Aldinga

A small coastal community on the western side of the Fleurieu Peninsula. It is gradually being incorporated into the Adelaide metropolitan area.

Where is it?: Fleurieu Peninsula. 45 km south of Adelaide.




Aldinga Beach and adjoining Snapper Point is a 1.5 km narrow, sand beach fronted by intertidal rock flats, that extend further offshore as reefs. The whole point and reef area is an aquatic reserve. Aldinga township backs the bluffs, with a bluff top road paralleling the back of the beach and providing both views and access to the beach and fronting platforms.

The main beach is a moderately safe beach, particularly on the attached inner bar. Be careful of the deep trough between the inner and outer bar. Some sections of Aldinga Beach are unsuitable for swimming owing to the rocky reef flats. Aldinga Bay has some surf, but remains relatively safe under normal conditions. It receives low swell and usually has low beach breaks over the inner and outer bar.

Beaching fishing is possible by wading out on the shallow inner bar to fish the longshore trough. There is also reef fishing at high tide at Aldinga beach. However the Snapper Point area is an Aquatic Reserve.

Aldinga is well known for its long flat beaches on the Gulf St Vincent on the western side of Fleurieu Peninsula. These include Maslin Beach (Australia's first legal nude beach), Aldinga Beach (4 km south west)and Silver Sands Beach. An off-shore reef supporting sea grasses and sponges is a favourite haunt of divers. The Aldinga Drop Off, 1.5 km odff the coast, is an underwater cliff where divers say the marine life has to be seen to be believed.

The graveyard of the Uniting Church (1863) includes the mass grave for the eleven people who died aboard the Star of Greece which sank when it was driven ashore at Port Willunga during a gale in 1888. It is still possible to see parts of the wreck at Port Willunga at low tide.


Nearby McLaren Vale is recognised as a region of vineyards, orchards and gourmet-produce farms. The first grape vines were planted here in 1838, just two years after Adelaide was settled, and McLaren Vale has remained a prominent wine region ever since.

Heritage features: Aldinga Beach Aboriginal occupation site; Willunga Cliffs Aboriginal sites.

Origin of name: of Aboriginal origin derived from 'aldinghi', meaning 'plenty of water'.

Brief history: Matthew Flinders sailed the coast here in 1802, noting its long ribbons of beach for which it is now widely known and regarded. The town developed as a port in the 1860s for the wheat and mixed farming activities of the surrounding area.

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