Murtho South Australia | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coordinates | 34°06′S140°54′E / 34.1°S 140.9°E Coordinates: 34°06′S140°54′E / 34.1°S 140.9°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 179 (2016 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 5340 | ||||||||||||||
LGA(s) | Renmark Paringa Council | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Chaffey | ||||||||||||||
Federal Division(s) | Barker | ||||||||||||||
|
Murtho is a locality in South Australia. It is northeast of Renmark and Paringa. It is bounded by the Murray River on its north and west sides and the Victorian border on the east.
Land around Murtho today is used for vineyards and orchards irrigated from the Murray River, and cereal crops. It has a boat ramp and shop which supports campers and recreational fishing.
A village settlement was established at Murtho, 2–3 miles (3–5 km) upstream of Renmark (on the opposite bank) in the 1890s as a socialist colony. [2] The Village Settlements established under Part VII of the Crown Lands Amendment Act 1893 [3] was mostly used by unemployed people seeking a fresh start during an economic depression. Murtho was different in that it required financial commitment by the members and no government handouts. Chairman of the Murtho Co-operative Village Settlement Association was Henry Cordeaux ( –1902). By 1897, Murtho had 60–70 acres (24–28 ha) under irrigation. [4] However, by 1899, Murtho settlement had, like many others, been largely abandoned. [5] The settlement failed chiefly through inadequate irrigation — the settlement was atop a 120 feet (37 m) cliff. This was initially seen as an advantage, as the land sloped away from the banks, thus easier to irrigate [6] but the double-acting plunger pump required to raise water to this height was expensive, inefficient, and could barely cope with 20 feet (6.1 m) of suction lift during "normal" low river levels, and failed utterly when the river dropped further. The cost of transporting provisions and produce by river was exorbitant (dearer per ton than from London to Adelaide), and rabbits took much of their crop: they bypassed the wire netting fences by scaling the cliffs! [7] Among the Murtho settlers were brothers John Napier Birks (1845–1929) and Walter Richard Birks (1847–1900), [8] of Adelaide's prominent Birks family.
Before Australian federation in 1900, Murtho was the site of the South Australian customs house known as Border Cliffs, charging import duty on goods being brought down the river from New South Wales and Victoria. [9]
In the 1960s, Murtho almost became the south bank (actually east end of the dam wall) of the Chowilla Dam. This dam would have impounded a vast area (mostly upstream of the state borders in New South Wales and Victoria) in a relatively shallow reservoir to provide security of water supply to South Australia. Preparations were made to build the dam, including a railway line built in 1967 to cart rock for the construction, however the increasing cost estimates and environmental concerns meant that the dam was deferred then cancelled.
Murtho has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
The Murray River is a river in south-eastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at 2,508 km (1,558 mi) extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia. Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray-Darling basin, which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region.
Renmark is a town in South Australia's rural Riverland area, and is located 254 km (157.83 mi) northeast of Adelaide, on the banks of the River Murray. The Sturt Highway between Adelaide and Sydney runs through the town; Renmark is the last major town encountered in South Australia when driving this route. It is 31 m (101.71 ft) above sea level. At the 2016 census, Renmark had a population of 4,634.
The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of 9,386 square kilometres (3,624 sq mi) along the Murray River from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria downstream to Blanchetown. The major town centres are Renmark, Berri, Loxton, Waikerie, Barmera and Monash, along with many minor townships; the population is approximately 35,000 people.
Blanchetown is a small township in South Australia, on the (west) bank of the Murray River, 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Adelaide. The Blanchetown Bridge is the westernmost of the four crossings of the Sturt Highway over the Murray River. During the nineteenth century it was an important transportation centre on the lower Murray. In the early 21st century, Blanchetown has been described as "a strange mixture of historic buildings and temporary shacks built by holidaymakers on the banks of the river". Blanchetown is widely regarded as the entrance to the Riverland district.
Paringa is a small town in the Riverland of South Australia. Paringa is famous for its vineyards, almond, citrus and stone fruit orchards, and the steel bridge with a span that can be raised to allow houseboats and paddlesteamers to pass underneath and across the Murray River to Renmark. At the 2006 census, Paringa had a population of 946.
The Renmark Paringa Council is a local government area located adjacent to the Victorian border, in the Riverland, South Australia. The area is known for its various fruit production, and is heavily dependent on the River Murray as a water source. The council seat is at Renmark.
Lawrence Birks was an Australian-born electrical engineer noted for his pioneering work on hydro-electric power generation in New Zealand.
The Robertson Brothers, John Holland Robertson ( –1909), William Robertson and Robert Robertson were pioneer cattle, sheep and horse breeders of South Australia.
The Bunyip is a weekly newspaper, first printed on 5 September 1863, and originally published and printed in Gawler, South Australia. Its distribution area includes the Gawler, Barossa, Light, Playford, and Adelaide Plains areas. Along with The Murray Pioneer, The River News, and The Loxton News,The Bunyip was now owned by the Taylor Group of Newspapers and printed in Renmark.
This is a list of captains and boat owners and others important in the history of the Murray-Darling steamer trade, predominantly between 1850 and 1950.
The Barmera railway line was the second railway built to develop the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, in 1913. It followed the success of the Pinnaroo railway line in 1906. Both lines branched east from Tailem Bend to the north of the main Melbourne–Adelaide railway. The Brown's Well line was the more northerly, and extended into country which had not been developed much before the railway, partly due to the absence of any viable transport route for produce. The original terminus of the Brown's Well railway was at Meribah, not far from the Victorian border.
The Village Settlements were communes set up by the South Australian government under Part VII of the Crown Lands Amendment Act 1893, a scheme intended to mitigate the effects of the depression that was affecting the Colony. It followed the New Zealand Village Settlements Act and similar schemes in Canada and New South Wales, and concurrently with Victoria. It followed the "blockers" scheme espoused by George W. Cotton.
Wonuarra is a locality southeast of Paringa in the east end of the South Australian Riverland region. The locality is east of the Sturt Highway between Paringa and Yamba and extends from the highway to the state border.
Chowilla Game Reserve is a protected area covering the floodplain on the north side of the River Murray in South Australia from about 8 kilometres north-east of Renmark to the New South Wales border. It was proclaimed 8 April 1993 in conjunction with the Chowilla Regional Reserve, after a community consultation process which recommended that "hunting of waterfowl be a permitted activity in selected areas of the Chowilla floodplain". The game reserve is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.
Chowilla is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located on the northern side of the Murray River about 250 kilometres to the north-east of the capital city of Adelaide and about 40 kilometres to the north-east of the town of Renmark, and which is bounded by the border with New South Wales in the east.
The Chowilla floodplain is a floodplain adjacent to the Murray River, upstream of Renmark, South Australia. The floodplain includes the Chowilla Game Reserve and Chowilla Regional Reserve, and also extends across the state border into New South Wales.
Dr. Melville Birks FRCS, MB, BS, FRCP was a South Australian medical practitioner and occupational health specialist remembered for his work in Broken Hill, New South Wales.
Dr. George Vause Birks was a medical doctor who with his family emigrated to South Australia in 1853, and died there less than four years later. Their family was significant in the commercial life of the young city of Adelaide. Many of the Birks family were involved in William Lane's New Australia colony in Paraguay and others in the irrigation settlement at Murtho initiated by the Government on the River Murray, losing substantial sums in the failures of these Utopian ventures.
Holder is a locality in the Riverland region of South Australia. It lies on the inside of a bend in the Murray River east (upstream) of Waikerie. Holder is bounded on the south side by the Sturt Highway and includes the Waikerie Airport and Maize Island Lagoon Conservation Park. The locality includes low-lying wetlands near river level and rising and higher ground up to the level at the top of the Murray cliffs where the airport and highway are. The sloping and higher ground is used for vineyards and fruit orchards, irrigated from the river. The school opened in 1925 and closed in 1991.