Blyth is a small town located 13 kilometres west of the Clare Valley. The town is located on the lands of the Kaurna people, the indigenous people who lived there before European settlement. Its population of around 300 people is a farming community spanning the plains between the Clare Hills and the Barunga/Hummocks ranges. Located approximately 132 kilometres north of Adelaide, the district's climate and soils are well suited to wheat, barley, legumes, hay, sheep, cattle and pigs.
Blyth has a General Store, Post Office, Pub and Gallery/Studio, as well as sporting facilities for football, netball, bowls, cricket, tennis and golf. Several businesses based in Blyth service the region. The Blyth Cinema is housed in a renovated Masonic Hall.
The name of Weckert Farm suggests it is owned by a descendant of the Weikert who led the Jesuit party out to the Clare Valley many years ago.
Not far out of town is Brooks Lookout, from where we were delighted with expansive views over a patchwork of intensively cropped plains. The plains seen from this spot were first viewed by Europeans in 1842 when David Hughes passed by and named them Jacob's Plains. The land from the hills to west of Blyth was originally grassland with scattered shrubs, and is now among the best cereal and legume cropping lands in South Australia. Further west, the mallee scrub was extensively cleared for cereal cropping and other mixed farming pursuits.
Bungaree
Bungaree (or Bungaree Station) is situated north of Clare and north east of Blyth, along the Main North Road. Bungaree Station was established by settler George Charles Hawker and his two brothers in 1841, who ran sheep on 80,000 acres (32,000 ha) of land he purchased. Over time, a large settlement evolved which included the main homestead and a number of outbuildings, including a church.
The historic Bungaree Homestead Complex, including the homestead and its manager's house, council chamber, stables, office and store, men's kitchen, shearing shed, shearer's quarters, swagman's hut, stallion box and gate house, is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. Bungaree is still an active sheep station and remains in the ownership of the Hawker family. It has also become a centre for tourism, which includes accommodation and a conference centre.
Condowie
These days little more than a name on a map, Condowie is an Aboriginal word meaning "good water". Condowie was a station on the Brinkworth Kadina railway line. It is 21 km south-west of Blyth towards Lochiel.
Brinkworth
With a current population of around 400, Brinkworth has managed to survive when other 19th century settlements in the area haven't. The Brinkworth area was first settled in the 1860s; and the town laid out in 1892. It was a junction on the Gladstone railway line from Adelaide to Gladstone in the north. The other line from Brinkworth went through Snowtown to Kadina and Wallaroo. Both lines were originally built as narrow gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). These lines were converted to broad gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) in 1927 but are now closed.Named after the original land owner in the region, George Brinkworth, the town's main street has many well-preserved buildings dating back to the twilight of the 19th century, while a turntable and water tower echo its past importance as a rail junction. The town's motto - 'take a break' - reflects its role for today's travellers. A delightful, scenic picnic spot in Whitecliffs Reserve on the Broughton River is 7km north of town. Brinkworth is 152km from Adelaide and 18 km north west of Blyth.
The Hundred of Blyth was surveyed in 1860, although in 1853 fifteen of those German families who came with the Jesuits settled at Benbournie Springs, three and a half kilometres to the north. The Hundred of Blyth is a cadastral unit of hundred located on the northern Adelaide Plains in South Australia centred on the township of Blyth. It was named in 1860 by Governor Richard MacDonnell after Arthur Blyth who arrived in South Australia as a teenager in 1839 and went on to become a local businessman, parliamentarian and thrice the premier of South Australia.
The township of Blyth was surveyed in 1865. In 1876, Blyth was the terminus of the narrow gauge railway to Port Wakefield. This line ultimately was extended to Gladstone and converted to the broad gauge of 1,600 mm (63 in) in 1927 as the Gladstone railway line. Adjacent stations were Brinkworth to the north and Halbury to the south.
