Place Names of South Australia - B
Bower - Brenda Park
- Bower
- Bowhill
- Bowman, Lake
- Bowmans
- Brady Creek
- Braemar
- Braendler Scrub
- Bramah Lodge
- Bramfield
- Brandonville
- Brankup
- Brassey
- Bray, Hundred of
- Braybourne
- Breakneck Hill
- Breckan, Mount
- Bremer Plains
- Bremer, River
- Brenda Park
Bower
Nomenclature
David Bower, MP (1865-1887). Born in Yorkshire, England in April 1819 he arrived in South Australia in 1846, when he set himself up in business as a timber merchant. He entered parliament in 1865 and was elected Mayor of Port Adelaide in 1877. He was a man with a charitable disposition and while residing at Wallaroo donated blocks of land to the community for institute building purposes and £500 for a similar venture at Port Adelaide, of which he laid the foundation stone. He died in July 1898 at Woodville.
General Notes
Its school opened in 1917 and closed in 1961.
A water famine in the Hundred of Bower is reported upon in the Register,
10 February 1883, page 5e:
-
Mr. Sutherland who is a substantial landholder in the district and has a siding about eight miles from Eudunda has been the purveyor of water for the settlers... He tried the experiment of procuring water by rail from Eudunda, thinking he might be able to get it cheaper than from Morgan... The settlers have only used the water carted by Mr. Sutherland for household purposes, having to go some eight miles to the foot of the hills to water their stock...
Also see South Australia - Water Conservation.
"Shale and Coal at Bower" is in the Advertiser,
5 June 1914, page 7c.
Also see South Australia - Mining - Coal.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bowhill
Nomenclature
Named after a town in Selkirkshire, Scotland by Governor Kintore.
General Notes
A local show is reported in the Advertiser, 8 October 1898, page 9g:
-
The first combined show was held on 29 September 1898. The steamer Tyro from Mannum had a large number of people on board and the Saddler brought a company from Murray Bridge. Notwithstanding that money prizes were not offered the exhibits were fairly numerous and in some cases were of excellent quality... The Mannum Band, which has lately been formed, enlivened the proceedings with selections throughout the day...
"Bowhill and District" is in the Advertiser,
31 March 1911, page 10d; also see
12 July 1911, page 12e.
The reminiscences of George Knight are in the Observer,
7 August 1915, page 35e.
The Bowhill East School opened in 1939 and closed in 1948;
the Hundred of Bowhill School existed from 1895 until 1940.
A photograph of a football team is in the Chronicle,
31 October 1935, page 30.
Boree - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bowman, Lake
Nomenclature
South of Lake Eyre North. In 1858, C.F. Gregory temporarily took command of Babbage's expedition and named it after R. Bowman, 'his best stockman'.
General Notes
See Register, 15 September 1858, page 2h for a report from C.F. Gregory, the second-in-command of Babbage's expedition.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bowmans
Nomenclature
The Bowman brothers, who held adjacent land under occupation licence from 30 January 1845. In August 1866 Edmund Bowman was drowned when crossing the River Wakefield, having slipped on tree trunks which spanned the river. The town was laid out by William Board in 1922 on part section 764, Hundred of Inkerman, 13 km east of Port Wakefield.
General Notes
A report of Edmund Bowman's untimely death and an account of his funeral are in the Register, 29 August 1866, page 4g; also see
Observer,
20 September 1924, page 50d.
The town is described in the Register, 29 May 1923, page 9d:
-
A flourishing little township is in the making and the new railway cottages are nearing completion... A large number of college boys were returning after the holidays and the first ride on the new railway proved novel and interesting to them... Guard Crighton, well known on the system, was in charge... As the train steamed out, the school mistress and scholars gave three hearty cheers and residents and railway officials, who had assembled on the platform, joined in...
The school opened in 1885.
A photograph of the school's band is in the Chronicle,
10 April 1930, page 36.
"The First Train" is in the Observer,
2 June 1923, page 24a.
Also see South Australia - Transport - Railways - Miscellany.
A photograph of firefighters in Mr Manley's burning hayfield is in the Observer,
8 December 1923, page 31.
Information on the Bowman brothers is in the Register,
15 September 1924, page 11f.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Brady Creek
This school closed in 1941 - prior to 1923 it was called "Apoinga".
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Braemar
Nomenclature
A subdivision of part sections 51 and 2797, Hundred of Noarlunga; now included in Stirling and Crafers. The name probably derived from the 'Braemar Run', 64 km east of Terowie, taken up by Thomas Elder in 1865. A post office was opened there in April 1895 when it was described as 'via Pandappa Dam'. The subdivision was made by Thomas Giles, sheepfarmer, whose son married Jean B. St. Clare Barr-Smith, and James Smith, merchant.
General Notes
An article on the pastoral station is in the Register,
9 June 1890, page 5h:
-
On that lease (No. 1892) there is a good dam, known as Hammitt's, 110 yards by 90 yards and 12 feet deep... The sub-lessee has enclosed a horse paddock with a substantial wire fence and put up yards and a moveable galvanized iron hut. The sheep are shepherded although within sheep-proof fences. There is good grass, besides salt bush on some portions of the lease, owing to the floods coming down from the ranges... Faraway Hill, the easternmost rise on this country, is quite a landmark...
Also see
1 February 1898, page 6b.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Braendler Scrub
Nomenclature
Near the Monarto Conservation Park. Probably either J.J. Braendler (c.1813-1907), or his son Paul Braendler who leased section 259, Hundred of Monarto, comprising 315 acres of scrub land from March 1877. This land was retained by the Braendler family until acquired by the Monarto Development Commission in 1974.
General Notes
An obituary of Johann J. Braendler is in the Register,
2 March 1907, page 7,
Observer, 9 March 1907, page 40a:
-
Mr. Johann F. Braendler of Monarto died in his 95th year in 1907. Although a brewer and distiller by trade he started farming on arrival and stuck to it through the remainder of his life. After being at Balhannah for 10 years he took up a couple of sections at Monarto. His friends advised him against what they considered was a rash and disastrous experiment, the mallee lands at that time being regarded as unfit for successful cultivation... By dint of hard work and thoughtful cultivation he was successful and particularly so following the introduction of fertilisers...
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bramah Lodge
Nomenclature
The name was taken from the trotting horse stud conducted on the land by Frank Reiss, who was the first to sell his land for subdivision in 1960. The estate was developed by K.J. Powell and Company on section 2209, Hundred of Yatala.
General Notes
The school was opened in 1964.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bramfield
Nomenclature
A town 10 km east of Elliston proclaimed on 25 January 1877. The run (lease no. 662 of 1858) was taken up by Thomas Cooper Horn who was born at Bramfield, Hertfordshire circa 1807.
General Notes
"Lost in the Bush" is in the Register,
12 June 1869, page 2f.
Information on the district's mail arrangements is in the Register, 7 August 1879, page 6g:
-
Bramfield is on the old mail track from Port Lincoln to Streaky Bay, consequently there was a post office at the Bramfield station some time before the district was resumed for agricultural purposes; the surrounding land is covered with limestone and never will be selected... Bramfield was out of the way of the trade and population of the district, there being only three blocks of land selected there, while there was about 20,000 acres selected within a radius of five miles of Waterloo Bay...
Also see South Australia - Transport - Horse Coaches.
"Bramfield and Waterloo Bay" is in the Chronicle,
13 March 1880, page 12e,
3 April 1880, page 11a.
Its school opened in 1881 and closed in 1951.
A photograph is in the Chronicle,
12 January 1933, page 34.
A sports day is reported in the Observer,
10 January 1885, page 32b,
Chronicle,
10 January 1885, page 8g,
9 January 1886, page 21d.
Comment on the rabbit plague in the district is in the Register,
1 and 18 December 1885, pages 3g and 6g,
25 and 27 October 1886, pages 7f and 6g.
See Colton and South Australia - Flora and Fauna - Rabbits.
A Show is reported in the Chronicle,
7 November 1891, page 7f.
Also see South Australia - Agricultural, Floricultural & Horticultural Shows.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Brandonville
A settlement about "a mile and a half north of Swan Reach..." - see Register, 26 August 1904, page 3f,
27 September 1904, page 3d,
16 November 1904, page 6c.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Brankup
On the Mosquito Plains near Naracoorte - see Register, 24 May 1861, page 3d:
-
James Norris, a splitter employed by Mr. Adam Smith at an out-station called Brankup, lost four children within three days from eating a species of fungus....
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Brassey
Nomenclature
A town in the Hundred of Yalpara 40 km north-east of Orroroo; proclaimed on 2 October 1879 it ceased to exist on 24 February 1927. Origin uncertain, but no doubt it was the name of an associate of Governor Jervois. The most likely candidate selected by the Governor would have been Thomas Brassey (1805-1870), a railway contractor and an associate of Robert Stephenson.
General Notes
Information on Lord Brassey's visit to South Australia is reported in the Register,
25 and 28 May 1887, pages 6a and 4h.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bray, Hundred of
Nomenclature
Sir John C. Bray, MP (1871-1892). Born in Adelaide in May 1842 he was educated at St Peter's College and 'whilst as Chief Secretary and leader of the ministry, he has secured the confidence of the existing House and the country'.
General Notes
Also see South Australia - Politics.
"The Country Press on Mr Bray's "Ratting" is in the Farmers Weekly Messenger,
26 March 1875, page 10d; also see
Express,
15 March 1875, page 2d.
Biographical details of Mr J.C. Bray are in the Observer,
9 April 1887, page 33c.
Comments on his political life are in the Register, 19 April 1884, page 6c:
-
The People's Court - Before His Honour, Public Opinion and Juries Consisting of the Electors of East Adelaide and Victoria -
J.C. Bray was now charged with having ingeniously, craftily and by clever devices deluded the people into believing that he possessed qualities of statesmanship, whereas in truth, and in fact, he was destitute of any, save and except -
- (1) The quality of discerning the weak points in his fellows and adroitly turning them to his own advantage.
(2) A quick perception of the excellencies of his opponents' policy and a magnanimous readiness to adopt it as his own.
(3) A close attention to his formal duties, a stoical indifference to chastisement and an irrepressible desire to live at peace with all men.
A cartoon and a poem are in The Lantern,
8 and 15 August 1885, pages 21 and 1,
4 December 1886, page 22.
"Sir John Cox Bray, KCMG" is in the Register,
3 January 1890, page 6e,
Chronicle,
4 January 1890, page 4e; also see
23 January 1892, page 4d,
Observer,
9 January 1892, page 34a,
23 June 1894, pages 24d-41a.
A school of this name opened in 1893 and closed in 1902.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Braybourne
The sale of allotments in "The Township of Braybourne" in the Inman Valley is advertised in the Observer, 10 April 1858, page 8d.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Breakneck Hill
Nomenclature
Near Mount Pleasant. In 1908, a correspondent to the Register said:
- John Parham (c.1821-1897) of Gawler, was driving a team of bullocks through the hills, with Mr Giles (I think of Anstey and Giles). They had got to the top of the hill all right when Mr Giles said, "Oh, look John what a magnificent view''. Both were admiring the view, and did not notice that the bullocks had moved on down the hill. One of the polers fell and broke his neck. Hence the name...
General Notes
The opening of a cutting through the hill is reported in the Register,
19 March 1863, page 2d.
A sketch and other information is in the Farmers Weekly Messenger,
25 February 1876.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Breckan, Mount
Nomenclature
Alexander Hay, born at Dunfermline, Scotland on 12 January 1820, emigrated to South Australia on the barque Planter which left the United Kingdom on 25 November 1838. In 1845 he married Miss Agnes Kelly, who died in 1870. At that time, by astute land dealings in the early 1850s and investment in pastoral pursuits, he had accumulated a fortune. On 13 March 1872, aged fifty-two, he married Agnes Grant Gosse, aged thirty-four. The bride's brothers, who were renowned pranksters, on the wedding day put up a sign in front of the Christ Church, North Adelaide, - 'Old Hay Sold Here'. In 1876, he bought land in Encounter Bay, on which he built a palatial home calling it 'Mount Breckan'. The word 'breckan' is derived from the Gaelic form of bracken; the fern of this name covered the site before building operations commenced.
General Notes
Also see Place Names - Linden Park.
Information on the construction of the home is in the Register,
2 January 1880, page 6b.
A photograph of the home is in the Chronicle,
18 December 1897 (supplement).
"Rescued from the Ruins" is in the Observer,
26 July 1913, page 34b.
A proposed golf course is discussed in the Observer,
16 May 1914, page 27b, also see
1 August 1914, page 28d:
-
The proprietor of Mount Breckan House is about to have a nine-hole course laid on the estate and for that purpose is engaging the services of Rufus Stewart. Rushes, bracken and trees will provide suitable hazards... The present course of the Victor Harbour Golf Club is situated a little too far away from the township to be used constantly by residents and visitors...
Also see South Australia - Sport - Golf.
"Seductive Mount Breckan" is in The Critic,
17 June 1914, page 13.
"Mount Breckan Revisited" is in the Register,
6 June 1914, page 6c; also see
12 and 17 April 1919, pages 8f and 4d.
An obituary of W.H. Bullivant is in the Register,
8 November 1919, page 7b.
"Mount Breckan as a State Hostel" is in the Advertiser,
27 August 1926, page 16f.
The reminiscences of W.F. Connell are in the Observer,
9 April 1927, page 17b.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bremer Plains
They are described in the Register, 25 March 1862, page 3d:
-
The tract of country presents the finest field I know of in the province in which the benefits to be derived from a systematic plan of irrigation might be tested. Imagine 25,000 acres of land of first rate quality on a dead level, or with fall just sufficient to carry off surface water - the Angas on one side and the Bremer on the other - either of which, when a heavy fall of rain occurs in the adjacent hills, carries off - wastes, in fact - much more water than would be sufficient to saturate the whole surface...
A gold find in the Bremer Ranges, Hundred of Tungkillo, is reported on
13 January 1866, page 2c:
-
The original discovery of quartz in this locality in the Hundrd of Tungkillo was made by Alfred Jones, but he was not aware of its value. He, however, obtained specimens which were seen by Mr. T.A. Woods who was at once struck with their similarity to some specimens in his possession obtained from Clunes reef in Victoria...
Also see South Australia - Mining - Gold.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Bremer, River
Nomenclature
Discovered in December 1837 by Messrs R. Cock, W. Finlayson, A. Wyatt and G. Barton, and named the 'Hindmarsh', not knowing that Messrs T.B. Strangways and Y.B. Hutchinson had also named a river almost simultaneously the 'Hindmarsh'. In the Government Gazette of 27 June 1839, it was proclaimed that the one that flowed into Lake Alexandrina was to be called the Bremer. Sir Gordon Bremer, who founded the settlement of Port Essington in the Northern Territory in 1837.
General Notes
The opening of the Erskine Bridge is reported in the Register,
5 March 1874, page 6d:
-
A long felt by the inhabitants of Callington has been a bridge over the River Bremer near its junction with the Mount Barker Creek. There is a ford at that point which in summer answers all practical purposes, but when the Bremer is flooded the river is almost impossible to cross and it has been no infrequent occurrence for drays and teams to be swept away... The erection of a bridge at this place will give much greater facilities for the conveyance of wheat and other produce to market...
Also see
6 March 1874, page 5d.
Mr H.L. Binney's orchard is described in the Observer,
28 August 1915, page 10b.
Also see South Australia - Industries - Rural, Primary and Secondary - Fruit and Vegetables.
Bower - Brenda Park
B
Place Names
Brenda Park
The Register of 3 April 1926 places it "about four miles south of Morgan":
-
The first white man known to have lived there was Mr Hermann von Rieben who in 1854 built a hotel of logs and earth and called it the North-West Bend Hotel. [It was] on the stock route from the Darling via Wentworth and Truro en route to Adelaide... [He] died at the age of seventy and is buried in a tiny cemetery under the great gums a little north of the house.
27 March 1856, page 2h:
-
Von Rieben's Hotel is a point of essential importance to the tourist in this district. After leaving it no human habitation appears until within a few miles of the Burra Burra and that is only a shepherd's hut. At von Rieben's the traveller will meet with every accommodation and every comfort he could expect. The hostess is most attentive and obliging and the charges moderate...
Also see Register,
2 July 1928, page 14f for further information on Mr von Rieben and
Advertiser,
4 April 1933, page 16g,
Chronicle,
24 June 1937, page 50a and
15 July 1937, page 50c.
