Kingston South East. The sun dial of Human Involvement on Maria Creek.
Lacepede Bay/ Port Caroline/Kingston.
Lacepede Bay was named by Nicholas Baudin on his 1802 voyage. The first exploration of this area was by Governor Grey and friends who went along the Coorong in 1844 to check out the country. It took them two weeks to get to what is now Kingston. The party went on to Mt Burr, Mt Gambier and ended up at Rivoli Bay from where they took a government ship back to Adelaide. The first settlers in the district were the Cooke brothers Archibald and James who squatted on the Maria Run in 1845 as the best land near Naracoorte and Penola was already being squatted on by others. Other early pastoralists near Maria Creek were the Kendles, James Brown, Andrew Dunn, and the Morris brothers and almost all were Scottish. The Cooke property was on Maria Creek.
The relationship of Cape Jaffa( Cape Bernouilli) to the safe harbor of Kingston is crucial. Kingston was selected as the major and safest port of the South East although it appears to be facing the wilds and depths of the Southern Ocean. It is Cape Jaffa which protects Kingston harbour. For 15 kms from Cape Jaffa to Kingston there is no surf. Storms do not ravage the harbour at Kingston. Cape Jaffa was the geographical reason for the development of Kingston. The only danger with using the port of Kingston in the 19th century was the Margaret Brock Reef some 8kms offshore from Cape Jaffa. The Margaret Brock was a ship that was wrecked on the reef in 1852 and it was one among several such wrecks including the Agnes 1865 and the Maria in 1840. Eventfully in 1872 the government built an oil rig type structure on the reef and on top of that platform they built the metal Cape Jaffa lighthouse. One hundred years later it was replaced by an automatic light beacon and the National Trust took the lighthouse to Kingston in 1972. Cape Jaffa was one of only three places in Australia where a German U-boat was sighted during World War Two. The U-boat fired shots at a passing freighter ship.
Kingston was surveyed as a private town in 1858 on property owned by Sir George Kingston (his son Charles Cameron Kingston became Premier of SA 1893-99) the first Surveyor General of SA and the designer of parts of Government House, the Old Adelaide Jail, and the Morphett house called Cummins at Novar Gardens. Recent historical work now argues that Kingston was the designer of the city plan of Adelaide not Colonel William Light and that Light only rubber stamped the location for the city selected by Kingston! The historical evidence is interesting but not convincing or true. The first land surveyed in the district was put up for sale in 1855. Kingston bought 2 sections of land, and the Cooke brothers bought 10 sections to complement their leasehold run. Governor MacDonnell named the town after his Surveyor General. Once the town of Kingston was established the Cooke brothers saw the potential of the area and built the first jetty. They were largely responsible for the wool stores which were built in the town. The telegraph line from Adelaide to Mt Gambier passed through the town in 1858. So although George Kingston was the land speculator and founder of the town, Archibald and James Cooke were the real founders of the town and they later created a new subdivision of the town in 1867. They erected the Kingston Arms Hotel in 1859 to service the needs of the passengers on the new coach service from Meningie to Robe and onwards. Once the pub was operating Cooke then petitioned the government for a police officer in the settlement. Nothing happened until after the government gazetted a government town adjoining the private township of Kingston which it did in 1860 the year before the Hundred of Lacepede was surveyed and declared. The government of course wanted the commercial life of the town to be centred near the government services of police, gaol and post office. In 1866 the town got a police station and in 1869-70 a Post Office and Courthouse. Kingston’s town on the foreshore declined especially after the building of the government town in 1860. The government town got a new hotel the Royal Mail which accommodated visiting magistrates and travellers on the run to Port MacDonnell.
It was the Cooke brothers who petitioned the government to declare an international port at Kingston and they also petitioned the government for a railway to the Tatiara district around Bordertown. They opposed any suggestion of
expanding the port of Robe or of building a railway to Robe. The government, who controlled Customs and all official ports, did not declare a port at Kingston until 1865 when they named it Port Caroline. The port was successful immediately as the Cooke brothers were ready to start an international shipping firm just as Ormerod of Naracoorte had done in Robe. When the government later decided to build the first railway in the South East from Kingston/Lacepede Bay to Naracoorte the future of Kingston was well and truly assured. The narrow gauge railway to Naracoorte opened in 1876 and Kingston became the most important port in the South East. The commencement of the railway provoked a building boom in Kingston in the late 1870s. It also brought two Melbourne shipping companies to Kingston as well and they competed with, and limited, the expansion of James Cooke’s shipping firm. By the 1870s Kingston was the main South East port for exporting of wool and grain. Wool was shipped from Kingston direct to England until the end of World War One and after that most wool went direct by road or rail to Melbourne or Geelong, but not Adelaide. The port closed in the 1920s. The railway line to Naracoorte closed in 1987.
Meantime in 1865 Mrs James Cooke worked to establish the first Free Presbyterian Church in Kingston. The McCheyne Free Presbyterian Church foundation stone was laid 1874 with the church opening in 1875. Despite Mrs Cooke’s support it had closed by 1882 and it was demolished after the earthquake of 1899. There was even an Aboriginal school for Aboriginal children in the 1870s run by a friend of Mrs James Cooke. The Congregationalists, the largest denomination in Kingston, opened their church in 1870 with an accompanying school that served all children in the town. It closed around 1880 and was sold to the Anglicans in 1882 who still use this 1870 church for their services. 1887 saw the opening of a Wesleyan Church in Holland Street. By the turn of the 20th century new drainage schemes and closer settlement acts had opened up much of the hinterland to small properties but pastoralism still dominated the district. Deep-sea and lobster fishing became a significant industry in the 1890s and has continued into the present. In the 1880s the Salt Creek Petroleum Oil Company was formed and it sunk deep shafts searching for oil near the Coorong but this was not successful. Kingston’s continued prosperity relied on pastoralism.
Hanson Street, Kingston. Starting at the esplanade near the jetty look for:
•1890s villa house on the corner of the esplanade (jetty built by Cooke in 1863) opposite the Lacepede Motel- the Harbour Master’s House. Like other government buildings it was in the “government town” of Port Caroline.
•The old power generator is in the park. This was the towns’ first power supply.
•Opposite that is the only remaining of the original three Cooke Brothers wool stores. Note the wide doors used by a spur railway line that went right into the building. Now being used by the adjoining Royal Mail Hotel. This wool store opened in 1872.
•Next look at the original Court House- now a bakery. Built 1869-70.
•Kingston Post Office- Georgian symmetry and arches with classical features and decoration. Note square based, pyramid finials on the roof line balustrade. Built in 1867, after Port Caroline declared in 1865.
•In the side street from the Post Office go and look at the original Police Station, lockup and for a time the first Court House. Built 1864 in the Georgian style with arched windows.
•Diagonally opposite the Post Office is the old Bank of Adelaide, now a private residence since 1970.
•On the next corner is the modern Council Chambers. If you turn up this street to the left you will see the original Council Chambers (1885). Almost next door to it is the War Memorial Gardens. The railway line used to pass through this area.
•Opposite the War Memorial Gardens you can see the original Station Master’s House. The station, now demolished was next door to it. Now return to the Main Street- Hanson Street. You can see some old cottages etc in the main street.
Kingston South East. The sun dial of Human Involvement on Maria Creek.
Lacepede Bay/ Port Caroline/Kingston.
Lacepede Bay was named by Nicholas Baudin on his 1802 voyage. The first exploration of this area was by Governor Grey and friends who went along the Coorong in 1844 to check out the country. It took them two weeks to get to what is now Kingston. The party went on to Mt Burr, Mt Gambier and ended up at Rivoli Bay from where they took a government ship back to Adelaide. The first settlers in the district were the Cooke brothers Archibald and James who squatted on the Maria Run in 1845 as the best land near Naracoorte and Penola was already being squatted on by others. Other early pastoralists near Maria Creek were the Kendles, James Brown, Andrew Dunn, and the Morris brothers and almost all were Scottish. The Cooke property was on Maria Creek.
The relationship of Cape Jaffa( Cape Bernouilli) to the safe harbor of Kingston is crucial. Kingston was selected as the major and safest port of the South East although it appears to be facing the wilds and depths of the Southern Ocean. It is Cape Jaffa which protects Kingston harbour. For 15 kms from Cape Jaffa to Kingston there is no surf. Storms do not ravage the harbour at Kingston. Cape Jaffa was the geographical reason for the development of Kingston. The only danger with using the port of Kingston in the 19th century was the Margaret Brock Reef some 8kms offshore from Cape Jaffa. The Margaret Brock was a ship that was wrecked on the reef in 1852 and it was one among several such wrecks including the Agnes 1865 and the Maria in 1840. Eventfully in 1872 the government built an oil rig type structure on the reef and on top of that platform they built the metal Cape Jaffa lighthouse. One hundred years later it was replaced by an automatic light beacon and the National Trust took the lighthouse to Kingston in 1972. Cape Jaffa was one of only three places in Australia where a German U-boat was sighted during World War Two. The U-boat fired shots at a passing freighter ship.
Kingston was surveyed as a private town in 1858 on property owned by Sir George Kingston (his son Charles Cameron Kingston became Premier of SA 1893-99) the first Surveyor General of SA and the designer of parts of Government House, the Old Adelaide Jail, and the Morphett house called Cummins at Novar Gardens. Recent historical work now argues that Kingston was the designer of the city plan of Adelaide not Colonel William Light and that Light only rubber stamped the location for the city selected by Kingston! The historical evidence is interesting but not convincing or true. The first land surveyed in the district was put up for sale in 1855. Kingston bought 2 sections of land, and the Cooke brothers bought 10 sections to complement their leasehold run. Governor MacDonnell named the town after his Surveyor General. Once the town of Kingston was established the Cooke brothers saw the potential of the area and built the first jetty. They were largely responsible for the wool stores which were built in the town. The telegraph line from Adelaide to Mt Gambier passed through the town in 1858. So although George Kingston was the land speculator and founder of the town, Archibald and James Cooke were the real founders of the town and they later created a new subdivision of the town in 1867. They erected the Kingston Arms Hotel in 1859 to service the needs of the passengers on the new coach service from Meningie to Robe and onwards. Once the pub was operating Cooke then petitioned the government for a police officer in the settlement. Nothing happened until after the government gazetted a government town adjoining the private township of Kingston which it did in 1860 the year before the Hundred of Lacepede was surveyed and declared. The government of course wanted the commercial life of the town to be centred near the government services of police, gaol and post office. In 1866 the town got a police station and in 1869-70 a Post Office and Courthouse. Kingston’s town on the foreshore declined especially after the building of the government town in 1860. The government town got a new hotel the Royal Mail which accommodated visiting magistrates and travellers on the run to Port MacDonnell.
It was the Cooke brothers who petitioned the government to declare an international port at Kingston and they also petitioned the government for a railway to the Tatiara district around Bordertown. They opposed any suggestion of
expanding the port of Robe or of building a railway to Robe. The government, who controlled Customs and all official ports, did not declare a port at Kingston until 1865 when they named it Port Caroline. The port was successful immediately as the Cooke brothers were ready to start an international shipping firm just as Ormerod of Naracoorte had done in Robe. When the government later decided to build the first railway in the South East from Kingston/Lacepede Bay to Naracoorte the future of Kingston was well and truly assured. The narrow gauge railway to Naracoorte opened in 1876 and Kingston became the most important port in the South East. The commencement of the railway provoked a building boom in Kingston in the late 1870s. It also brought two Melbourne shipping companies to Kingston as well and they competed with, and limited, the expansion of James Cooke’s shipping firm. By the 1870s Kingston was the main South East port for exporting of wool and grain. Wool was shipped from Kingston direct to England until the end of World War One and after that most wool went direct by road or rail to Melbourne or Geelong, but not Adelaide. The port closed in the 1920s. The railway line to Naracoorte closed in 1987.
Meantime in 1865 Mrs James Cooke worked to establish the first Free Presbyterian Church in Kingston. The McCheyne Free Presbyterian Church foundation stone was laid 1874 with the church opening in 1875. Despite Mrs Cooke’s support it had closed by 1882 and it was demolished after the earthquake of 1899. There was even an Aboriginal school for Aboriginal children in the 1870s run by a friend of Mrs James Cooke. The Congregationalists, the largest denomination in Kingston, opened their church in 1870 with an accompanying school that served all children in the town. It closed around 1880 and was sold to the Anglicans in 1882 who still use this 1870 church for their services. 1887 saw the opening of a Wesleyan Church in Holland Street. By the turn of the 20th century new drainage schemes and closer settlement acts had opened up much of the hinterland to small properties but pastoralism still dominated the district. Deep-sea and lobster fishing became a significant industry in the 1890s and has continued into the present. In the 1880s the Salt Creek Petroleum Oil Company was formed and it sunk deep shafts searching for oil near the Coorong but this was not successful. Kingston’s continued prosperity relied on pastoralism.
Hanson Street, Kingston. Starting at the esplanade near the jetty look for:
•1890s villa house on the corner of the esplanade (jetty built by Cooke in 1863) opposite the Lacepede Motel- the Harbour Master’s House. Like other government buildings it was in the “government town” of Port Caroline.
•The old power generator is in the park. This was the towns’ first power supply.
•Opposite that is the only remaining of the original three Cooke Brothers wool stores. Note the wide doors used by a spur railway line that went right into the building. Now being used by the adjoining Royal Mail Hotel. This wool store opened in 1872.
•Next look at the original Court House- now a bakery. Built 1869-70.
•Kingston Post Office- Georgian symmetry and arches with classical features and decoration. Note square based, pyramid finials on the roof line balustrade. Built in 1867, after Port Caroline declared in 1865.
•In the side street from the Post Office go and look at the original Police Station, lockup and for a time the first Court House. Built 1864 in the Georgian style with arched windows.
•Diagonally opposite the Post Office is the old Bank of Adelaide, now a private residence since 1970.
•On the next corner is the modern Council Chambers. If you turn up this street to the left you will see the original Council Chambers (1885). Almost next door to it is the War Memorial Gardens. The railway line used to pass through this area.
•Opposite the War Memorial Gardens you can see the original Station Master’s House. The station, now demolished was next door to it. Now return to the Main Street- Hanson Street. You can see some old cottages etc in the main street.