Burra Creek at Worlds End South Australia. Water flows out across the Murray Flats but never reaches the Murray River.
The great mystery of Worlds End is why is it so called? The traditional explanation is explained thus: the first pastoralists here looked out and thought this was semi-arid country, (beyond Goyder’s Line) and likely to court disaster and looked like the world’s end. Is this nonsense? Goyder’s Line did not exist in 1851 when the Scottish pastoralist Donald McDonald took out the first lease here. He called his run Worlds End. We think that every pastoralist in SA could have look at their country and called its worlds end. A far more likely explanation for the name is that Donald McDonald was a good Scot. He would have been thinking about Worlds End Pub in Edinburgh. This pub was built just beyond the original stone walls of the ancient city of Edinburgh. After the English beat the Scots at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 King James of Scotland realised his capital city of Edinburgh was almost defenceless. He hastily had his men build a wall to protect the city. A pub just on the outside edge of the wall was called Worlds End Pub as it was beyond the defences. This pub still exists and you can visit it in Edinburgh. The current one is actually built on the foundations of the wall erected after the Battle of Flodden. Furthermore, Donald McDonald would probably also have known about Worlds End House in Aberdeenshire where McDonald came from. It was built in 1767. Furthermore he would also have known about the Worlds End pub on Magill Road as it was first licensed in 1845. It was only demolished in 1967 when the new Magill Post Office was erected. Worlds End is a well known name as there was even a Scottish fable based on the Well of Worlds End. To us it seems that Worlds End was named because of Donald McDonald’s Scottish connections, not his views about the appearance of his sheep run! Poor Donald McDonald came to a sticky end. His body was found on a north Queensland property near Bowen in 1864 where he was working. His body had two Aboriginal spears in it. No one was charged over the incident but reprisals by white stockmen were common.
SA’s Worlds End was just beyond Goyder’s Line and largely settled by farmers of German background who had moved on from the Robertstown area. The grid town of Lapford (1877) never developed at all. Worlds End on Burra Creek had a school for some years (1888-1944), a Post Office (1876-1971) and a Wesleyan Methodist Church (1889-1975). Most of the German settlers traversed the Hallelujah Hills, part of the Burra Ranges ,weekly to Emu Downs to attend the Lutheran church (and cemetery) there. The locality of Worlds End also had a swinging bridge (1892) across Burra Creek to enable access when the creek was in flood. Some of this information has been provided by Max Duldig whose ancestors lived here. Private Oswald Duldig 1893-1917 of Worlds End was killed in action in France during World War One. Max’s grandfather Friedrich Duldig operated a creamery here in the 1890s and churned the milk into cheese which he then sold in Burra.
Burra Creek at Worlds End South Australia. Water flows out across the Murray Flats but never reaches the Murray River.
The great mystery of Worlds End is why is it so called? The traditional explanation is explained thus: the first pastoralists here looked out and thought this was semi-arid country, (beyond Goyder’s Line) and likely to court disaster and looked like the world’s end. Is this nonsense? Goyder’s Line did not exist in 1851 when the Scottish pastoralist Donald McDonald took out the first lease here. He called his run Worlds End. We think that every pastoralist in SA could have look at their country and called its worlds end. A far more likely explanation for the name is that Donald McDonald was a good Scot. He would have been thinking about Worlds End Pub in Edinburgh. This pub was built just beyond the original stone walls of the ancient city of Edinburgh. After the English beat the Scots at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 King James of Scotland realised his capital city of Edinburgh was almost defenceless. He hastily had his men build a wall to protect the city. A pub just on the outside edge of the wall was called Worlds End Pub as it was beyond the defences. This pub still exists and you can visit it in Edinburgh. The current one is actually built on the foundations of the wall erected after the Battle of Flodden. Furthermore, Donald McDonald would probably also have known about Worlds End House in Aberdeenshire where McDonald came from. It was built in 1767. Furthermore he would also have known about the Worlds End pub on Magill Road as it was first licensed in 1845. It was only demolished in 1967 when the new Magill Post Office was erected. Worlds End is a well known name as there was even a Scottish fable based on the Well of Worlds End. To us it seems that Worlds End was named because of Donald McDonald’s Scottish connections, not his views about the appearance of his sheep run! Poor Donald McDonald came to a sticky end. His body was found on a north Queensland property near Bowen in 1864 where he was working. His body had two Aboriginal spears in it. No one was charged over the incident but reprisals by white stockmen were common.
SA’s Worlds End was just beyond Goyder’s Line and largely settled by farmers of German background who had moved on from the Robertstown area. The grid town of Lapford (1877) never developed at all. Worlds End on Burra Creek had a school for some years (1888-1944), a Post Office (1876-1971) and a Wesleyan Methodist Church (1889-1975). Most of the German settlers traversed the Hallelujah Hills, part of the Burra Ranges ,weekly to Emu Downs to attend the Lutheran church (and cemetery) there. The locality of Worlds End also had a swinging bridge (1892) across Burra Creek to enable access when the creek was in flood. Some of this information has been provided by Max Duldig whose ancestors lived here. Private Oswald Duldig 1893-1917 of Worlds End was killed in action in France during World War One. Max’s grandfather Friedrich Duldig operated a creamery here in the 1890s and churned the milk into cheese which he then sold in Burra.