Yankallila. The Gothic Anglican rectory next to the old 1857 church.
Yankalilla.
The Bungala River valley was one of the first areas of South Australia surveyed by Surveyor General Colonel William Light after the area immediately surrounding the city of Adelaide. In fact on 18 May 1838, just over a year after the sale of Adelaide town lots, Light declared that 150,000 acres of land was ready for settlement, or almost so. They were: 69,000 acres around Adelaide; 27,000 acres at Rapid Bay; 5,400 acres at Yankalilla;
20,000 acres on Kangaroo Island; and 28,000 acres in the Onkaparinga Valley. The actual surveying of Yankalilla must have occurred a bit later around 1840 as settlement of Yankalilla did not being until 1842 with the arrival of Henry Kemmis, Septimane Herbert and George Worthington who all took up land and built houses. The farmers planted wheat and barley in the land they had cleared and by 1844 there were over 50 acres in wheat and several acres in potatoes. All three families built properties on the northern side of Bungala Creek. Worthington built near what was to become the Anglican Church and Kemmis built Manna Farm near the junction of the road to Victor Harbor and Hebert’s Bungala House became the first house south of Willunga.
The establishment of local government occurred in 1854 with the first council meeting taking place in the Normanville Hotel. The council chambers were soon erected in Yankalilla. By the late 1860s Yankalilla and Normanville had three flourmills, five stores, two breweries, four blacksmiths, three hotels and five churches! The breweries had to be local in those days as beer did not keep and could not be easily transported. It was the work of Louis Pasteur that led to beer being pasteurised. Once this happened the small town breweries all closed and beer production was centralised in Adelaide. In the early years of the 1850s and 1860s Yankalilla was one of the biggest and most important towns in the state apart from the mining centres of Kapunda, Burra, Kadina and Moonta.
Historically Yankalilla has several worthy buildings. One is the old school house at 48 Main Street which was built by the government in 1859. Several people operated this as a private school. The most famous of these was Sister Mary McKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph in 1867 who operated this as their first country school outside of Adelaide. It was conducted for 40 Catholic children. The first is the former Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1879. (There was an early Bible Christian Methodist Church in Yankalilla too erected in 1856 but it was demolished decades ago). The other significant building is Christ Church Anglican Church which was opened by Bishop Short in 1857. In recent years it has become the shrine of “Our Lady of Yankalilla” based on markings on the wall which resemble the Virgin Mary cradling a crucified Christ. The local rector reported the “image” in 1994 and it has been a shrine for pilgrims since 1996. The nearby Anglican cemetery has graves dating from 1854.
Yankallila. The Gothic Anglican rectory next to the old 1857 church.
Yankalilla.
The Bungala River valley was one of the first areas of South Australia surveyed by Surveyor General Colonel William Light after the area immediately surrounding the city of Adelaide. In fact on 18 May 1838, just over a year after the sale of Adelaide town lots, Light declared that 150,000 acres of land was ready for settlement, or almost so. They were: 69,000 acres around Adelaide; 27,000 acres at Rapid Bay; 5,400 acres at Yankalilla;
20,000 acres on Kangaroo Island; and 28,000 acres in the Onkaparinga Valley. The actual surveying of Yankalilla must have occurred a bit later around 1840 as settlement of Yankalilla did not being until 1842 with the arrival of Henry Kemmis, Septimane Herbert and George Worthington who all took up land and built houses. The farmers planted wheat and barley in the land they had cleared and by 1844 there were over 50 acres in wheat and several acres in potatoes. All three families built properties on the northern side of Bungala Creek. Worthington built near what was to become the Anglican Church and Kemmis built Manna Farm near the junction of the road to Victor Harbor and Hebert’s Bungala House became the first house south of Willunga.
The establishment of local government occurred in 1854 with the first council meeting taking place in the Normanville Hotel. The council chambers were soon erected in Yankalilla. By the late 1860s Yankalilla and Normanville had three flourmills, five stores, two breweries, four blacksmiths, three hotels and five churches! The breweries had to be local in those days as beer did not keep and could not be easily transported. It was the work of Louis Pasteur that led to beer being pasteurised. Once this happened the small town breweries all closed and beer production was centralised in Adelaide. In the early years of the 1850s and 1860s Yankalilla was one of the biggest and most important towns in the state apart from the mining centres of Kapunda, Burra, Kadina and Moonta.
Historically Yankalilla has several worthy buildings. One is the old school house at 48 Main Street which was built by the government in 1859. Several people operated this as a private school. The most famous of these was Sister Mary McKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph in 1867 who operated this as their first country school outside of Adelaide. It was conducted for 40 Catholic children. The first is the former Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1879. (There was an early Bible Christian Methodist Church in Yankalilla too erected in 1856 but it was demolished decades ago). The other significant building is Christ Church Anglican Church which was opened by Bishop Short in 1857. In recent years it has become the shrine of “Our Lady of Yankalilla” based on markings on the wall which resemble the Virgin Mary cradling a crucified Christ. The local rector reported the “image” in 1994 and it has been a shrine for pilgrims since 1996. The nearby Anglican cemetery has graves dating from 1854.