steam trains.

Ramindjeri Aboriginal People (Ngarrindjeri)

The language group of the Ramindjeri people shares no common words with neighbouring peoples, apart from groups living along the river.

Unlike other surrounding groups, theirs was a patrilineal culture with distinct ritual practices.

According to George Taplin (1879, p. 34), each territorial clan was administered by a group of ten to twelve men or elders, referred to as the Tendi.

Moving between permanent summer and winter camps, Ramindjeri people were a skilful hunter-gatherer-fisher culture.

Wewat-thelari, a Man of the Narrinyeri Tribe. c. 1883

According to Norman Tindale (Native Tribes of South Australia):

Ramindjeri of Encounter Bay about Kangaroo Island, the landmass off their coast, which they could see on the horizon but could never visit because their types of watercraft—reed rafts and flat bark canoes—were too flimsy to allow them to cross the gap of several miles of stormy ocean. It became the unattainable land to which only the spirits of the dead had access.

The word ['war:a] in their language, and in the languages of some adjoining tribes, meant “speech,” hence they spoke ['Kaurna'war:a]. By a play on language this name became in the Ramindjeri language of Encounter Bay ['Kunawaria], a derogatory term for their feared and hated northern neighbors, since ['kuna] has the meaning of “dung.”

The Ramindjeri people shunned the Kaurna people who they accused of stealing Ngarrindjeri women and of being cannibals.

A brass plate in the South Australian Museum records the name "Youngerrow, chief of the Rormear tribe." Both terms are based on Ramong, the name for Encounter Bay.

A detail of a 19th-century engraving entitled Native Encampment by Skinner Prout depicting Indigenous Australians in a wurley. Native Encampment (detail), a 19th-century engraving of an Indigenous Australian encampment, showing the indigenous lifestyle in the cooler parts of Australia at the time of European settlement

The Ramindjeri people knew how to strike fire using flint against a piece of iron pyrites, catching the spark on dry punk fungus from the shelter of hollow gum trees.

Tindale also records a whale song of the Ramindjeri dialect of Encounter Bay (1937), sung by a man of the whale totem. The song was aimed at assisting a female whale and calf escape the shallow waters of Encounter Bay; to stop "evil-minded" people who wanted the whales to become stranded so that they could collect oil for sorcery.

Aboriginal weapons in the South Australia Museum

Other songs of the Ramindjeri people (['mantu'maggari] or songs of caution) were to "make a widow behave. It would be sung when a widow appeared to be too anxious to remarry".

Tindale (1974) also notes that the Ramindjeri people viewed a meteor crossing the sky as the flight of evil being named "Mulda", who was a harbinger of sickness and blindness.

Their clan was compressed into the toe of Fleurieu peninsula, with the centre of their territory at Ramong (Encounter Bay), according to Tindale. Encounter Bay called Yilki – the Aboriginal word for "a place by the sea".

There is an Aboriginal Burial Ground at Kent Reserve.

Ngurunderi is one of the ancestral Dreamtime "heroes" of the Ngarrindjeri people. The first published version of the Ngurunderi tale was printed in an Adelaide newspaper in 1842, just six years after the colony of South Australia was proclaimed. More information

The Ramindjeri language name for Encounter Bay (or the Bluff only) was Ramong,

1802

British naval captain Matthew Flinders aboard Investigator and French explorer captain Nicolas Baudin of Le Geographé, met at Encounter Bay on April 8, 1802. They were the First Europeans to sight Victor Harbor. At this meeting, they talked about their voyages, charting the Australian coastline and the local flora and fauna.

1830s

Unofficial whaling activities taking place at Encounter Bay.

Aboriginal people and Europeans had very different views of the world and belief systems. Aboriginal people, who had not seen "white" people before, initially thought that Europeans were ghosts returning from the spirit world.

Encounters between Europeans and Aboriginal people were also mixed. Sealers often kidnapped Aboriginal women with violence and took advantage of their skills. However, George Meredith, who hired three Aboriginal men for a sealing operation, was killed by them as they neared the mainland and settlers became fearful of a warrior called "Encounter Bay Bob".

The colony of South Australia was proclaimed on 28 December 1836.

Aboriginal people had been separated from the rest of humanity for thousands of years and the coming of Europeans brought about a loss of traditional food sources and disruption to a way of life.

"Encounter Bay people" mentioned in 1836 by Colonel Light and his party at Rapid Bay, spoke the Kaurna language.

Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954)

A whale fishery at Encounter Bay was established just after 1837 and Aboriginal people were also engaged in the whaling industry from about this time. Harpoons being very little different from spears, they were quite expert. (Clarke, 2001). Aboriginal people also mended nets and served as crew on whaling boats, many of which were American and European.

Whale boat

Whaling stations continued from the 1830s until around the mid-1860s.

Victor Harbor was named in 1838 by Governor Gawler after HMS Victor which had surveyed the area in 1837.

The English Congregationalist minister Ridgway William Newland emigrated to the colony of South Australia and led a party of thirty settlers to Encounter Bay in July 1839, where he had a considerable influence in the Encounter Bay district.

Ridgway William Newland (1790-1864), News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 2 March 1933

The Protector of Aborigines Dr Matthew Moorhouse, his sister, a stonemason and blacksmith were in the group.

In 1838, Dr Matthew Moorhouse, "Protector of Aborigines", reported that there were two groups of Aboriginal people living at Encounter Bay, in all just approximately 220 people. Smallpox, disease and influenza severely reduced this population.

A newspaper report from 1838 reports that some whaling boats had Aboriginal Whalers. (2.)

The Newland group settled at Yilki, near the Bluff. However, they lived in tents for almost two years until houses were constructed.

Rosetta Head, known as Kongkengguwar by the Ramindjeri people is more commonly known as The Bluff.

Rosetta Head was the site of a whaling station, with its peak used as a look-out point to sight whales.

Rosetta Head was named after the wife of George Fife Angus, Chairman of the South Australian Company.

1840s

By 1841 settlers had planted 19 acres with wheat, corn, barley, oats and potatoes.

The Old Mill built on Gibson Street built in 1844.

Old wind-propelled flour mill at Encounter Bat, SA, Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929)

The German missionary Heinrich Meyer operated a school for Aboriginal people at Victor Harbor from 1840 to 1846. In 1843, Meyer published a book of the Ramindjeri language and three years later, a book of their customs.

Painting of Encounter Bay by George French Angas circa 1846 depicting Rosetta Head from the east.

SLSA

In December 1847 the schooner Alpha was driven onto rocks at Encounter Bay and became a total wreck.

By 1849, the new settlers had established the Tabernacle church.

The first post office in the area was conducted in a police hut next to the Fountain Inn on Franklin Parade.

Fountain Inn, Victor Harbor, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954). The Fountain Inn, at Yilki (Encounter Bay area) was built in 1847, one of the first inns in South Australia

1850s

South Australia's first public railway went from Goolwa on the Murray River to the ocean harbour at Port Elliot horse tramway in 1854. The railway was later extended to a more sheltered port at Victor Harbor.

With the harbour development, there came employment, people, businesses and services.

District Council formed in 1853.

Unsuccessful Coolanine Mine sunk 1853.

Seven ships were wrecked at Port Elliot between 1853 and 1864.

One of the early fishing families in the area were the Rumbelows.

1860s

Studio portrait of three men from Encounter Bay, South Australia, circa. 1860, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, UK

The horsedrawn Goolwa to Port Elliot railway, in 1860

The first school opened in 1861.

Victor Harbor (Port Victor) was surveyed as a private town by LJ Hyndman in 1863.

Two bridges were built in 1863, one over the Hindmarsh and the other across the Inman River.

The first Victor Harbor jetty opened in 1863.

Stone buildings being erected.

The Hotel Victor opened in 1863.

The South Australian Railways (SAR) reached Victor Harbor in 1864.

Railway Goods Shed built 1864.

Customs House built 1865.

The first bank opened in 1865 and the first general store in 1866.

Telegraph Station on Coral Street was built in 1866 and became the residence of the Victor Harbor postmaster.

Read’s Wool Store built 1868, Flinders Parade. Now demolished.

St Augustine’s Anglican Church was built in 1868-9.

1870s

South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), Monday 20 January 1873

The first public school building was opened in 1877 in Torrens Street.

Library built in 1877.

1880s

Mt Breckan House built 1880 for the Hay family. The house burnt down in1909 and was rebuilt in 1912.

Victor Harbor ceased to be a port but continued to grow.

Steam trains and railway line from Adelaide reached Victor in 1883.

1890s

Adare House at Victor Harbor was completed in 1893.

A horse-drawn passenger trams service to Granite Island began on 27 December 1894.

Victor Harbor developed as a holiday destination.

Overway to Granite Island, Port Victor. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 21 December 1895

"Victor Harbour Blacks, South Australia", 1890 - 1910, Aussie Mobs

1890s

DEATH OF AN OLD ABORIGINAL.
Victor Harbor, May 12.
Another old aboriginal identity passed away
yesterday at the age of about 64. Visitors to
Victor Harbor will have a keen recollection of
"Old Wagner," but they will see his smiling
face no more. The immediate cause of death
appears to have been some affection of the
heart. Wagner was very popular among
visitors and local people. He was of a very
mild temperament and by no means slow at
observing a joke. When dressed in his best
he was very polite, too. He was the recog-
nised bellman of the town.

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 15 May 1897

Ramindjeri Campsite at Kent Reserve.

1900s

Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Monday 10 March 1902. Today calling a deaf person dumb would be derogatory and offensive. See here

Mrs Wagner, belter known as " Dummy," and her brother George, Encounter Bay, SA, Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 14 June 1902

Plaque unveiled on 8 April 1902 to commemorate the meeting of Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin in 1802. SLSA

Two old whalers of Encounter Bay, SA, Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 14 June 1902

The Flinders Centenary—Ceremony at the Bluff. Chronicle. Lord Tennyson, before unveiling the tablet said:- Ladies and Gentlemen - It is always a great pleasure to Lady Tennyson and myself to visit this delightful locality,,,, (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 19 April 1902

The Town Hall was built in 1905.

Port Victor, South Australia - very early 1900s, Kaye

Guests enjoying a garden party in the grounds of 'Adare', SA, owned by H. D. Cudmore at Victor Harbor, in December 1905. SLSA

Aboriginal camp, Port Victor, SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 20 September 1905,

Warringa Guest House constructed in 1906.

THE RUMBELOW FAMILY. REMARKABLE FISHERMEN AND BOATMEN.

On Saturday Mr. Henry Rumbelow sent away by train his well-known fishing cutter The Ferret, and he himself leaves Victor Harbour on Monday for Narrung, where he has taken up land and intends to settle with his family. These are the closing scenes of a long partnership of fishing and boating life with which the Rumbelow family have been connected through three generations, a partnership which had become one of the chief institutions of Encounter Bay. It will be interesting to recall the history of this partnership.

The Rumbelow family arrived at Port Adelaide on October 5, 1854, in the ship Pestonjee Bomanjee, which brought 350 emigrants. In January 1855, Miss Rumbelow was married to Mr. Jeliff, and the Rumbelow family and the newly wedded pair travelled in a bullock dray from the Port to Encounter Bay.

— Whaling Days and Corroborees. -- Then the whaling industry was in full swing. Every visitor to the Bluff has viewed with interest the old jetty, and the old shed has been painted by many artists. Mr. Rumbelow did not take an active interest in whaling, but for a time worked at the old shed, and assisted in the boiling down of one monster of the deep. At this time there were many people living near the Bluff, whalers and their families, but these and even their cottages have long since disappeared. There were many natives residing at the bay in those days, and numerous corroborees were witnessed by the family. The Rumbelows witnessed one of those native ceremonies known as "toasting the dead," which was enacted not far from the Bluff. The body of a dead native was arranged on stakes about 5 ft. high, and a large fire was lit underneath. As the body dissolved the lubras who sat round anointed their bodies with the dripping oil and wailed piteously. Mrs. R. E. Bolger, who was Miss Rumbelow, and is still living at the harbour, witnessed this gruesome scene. On another occasion a native who had gone out in a whaling boat died, and when the body was brought to shore the scene made by the wailing lubras over the dead brave, and the mournful procession to the scrub, made a harrowing spectacle never to be forgotten.

Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 15 June 1907

MR. MALIN RUMBELOW, A Port Victor Identity. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 15 June 1907

Ruins of Mount Breckan mansion, Victor Harbour, S.A. - after being destroyed by fire in 1908

Mrs Humberstone, hotelier of the of the Grosvenor Hotel, Victor Harbor, SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 8 July 1908

Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 2 October 1909

Eight Hour Procession, near the Grosvenor Hotel, Victor Harbor, SA, circa 1910, SLSA

NEW KIOSK ERECTED ON GRANITE ISLAND, VICTOR HARBOR, BY THE RAILWAYS DEPARTMENT Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 28 January 1911

Mrs Wagner, belter known as " Dummy," and her brother George, Aboriginal people of Encounter Bay, SA, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Note, the handmade baskets

The Victor Harbor Times and Encounter Bay and Lower Murray Pilot, published first on Friday 23 August 1912.

OLD POLICE-STATION, VICTORHARBOR, SA. This was the first building erected on the site of what is now the town of Victor Harbor, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 27 September 1913

The township of Victor Harbor was proclaimed in 1914 with the American spelling "Harbor".

'The First Corporation of Victor Harbor 1914'. Standing: WD. Richardson (auditor), Bert Warland (clerk), W. Millard (auditor) Seated: Joseph C. Joy, Alfred Dennis, Oliver Baaner (mayor), Norman Whiting, Arch Grosvenor. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 1 August 1914

VICTOR HARBOR FOOTBALL TEAM: The club played 12 matches during the season, and won them all. The players are: — Back row, standing— T. Coote, R. Rowe, P. Kirby, H. Pearce, B. Wailadge, S. Hyde, A. Pearcp, A. Baaner, W. Pearson. Middle row— W. Emmels, I*. Baaner, S. Bruce, F. Phillim (captain), T. Kevin (president', C. Nnrtons,G. Meyers, W. Holiday, R. Nurton. Front row — K. May (vice-capta ill, P. Rowen, T. Davis, \V. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 10 October 1914

Part of Victor Harbor showing the post and telegraph office, railway, and the Austral Hotel. 1914, State Library of South Australia

Visitors on Granite Island, South Australia, 1914, State Library of South Australia

Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 10 March 1915

Victor Harbor Times and Encounter Bay and Lower Murray Pilot (SA : 1912 - 1930), Friday 10 November 1916

Red Cross Fete, Victor Harbor, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 29 January 1916

PROPOSED VICTOR HARBOURIMPROVEMENTS. The party on the present jetty at Granite Island. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 20 September 1919,

The Regatta at Victor Harbor, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 11 January 1919

1920s

The St Joan of Arc Catholic Church was opened on 2/1/1921.

Horse drawn baker's cart Victor Harbor, SA, 1920, State Library of South Australia

Biplane at Victor Harbor, SA, Photograph of a De Havilland (DH-6) aircraft which landed on top of Granite Island with pilot Lieut. Frank Willmott standing on top of the fuselage, and a crowd of people looking on. SLSA

A view taken at "The Pines" of a local Aboriginal woman "Elsie" who was well known and liked in the area. Approximately 1921. SLSA

Victa Cinemas, located on Ocean Street was built in 1923.

Wonderview Cinema constructed in 1923 was demolished in about 1990.

Post card. Wonderview Cinema, Victor Harbor, SA, constructed in 1923 was demolished in about 1990.

Gertymore House, Victor Harbor, SA, was established in 1875. Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 24 January 1925

Railway Station brick building erected in 1926.

Gollan Seymour was a fisherman at Encounter Bay when first he took unto himself a wife.
The ceremony was performed in the ancient manner of his tribe. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 11 November 1926

The Encounter Bay Tribe, SA, Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 4 December 1926

Jack Jones, Headman of a whaling crew at Encounter Bay, SA, is described in the book, Paving the Way; A Romance of the Australian Bush, by Simpson Newland, Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 4 December 1926

Remains of an old mill at Encounter Bay, SA, Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 18 December 1926

The Crown Hotel, Victor Harbour, South Australia - circa 1920s, Kaye

Castlemaine House built in 1927- 8, as a summer residence for Sir William Sowden, owner of the “Register”.

Newland Memorial Church built 1927.

The Soldiers Memorial Garden with it's rows of iconic Memorial Norfolk Island Pines runs along the foreshore at Flinders Parade, Victor Harbor, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 6 October 1928

Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Thursday 4 October 1928. Formerly "Austral Hotel" became a guest house ran by the Ellis family who gave it a Maori name.

1930s

Victor Harbor, SA, Horse Tram. c. 1930, SLSA

A. E. POOLE, of South Australian entrant in the Grand Prix rood race, testing his new specially constructed racing car. The 250-mile race will be held on Saturday week over the Victor Harbor-Port Elliot circuit. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 17 December 1936

TOPLESS BATHERS BRIGADE ON THE SANDS: Some of the boys at the Our Boys' Institute holiday camp at Victor Harbor, staged a race among themselves on the beach today. The popularity of the topless bathers is evident. Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 1 January 1938

Canvas Town at Victor Harbor, SA, Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 1 January 1938

Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Monday 4 April 1938

Bowls at Victor Harbor, SA, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 10 February 1938

SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S ONLY HORSE TRAM. A party of Victorian visitors at VictorHarbor, enjoying a ride on the only horse tram left in commission in South Australia. They found the run along the causeway an interesting experience Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 20 January 1938

1940s and WWII

RAAF No. 4 Initial Training School was located at Mount Breckan, at Victor Harbor, from 4 November 1940 until 5 December 1944.

MOUNT' BRECKAN, popular holiday resort, at Victor Harbor, which has been acquired by the Royal Australian Air Force as a training centre. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 10 October 1940

Victor Harbor from Granite Island, SA - shows Granite Island jetty, 1 February 1941, The History Trust of South Australia

Victor Harbor - showing Granite Island, SA, 1 February 1941 The History Trust of South Australian

Private Casualty Advice

Mrs. Doreen Cox, of Victor Harbor, has been advised that her L. (Bill) Cox. was killed in action in New Guinea on July 23. Pte. Cox was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. B. S. COX, of Bourke street. Victor Harbor, Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Tuesday 7 August 1945

No. 4 Initial Training School, R.A.A.F., c1941 (Victor Harbor, SA). R. L. Paltridge and other members of no. 4 Initial Training School, R.A.A.F., Victor Harbor, course 22 'A' squadron, flight 13. Back row, left to right: Rounsevell, J. M. V.; Phoenix, C. E.; Prime, N. D.; Prosser, M. R.; Neal, V. H.; Pudney, N. H.; Nolan, W. G.; Orrock, R. T.; Pengilly, H. P.; Paltridge, R. L.; Smith, S. E.; Shanahan, J. M.; Pratten, M. E.; Smart, E. R. Centre row, left to right: Proud, F. C.; Pugh, J. H.; Ringwood, J. A.; Pritchard, F. L. W.; Nicholson, J. E.; Sinclair, I. R.; Schultz, K.; Slattery, W. J.; Pope, V. L.; Quinn, G. F.; Schultz, M. H.; Sheean, L. J. Front row, left to right: Ross, A. B.; Rix, A. R.; Rowe, O. M.; Regan, W. J.; Picken, R. A.; O.'Dea, T. J.; Simpson, A. R.; Cpl. Ellis, A. V.; Payne, L. A.; O'Neill, O. W.; Smith, F. G.; Owen, W. R.; Phillips, R. A.; Pain, S. T. H.; Orrell, G. S. SLSA

1950s

Title: Victor Harbor horsetram, SA. Date: c1950, Genealogy SA

The placegetlers in 'The Sunday Advertiser' Beach Girl contest at Victor Harbor. From left — Miss Ann Beare (third), Miss Lois Olsen (first), and Miss Barbara Eddy (second). Victor was crowded with holiday visitors on Saturday, but all three placegetters were local girls. Miss Olsen, 20-year-old bank clerk, isengaged to be married. She is a good all-round sportsgirl. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 7 January 1954

HAPPY CARLOAD at Encounter Bay, back for lunch after a run into Victor — Sheila Hamilton, Or. Jim Lawrence and Margaret Lawrence, Adelaide visitors, with John Stonier, Noel Lidgeft andBrian Stonier, of Melbourne. Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 9 January 1954

The Central Hotel and Tudor Guest House in Victor Harbor, S.A. - 1955, Kaye

Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Monday 22 November 1948

1960s

The Solway shipwreck was discovered in 1962 about midway between Black Reef and the Bluff Boat Ramp. (wrecked 1837)

Victor Harbor, SA. The old AMSCOL cheese and dairy factory. Built in 1941. Closed in 1977. Now the Lutheran Church. Photo taken by Peter Thiele in 1960s. denisbin

1980s

The SteamRanger Heritage Railway running trains on the Victor Harbor railway line was established in 1986, to operate tourist trains on the line.

1990s

In 1994, the Whale Visitor's Centre was established.

2015

2015 Victor Harbor, SA, Chrysler Restorers SA

2019

SA Power found Aboriginal bones on the corner of Franklin Parade and Solway Court, Rosetta Head.

2000

Historic shipwreck found in 2018. The ship had been driven ashore in a storm on 8 December 1837, while anchored in Rosetta Harbor at Encounter Bay.

Victor Harbor was declared a city in 2000.

2020s

The local community and council are working hard to protect the remaining penguins on Granite Island, off the coast of Victor Harbor.

Once a railway workers cottage on the famous Cockle train and is now being demolished for a car park, Victor Harbor, SA

Victor Harbor's heritage causeway to be demolished and new causeway officially opens in 2021.

Around Victor Harbor

Horse Tram from Granite Island, Victor Harbor, SA

Adare House at Victor Harbor, SA, is a grand home completed in 1893 (Scottish baronial style)

The Anchorage Hotel was built in the early 1900s as a guesthouse, Victor Harbor, SA

Victor Harbor High School, SA, established 1910

Victa Cinemas is located on Ocean Street in Victor Harbor, SA, built 1923

Victor Harbor, Kondilli the Whale (from Aboriginal dreamtime story of Victor Harbor). Victor Harbor, Kondilli the Whale

Rosetta Head, known as Kongkengguwar by the Ramindjeri people but more commonly known as The Bluff, is a headland located on the south coast of Fleurieu Peninsula in Encounter Bay, South Australia, within the local government area of the City of Victor Harbor, SA

The first railway line to Victor Harbor, SA, was established in 1864 to link River Murray trade with the sea. The present brick station building was built in 1926

Aboriginal dance group at Victor Harbor, SA

Horse Tram from Granite Island, Victor Harbor, SA

Steam train, Watson Gap, Victor Harbor, SA

The Victor Harbor Town Hall, SA, was built in 1904

Telegraph Station Victor Harbor, SA, built 1866

Victor Harbor Institute, SA, opened in 1878

Victor Harbor, Newland Memorial Congregational Church built 1927. South Australia

The original Newland Memorial Congregational Church in Victor Harbor built in 1869

Mt Breckan House in Victor Harbor, SA, was built in 1878

Residence and shop on Hindmarsh Road, Victor Harbor, SA, The house was built around 1926, and about two years later a dining room to serve local guest houses was added