Barmera

A Murray Riverlands town, Barmera is primarily an agricultural and viticultural centre located on Lake Bonney (Riverland), a freshwater lake.

Where is it?: Murray Riverlands. 220 km north east of Adelaide.




Annual events: Every Easter, a sailing regatta is held on Lake Bonney and a country music festival is held every June. Riverland Field Days are held in September a Show is held in March. There is also a country music festival in the town every June.

Barmera exists in a semi-arid location, north of Goyder's Line. The town is surrounded by mallee scrub. Lake Bonney is good for fishing and sailing and sunsets at dusk.

Barmera has an irrigation and steam museum (5 km west), which contains the world's only working Humphrey Pump. These gas-driven pumps were used for the early irrigation of the area. They actually operated like a water cannon with the water being propelled by an explosion of gas. The pump is now part of the State's Heritage.



Located on Queen Elizabeth Drive is an Obelisk recording the fact that the famous English speedster, Donald Campbell, unsuccessfully attempted to break the world water speed record on Lake Bonney in 1964. He reached 347.5 km/h but the lake proved to be too small and the waves created by the speeding vehicle were too dangerous. Campbell was successful in breaking the record on Lake Dumbyleyung, Western Australia, in the same year travelling at a speed of 444.7 kilometers per hour.

About Barmera

The Overland Corner is also a very popular attraction nearby with its own walking trail. Located at Barmera West, this historic hotel was built in 1859 on a site which had become a popular resting place for drovers moving huge numbers of sheep across to South Australia from New South Wales. It is said that Captain Moonlite, a well known bushranger, rode his horse into the bar. In the early 20th century it was the local mail receival point and in the 1920s German settlers used to use it for dances. There is also the remnants of a copper mine and historic graves nearby.

Brief history: It is unknown where the name "Barmera" comes from but it is suspected that it means "water place" or "land dwellers", being a word from a local Aboriginal group. Others postulate it comes from Barmeedjie, the name of the tribe that lived to the north of the Murray River prior to European settlement.

Lake Bonney was first seen by Charles Bonney and Joseph Hawdon in 1838 drove cattle along the Murray River. The lake was named after Bonney. The land however, was settled in 1859 with the establishment of Overland Corner Hotel. It was a popular area with drovers that drove sheep from New South Wales into South Australia. A police station was also built to prevent and stop arguments between the indigenes and settlers.

An irrigation system was established in the town in 1921. The town became gazetted. An influx of World War I veterans settled with promises of irrigated land from the government. A railway station was opened in 1928 and the town was proclaimed in the same year. In World War II an internment camp was established south of Barmera in Loveday and was one of the largest World War II camps in Australia.



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