Place Names of South Australia - A
Ashville - Attamurra
- Ashville
- Ashwell
- Athelney
- Athelstone
- Athenna
- Attamurra
Ashville
Nomenclature
A post office on section 9, Hundred of Malcolm 32 km south of Tailem Bend. George Ash, MP, a partner of C.C. Kingston.
Also see Place Names- Ash, Hundred of.General Notes
Its school opened in 1895 and closed in 1959.
For information on the school and post office see Register,
26 April 1895, page 7e,
Observer,
20 March 1897, page 12e:-
The school was opened in April 1895. The schoolhouse - a substantial, well-ventilated stone building, was erected by Mr.. T. Joy on his own property and is rented to the Education Department, which provided a provisional teacher. After the opening the children had a picnic and tea; Mesdames Jury, Tiller and Joy presiding.
An obituary of Mrs Jane Hacket is in the Register,
10 May 1906, page 4i.Ashville - Attamurra
A
Place NamesAshwell
Nomenclature
A school opened in 1859; changed to 'Templers' in 1878 and closed in 1951.
General Notes
On 1 July 1856 Edward Moore (the mortgagee of section 2000, County Gawler - now Hundred of Mudla Wirra), with the consent and direction of John Barrow of "Ashwell" (the grantee of the section), conveyed portion of the land (250 feet by 40 feet) for education purposes to the District Council of Mudla Wirra. (See Memorial Book no.103 folio 256.)
A report on the school is in the Register,
27 January 1859, page 2h,
while Parliamentary Paper 174/1860 has further information on it; also see
Register,
7 February and 13 August 1862, pages 3b and 2f,
1 March 1864, page 3c,
Chronicle,
25 March 1865, page 2g,
Advertiser,
18 April 1866, page 3e,
27 February 1869, page 3f.On 27 December 1862, John Barrow conveyed a piece of land contiguous to the school to the Trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion for church and cemetery purposes. (See Memorial Book no. 191 folio 39.) The conveyancing document held in Application no. 16004 in the General Registry Office also shows the site of the school. Parliamentary Paper 119/1872 shows that until that time the cemetery had not been used.
It is apparent that "Ashwell" was the name applied by John Barrow to his farm; he died on 12 April 1903. Register,
15 April 1903, page 5b.
His wife's obituary is in the Observer,
28 August 1909, page 40a."Old English Sports" is in the Chronicle,
31 December 1864, page 2g:-
Christmas of 1864 was greeted with the usual round of old English sports, foot races, jumping in sacks, climbing the greasy pole and chasing the greasy-tailed pig. The little township displayed quite a busy and pleasant scene, being visited by young people from the surrounding districts and 'all went merry as a marriage bell', concluding with a ball held in the evening at the North Star Inn, by the liberal hostess of which a bountiful supply of refreshments had been provided throughout the day for all those who chose to partake of them.
Information on the Institute is in the Chronicle,
8 August 1885, page 4g.
See Place Names - Templers.Ashville - Attamurra
A
Place NamesAthelney
Nomenclature
In 1858, Peter Dowding Prankerd built a home in the Hackney district which he named 'Athelney'; it derives from the Anglo-Saxon aethel-inga-ig - 'the isle of nobles'. He was born at Langport, Somerset and some five miles from that town lies the Isle of Athelney which has historical associations with King Alfred the Great. Herbert Bristow Hughes purchased the property in 1872 when Mr Prankerd returned to England and, in 1917, Arthur Nicholas Hughes, Harold White Hughes and Howard Watson Lloyd gave the name to a subdivision of part section 256, Hundred of Adelaide; now included in Hackney.
Mr Prankerd's former home 'Athelney' is now owned by St Peter's College to which he was a generous benefactor and his name is commemorated there by the 'Prankerd Scholarship'.
General Notes
Mr Prankerd's obituary is in the Observer,
27 December 1902, page 33e and
Mrs Prankerd's on 19 August 1893, page 31b.A photograph of Athelney House is in The Mail,
6 October 1917, page 8,
information on the sale of allotments is in the Register,
12 September 1917, page 6f,
18 October 1917, page 4g; also see
22 September 1928, page 12e for historical information on the old home.Ashville - Attamurra
A
Place NamesAthelstone
Nomenclature
This name is one of the great puzzles of South Australian nomenclature and the following facts are presented and no conclusion is drawn.
On 16 January 1839 the Orleana arrived in South Australia and among its passengers were Andrew John Murray and Henry Dundas Murray; their relationship is unknown but the latter, the son of Sir Patrick Murray, was born at Ochtertyre, Perthshire, Scotland. Going back in history Sir William Murray of Tullibardine (one of Henry Dundas Murray's children had this as a second Christian name - its literal translation is 'hill of warning') had 17 sons many of whom founded prominent families of 'Murray'. William, second Earl of Tullibardine, claimed the Earldom of Athol by right of his wife but died before the patent was granted. His son John, however, obtained the title in 1629 and became the first Earl of the Murray branch. Today, the village of 'Blair Athol' lies in close proximity to 'Blair Castle' the seat of the Duke of Athol.
On 27 June 1840 A.J. Murray purchased section 811 of Survey B (now the Hundred of Yatala) north of the River Torrens and within a few months 'had enclosed 15 acres with post and rails and built a very good dwelling house'. In official records and an Almanac published at the time he is described as of both 'Atholstane' and 'Athelstone'. On 19 May 1841 A.J. Murray entered into an agreement with Charles Dinham and on that gentleman paying the sum of 2 550 Murray undertook 'to execute a title to the said property in Mr C. Dinham's favour on him demanding same'. Undeterred by his lack of legal title to the land Dinham proceeded to erect the 'Athelstone Flour Mill' which he completed in 1845 together with a dwelling he called 'Athelstone House'. (This was probably an extension to A.J. Murray's 'very good dwelling house' of 1840.) The venture was not successful for he was insolvent by October 1851 and, having gained the legal title to the section on 7 December 1849, he sold out to John Green Coulls, blacksmith and coachbuilder, in 1855.
On 12 August 1848, Thomas Shepherd registered the purchase of sections 803 to 808 inclusive, Hundred of Adelaide south of the River Torrens and called the property 'Athelstone Estate'. Prior to returning to his native Scotland in 1852 he laid out the 'Village of Athelstone' and in the following year his attorneys, William Bartley and William Bakewell, solicitors, sold allotments on behalf of their principal:
- It offers very admirable sites and will be sold in lots from half an acre upwards... as a place of residence its beautiful scenery and healthy situation will at once recommend it.
To further confuse this puzzle of the suburb's nomenclature it must be recorded that Thomas Shepherd, who was born in Fifeshire, Scotland arrived in South Australia in the Abeona on 1 September 1838 from Tasmania and on 6 August 1839 he married Mary Murray; in 1845 their child, Emily Dundas Murray was born; logic demands that Mrs Shepherd must have had some family affiliation with Henry Dundas Murray. (Conversely, a daughter was born to the wife of Henry Dundas Murray in 1859 and christened 'Mary Isabella Murray'!)
There is no doubt that Thomas Shepherd created and named the 'Village of Athelstone'. However, the question remains as to its nomenclature - did he adopt the name of a house and mill north of his 'Athelstone Estate' because of his wife's affiliation with the Murray clan or, as an expatriate Scotsman, did he anglicise 'Athelstaneford', a village near Edinburgh with which he may have had some earlier association?
General Notes
An obituary of Andrew Murray is in the Register,
9 October 1880, page 5a.Early history of Athelstone, which is the apparent source of Rodney Cockburn's nomenclature, is in the Register,
15 and 22 July 1893, pages 6c and 6d."Early Days at Athelstone" is in The Mail, 13 June 1931, page 11a -
This report includes a comment on its nomenclature: "The village was named after Athelstan [sic] Estate."Information on Dinham's mill is in the Observer,
15 March 1845, page 5c,
Register,
17 October 1849, page 3b.A proposed bridge is discussed in the Observer,
13 October 1849, page 1d."A Young Footpad" is in the Register,
15 June 1855, page 2f,
Observer,
16 June 1855, page 5c:-
The neighbourhood of Darley and Athelstone have been thrown into some alarm during the past week by the boldness of a footpad, named Richard Graves. Some days ago he stopped an elderly female named Hursey and robbed her of 12 shillings. She returned home and, giving the alarm, her son started in pursuit. On coming up with the scamp Hursey foolishly satisfied himself with taking the stolen money from him and administering a sound drubbing. This, it seems, had no admonitory effect for, on Friday last and at broad day, he stopped two young females, one of them the daughter of Mr. Trevanon, butcher, Payneham; after rudely searching their pockets, without success, he decamped.... Such daring villainy can scarcely fail to draw the attention of the council to the urgent necessity of at once appointing a special constable...
Its school opened in 1861.
Information on it and the post office is in the Observer,
7 September 1872, page 11f,
Register,
11 August 1896, page 6d.
An Arbor Day is reported in the Chronicle,
14 August 1897, page 37a.The opening of a chapel is reported in the Register,
29 May 1861, page 2e.Mr J.G. Coull's vineyard is described in the Chronicle,
12 April 1862, page 4d.
An obituary of J.G. Coull is in the Register,
12 September 1881, page 5c.
.Notes on the new Institute are in the Register,
14 and 19 April 1870, pages 5b and 5e,
Express,
19 April 1870, page 2d,
Chronicle,
23 April 1870, page 5c,
Register,
31 December 1870, page 6e and
Observer,
11 March 1871, page 7b.Mr Bilney's sauce factory is described in the Register,
16 March 1876, page 5g.Information on its water supply is in the Register,
26 and 31 January 1877, pages 5b and 5e and
an outbreak of typhoid fever on
5 May 1893, page 7f.A field naturalists' excursion is reported in the Register,
23 September 1890, page 4h,
25 July 1899, page 3d,
31 July 1900, page 3h.The district is described in the Register,
22 July 1893, page 6c and
3 August 1893, page 6d."On the Telephone" is in the Observer,
3 July 1909, page 18b.Photographs of an Adelaide Hunt Club meeting are in the Observer,
10 June 1911, page 32,
of a Methodist Church group on
14 September 1912, page 32."A Deserted Church - Resting Place for Birds" is in the Register,
7 and 31 March 1913, pages 15b and 9e."Birdnesting Tragedy" is in the Register,
16 November 1914, page 7b.The golden jubilee of the Methodist Church is reported in the Observer,
2 January 1915, page 15c.A photograph of the opening of a new rifle range is in the Chronicle,
26 May 1917, page 23.
Athelstone - Obituaries
An obituary of William Hutchinson is in the Register,
22 April 1904, page 4g,
of W. Hersey on 12 June 1906, page 6h,
of Benjamin Whittenbury on 7 November 1919, page 6h.An obituary of Mrs H. Hersey is in the Observer,
16 June 1906, page 38a,
of H.F. Duffield on 27 April 1912, page 41b,
of John Russell on 17 August 1918, page 19b,
of Mrs Margaret Whittenbury on 27 September 1919, page 36b,
of F.W. Martin on 13 December 1919, page 27e,
of William Fry on 12 June 1926, page 39a.Ashville - Attamurra
A
Place NamesAthenna
Nomenclature
A post office on Block 6, Hundred of Bartlett 32km WNW of Ceduna. The 'Athenna Run' was established by R.B. Smith and W.R. Swan in 1864 (lease no. 1704).
There is an Aboriginal word athanie meaning "son or daughter" (so called by a mother) - see Samuel Gason, The Manners and Customs of the Dieyerie Tribe of South Australia.
General Notes
A proposed school is discussed in the Observer,
12 August 1905, page 42e;
Register,
24 October 1905, page 3e;
it opened in 1905 and closed in 1943:-
Messrs Burgoyne and Inkster, MP's, waited on the Minister of Education in August 1905 with a request that the Education Department should assist the settlers of Athenna by paying the fees for obtaining the grant for land in connection with the Athenna School. It was pointed out that Mr. Gale was giving the land free of charge and the settlers were willing to provide all the labour necessary for the building of the new school.
A sports day is reported in the Register,
15 January 1907, page 8f.A photograph of the post office is in the Chronicle,
11 July 1929, page 36,
of a 1908 sports committee on
17 August 1933, page 38.Ashville - Attamurra
A
Place NamesAttamurra
Nomenclature
A school 5 km north-east of Mount Gambier opened in 1865 and closed in 1893. The pioneer settler in the district after closer settlement was Robert Thomson in 1860; he came to South Australia in the Fairlie in 1840. Its post office opened on 17 October 1867 with Mr Bennett, the pound keeper, as postmaster.
Murra is an Aboriginal word referring to stone.
General Notes
An obituary of William Learmonth is in the Observer,
2 April 1910, page 38a.
See Place Names - Gambier, Mount for information on the golf course. - Ashwell
