Wilmington. Sensuous mountains at the entrance to Horrocks Pass through the Flinders Ranges.
Horrocks Pass and Wilmington.
Horrocks Pass is the junction of two different fault blocks in the Flinders Ranges created by past earthquake movements. This fault line across the Flinders Ranges allows a creek to flow down towards the coast and it provides a base for a road. John Horrocks the early explorer discovered this gorge in his explorations in 1846 and the pass and the nearest highest hill were named after him. It was used by earliest pastoralists from 1854 onwards and was the track followed by the Cobb and Co coaches from around 1860 on their journeys from Burra (Kooringa) to Port Augusta. In fact Beautiful Valley was a staging post from 1861. In that year Robert Blinman built an inn at the top of Horrocks Pass which he named Roundwood Hotel. By 1864 Cobb & Co coaches were passing through the settlement and the remains of their staging point stables can still been seen behind the Wilmington Hotel. The town of Wilmington later grew up around this Cobb and Co staging point much later in 1876. The first pastoralist in the area was Daniel Cudmore who took up the lease of Beautiful Valley run (88 square miles) in 1851. The actual Wilmington town site was located on the run of John Howard Angas who had the Mt Remarkable leasehold and Stony Creek runs which totalled 130 square miles. Just to the north of the town site was the Mount Brown run taken out by Abraham Scott (99 square miles.) The pastoralists could see that this was good grazing country. Horrocks Pass gave them a route to the Willochra Plains and the valleys of the Flinders Ranges.
The town was officially named Wilmington by the Governor Sir Anthony Musgrave in 1876. It was named his eldest son William Hammond Jervois. Governor Jervois’ wife came from American so perhaps she came from Wilmington in Delaware? Locals protested in 1876 when the name Beautiful Valley was replaced as the current town was created. Wilmington was the main town of the Hundred of Willochra. It grew overnight with the promise of good rains (rain follows the plough) and the opening up the Willochra Plains towards Quorn and the Flinders Ranges. By the early 1880s progressed slowed as hundreds of thousands of acres of land were forfeited and farmers walked away from their unsuccessful attempts to grow rain way beyond Goyder’s Line. But Wilmington still prospered as it had the Beautiful Valley to its west and good farm lands close to the Flinders Ranges. One of the first public buildings was the Institute where stone work began in 1880 with the official opening in January 1882. A new Soldiers Memorial Façade was added in 1925. The fine stone police station and attached Courthouse was erected in 1880 and closed in 1971. The stone Wilmington school opened in 1878 and was extended in 1882 and again in 1883. It was demolished around 1980 when a new prefabricated school opened. The impressive Globe Hotel (now the Wilmington Hotel) was built in 1879 as a two storey structure given the promise of the district at that time. Most new towns began with a single storey hotel!
The Wesleyan Methodists were the first to build a church in the town. They purchased land in 1876 and opened the stone Wesleyan church in 1877. The Bible Christian Methodists opened their stone church in 1880. It became the main Methodist Church in town after Methodist Union in 1900 and the old Wesleyan church became the church hall until it was demolished in 1953. The stone from the original building was partially used to construct the new church hall in 1953.Next to the church is the Methodist Manse. The original wooden cottage was replaced with a fine stone residence in 1924. The Anglicans began services in the courthouse in 1882 and did not open their stone church until 1885. The Catholics had St Dominic’s church a couple of miles out of town towards Hammond which was built in 1878 by the Jesuit brothers of Sevenhill. Two decades later they also built a Catholic Church in town in 1909 and the old St Dominic’s church was dismantled and rebuilt in Hammond with an opening there in 1907. The Lutherans built their church a couple of miles out of town towards Orroroo and it opened in 1891 and is still in use. Industrially Wilmington had some diversity. Edmund Dignan the local blacksmith started making strippers in 1887. He experimented and produced a chain driven harvester/stripper in 1893. It was favourably received and production continued for some year with sales across the state. It won several prizes and was patented. His harvesters were still being produced into the 1920s. Dignan works employed around 50 men. The business closed around 1928 with Edmund Dignan dying in 1932. Dunn the flour miller mogul from Mt Barker built a three storey stone flourmill in 1878. It operated until around 1915 when it was sold and the new owner demolished it all and three houses were built on the site. From 1897 into the 1920s Wilmington also had a butter factory which produced Beau Val butter, a shortened version of the town’s original name Beautiful Valley. The two storey butter factory still exists opposite the school. The town never got a railway station of its own until 1915. Prior to that the nearest railway was at Hammond. The railway line closed in 1969. By the 1920s with rural depopulation, increasing farm mechanisation, and the rise of motor transport the industrial activities of Wilmington declined and disappeared. The main outstanding building of more recent years in Wilmington is the fine stone Country Women’s’ Association building which was erected in 1953.
Wilmington. Sensuous mountains at the entrance to Horrocks Pass through the Flinders Ranges.
Horrocks Pass and Wilmington.
Horrocks Pass is the junction of two different fault blocks in the Flinders Ranges created by past earthquake movements. This fault line across the Flinders Ranges allows a creek to flow down towards the coast and it provides a base for a road. John Horrocks the early explorer discovered this gorge in his explorations in 1846 and the pass and the nearest highest hill were named after him. It was used by earliest pastoralists from 1854 onwards and was the track followed by the Cobb and Co coaches from around 1860 on their journeys from Burra (Kooringa) to Port Augusta. In fact Beautiful Valley was a staging post from 1861. In that year Robert Blinman built an inn at the top of Horrocks Pass which he named Roundwood Hotel. By 1864 Cobb & Co coaches were passing through the settlement and the remains of their staging point stables can still been seen behind the Wilmington Hotel. The town of Wilmington later grew up around this Cobb and Co staging point much later in 1876. The first pastoralist in the area was Daniel Cudmore who took up the lease of Beautiful Valley run (88 square miles) in 1851. The actual Wilmington town site was located on the run of John Howard Angas who had the Mt Remarkable leasehold and Stony Creek runs which totalled 130 square miles. Just to the north of the town site was the Mount Brown run taken out by Abraham Scott (99 square miles.) The pastoralists could see that this was good grazing country. Horrocks Pass gave them a route to the Willochra Plains and the valleys of the Flinders Ranges.
The town was officially named Wilmington by the Governor Sir Anthony Musgrave in 1876. It was named his eldest son William Hammond Jervois. Governor Jervois’ wife came from American so perhaps she came from Wilmington in Delaware? Locals protested in 1876 when the name Beautiful Valley was replaced as the current town was created. Wilmington was the main town of the Hundred of Willochra. It grew overnight with the promise of good rains (rain follows the plough) and the opening up the Willochra Plains towards Quorn and the Flinders Ranges. By the early 1880s progressed slowed as hundreds of thousands of acres of land were forfeited and farmers walked away from their unsuccessful attempts to grow rain way beyond Goyder’s Line. But Wilmington still prospered as it had the Beautiful Valley to its west and good farm lands close to the Flinders Ranges. One of the first public buildings was the Institute where stone work began in 1880 with the official opening in January 1882. A new Soldiers Memorial Façade was added in 1925. The fine stone police station and attached Courthouse was erected in 1880 and closed in 1971. The stone Wilmington school opened in 1878 and was extended in 1882 and again in 1883. It was demolished around 1980 when a new prefabricated school opened. The impressive Globe Hotel (now the Wilmington Hotel) was built in 1879 as a two storey structure given the promise of the district at that time. Most new towns began with a single storey hotel!
The Wesleyan Methodists were the first to build a church in the town. They purchased land in 1876 and opened the stone Wesleyan church in 1877. The Bible Christian Methodists opened their stone church in 1880. It became the main Methodist Church in town after Methodist Union in 1900 and the old Wesleyan church became the church hall until it was demolished in 1953. The stone from the original building was partially used to construct the new church hall in 1953.Next to the church is the Methodist Manse. The original wooden cottage was replaced with a fine stone residence in 1924. The Anglicans began services in the courthouse in 1882 and did not open their stone church until 1885. The Catholics had St Dominic’s church a couple of miles out of town towards Hammond which was built in 1878 by the Jesuit brothers of Sevenhill. Two decades later they also built a Catholic Church in town in 1909 and the old St Dominic’s church was dismantled and rebuilt in Hammond with an opening there in 1907. The Lutherans built their church a couple of miles out of town towards Orroroo and it opened in 1891 and is still in use. Industrially Wilmington had some diversity. Edmund Dignan the local blacksmith started making strippers in 1887. He experimented and produced a chain driven harvester/stripper in 1893. It was favourably received and production continued for some year with sales across the state. It won several prizes and was patented. His harvesters were still being produced into the 1920s. Dignan works employed around 50 men. The business closed around 1928 with Edmund Dignan dying in 1932. Dunn the flour miller mogul from Mt Barker built a three storey stone flourmill in 1878. It operated until around 1915 when it was sold and the new owner demolished it all and three houses were built on the site. From 1897 into the 1920s Wilmington also had a butter factory which produced Beau Val butter, a shortened version of the town’s original name Beautiful Valley. The two storey butter factory still exists opposite the school. The town never got a railway station of its own until 1915. Prior to that the nearest railway was at Hammond. The railway line closed in 1969. By the 1920s with rural depopulation, increasing farm mechanisation, and the rise of motor transport the industrial activities of Wilmington declined and disappeared. The main outstanding building of more recent years in Wilmington is the fine stone Country Women’s’ Association building which was erected in 1953.