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INTRODUCTION MARION HISTORIC VILLAGE The area we now call Marion Historic Village was affectionately known to locals as ‘The Marion’. Land which was WALK DETAILS destined to be marked out as Marion Village had been, throughout time, The trail is an easy one-hour walk of approximately two kilometres, accessible for bicycles, prams and wheelchairs. inhabited by the Kaurna Aboriginal Toilets, playground, barbeque facilities and parking can be Heritage Walk people of the Adelaide Plains who found at George St Reserve. called it ‘Warriparinga’ - a windy place GETTING TO THE WALK BY BUS by a creek. M44 Bus between City and Marion Shopping Centre. Alight at Stop 26 on Finniss Street We are fortunate to be accompanied on our walk by the words and memories of people who knew and GETTING TO THE WALK BY TRAIN loved ‘The Marion’, whose ancestors planted and Train Between City and Seaford. tended the first almonds, vines and market gardens, Alight at Marion Station (then approx 20 min walk) OR or made bricks from local clay to build beautiful Alight at Oaklands Station (then approx 25 min walk) buildings, some of which survive to enrich our lives. PUBLIC TRANSPORT INFORMATION It is the memories of these people that help us learn Call Adelaide Metro Info Line 1300 311 108 more about the history of European settlement in this district as we begin to see the village through REFERENCES their eyes. Some sites on the Marion Historic Village Dolling, Allison 1981, The History of Marion on the Sturt, Peacock Heritage Walk date back to the establishment of the Publications, Frewville SA. The Marion Historic Village village in 1838, just two years after the colony was THE MARION Western, Margaret 2008, Yesterday’s Child, Elite Press, 1/57 Project has enabled founded, while others refer to more recent history. HISTORIC Norfolk Road, Marion SA. residents, local businesses, The original village was surveyed in November 1838 VILLAGE PROJECT community groups and THESE BOOKS MAY BE PURCHASED FROM by the survey team of Light, Finniss & Co. It was a Council to work together Gallery M Marion Cultural Centre private township of 32 hectares, on Land section towards common goals. 287 Diagonal Road Oaklands Park Tel 8375 6785 DID YOU KNOW... 117. Its proprietors were Henry Nixon and Boyle Through the creation of This walking guide was researched and written by local residents Travers Finniss. Finniss was later to become the first On the Marion Historic the Heritage Walk, art with support from the City of Marion. The Marion Historic Village Premier of South Australia. Village Heritage Walk workshops and many Project has been a collaborative project between residents of the community events and each historic site includes Land section 118 was granted to Edward John Eyre, City of Marion and the Council. a tiled marker which is who went on to explore Lake Eyre and the Eyre celebrations, the Light community has experienced highlighted with a two- Peninsula. It was later divided into large allotments greater pride and belonging CITY OF MARION tone concrete ‘survey line’ and sold as the village of Elmwood. in their neighbourhood. PO Box 21, Oaklands Park, South Australia 5046 crossing the footpath. The This project has broadened 245 Sturt Road, Sturt, South Australia survey lines refer to the the understanding and T +61 08 8375 6600 laying out of the village of appreciation of the unique F +61 08 8375 6699 Marion by Light, Finniss & history of the Marion Village marion.sa.gov.au Co. One end of each survey precinct. line points towards Light Square, Marion. Brochure published 2017 Marion Historic Village Heritage Walk

1 ANNIE DOOLAN’S COTTAGE & LITTLE MARION SKIPPING 8 FINNISS STREET & LITTLE MARION WELCOMING 13 ALMOND GROVE 19 THREDGOLD’S BIRTHING HOUSE This cottage was built in 1876 as a convent for the teaching Boyle Travers Finniss and Henry Nixon were employed in Colonel Only this small almond grove remains in Marion Village today. This home of Alf and May Thredgold was once part of 4 Sisters of St Joseph founded by Mary McKillop (who became William Light’s surveying team. When Light resigned his post The beauty of Marion Village during almond blossom time acres on which Alf ran a brick-kiln. May, being one of the Saint Mary McKillop). Later, the Doolan family lived in of Surveyor-General, they formed Light, was marketed with great success by South Australia’s Tourist Village midwives, used the left-hand front room (as you face the cottage which has been affectionately named after Finniss and Co., which surveyed the Village Bureau between 1934 and 1955 when buses were used to the home) for delivering Annie, who was the last member of the family to live there. of Marion on their land grant. In November bring tourists to see the almond blossom. Margaret Western, babies. Midwives played The building is currently 1838 they offered for sale one-acre writer of Yesterday’s Child, a vital in this era when managed by the Friends allotments in the village for six pounds recalls, “Some people don’t doctors were some distance of Annie Doolan’s Cottage each. Nixon’s son, George, sold some of the understand that next year’s away and transport and and displays a schoolroom remaining allotments after bringing them almonds depend on the communications were both of the 1870s, a kitchen of under the Torrens Title System in 1870. blossom and they tear and slow. the 1940s and model of Little Marion Welcoming by Gerry McMahon welcomes you to twist at the trees so they 20 Marion Village in 1949. The Marion Village. Farm gates like this reproduction were very can take home some of the CHARLESWORTH NUTS Little Marion Skipping by Gerry McMahon. The sculpture common in the district. The names of local brick makers in the flowers.” Herb and Doris Charlesworth of Clarence Gardens is of Little Marion skipping in what was most likely the village are inscribed on bricks embedded in the ground. purchased a nut stall in the Central Market in 1934. Their 14 LIGHT SQUARE & TILED BENCHES playground of the school. son Chappy took over the market business in the 1950s. 9 WESTERN FAMILY WELL & LITTLE MARION PEERING The name of this square recalls the contribution made by Colonel By the 1970s his two sons Mark and Brett joined him. 2 ST ANN’S CHAPEL BELL Local resident, Peter Western said, “This well was about 26 William Light’s team of partners in the firm of Light, Finniss As production increased Chappy looked for a new site It was a special occasion when the new bell for St Ann’s metres deep and then at the bottom of this you put a bore down. and Co. who surveyed and for expansion. He chose Chapel was blessed in October 1866. A guard of honour You had to go down a wooden ladder right to the bottom if you laid out the Marion Village in the current location for of 50 to 60 horsemen bedecked with rosettes and sashes ever wanted to work on the submersible water pumps. My uncle, 1838. Streets in Marion were a new warehouse and rode out to meet Bishop Sheil on his way to Marion Village Laurie once fell about five metres down the well only surviving by named after the firm’s partners manufacturing facility built from Adelaide. Due to the landing on a crossbeam. He broke his ankle and it was difficult to – Finniss, Nixon, Jacob and in 1977 and it has been bell being too large for the get him out.” Thomas. In 1939 Colonel Light’s continually developed. Chapel, it was installed in Little Marion Peering Sculpture by Gerry McMahon represents the team also laid out the township 21 this gum tree. It is still rung many wells in the Marion district. They were treated with respect of Gawler, which has some JOHN SHEARING HOME for a short time before and fear. (Margaret Western) similarly named streets and also John Shearing worked alongside his father Henry (of Laurel Sunday Services. a Light Square. Cottage), in his brick-making business near here. Later, 10 ORIGINAL MARION INN Tiled Benches. The tiles on the four benches were painted by John established a chaff and 3 ST ANN’S CHAPEL The Village Inn, built in 1851, was prominently situated for community members. One is about the Kaurna people, two tell wood business (pictured), A strong Irish Catholic community grew up in Marion Village travellers to take advantage of a restful haven for themselves stories about 19th century people and settlement in the area, although his own son, as large numbers of immigrants, escaping the famine and their horses. Built as an 8-roomed stone building, roofed while the fourth is about industries and market gardens in the Gilbert, turned away from in their country, began arriving in South Australia in the with iron, it has been extended and modernized over the years. Village. chaff milling and went back 1850s. The foundation stone for the chapel was laid in Exterior gaslights were common, as were horse troughs and to brick-making. 15 1859. There was cooperation between Methodists and hitching rails. Here, the original GEORGE STREET RESERVE, LITTLE MARION WAITING & TILED 22 Catholic families as demonstrated by a donation of bricks horse trough and hitching rail HOPSCOTCH WESLEYAN CHAPEL by Henry Shearing for along the footpath have gone, Brick making was an important industry in The Marion. This is the The Wesleyan Chapel was enlarged only five years after it the quoins of the church. but a replica hitching rail has site of one of four major pug holes. “At their peak before World was built in 1862. It was restored in the 1970s and given a St Ann’s Church was been installed close to the front War I, Wade’s Brickworks employed eight assistants working National Trust listing. The renovated in the early corner of the building. from 7am to 5pm. Sometimes they worked for 20 hours without stones for the front fence 1970s, including stained a break, stoking the kilns to maintain the temperature for firing were obtained from the Sturt 11 glass windows made by STURT RIVER & LITTLE MARION PONDERING brick. Pug (clay) was raised Methodist Church originally South Australian artist “The River washed the plains with fertile, alluvial soil, and fed in trucks by a winch from a located on Marion Road Cedar Prest. the wells from the sub- artesian basin which flowed beneath the small railway at the bottom of until 1972. Marion. In its wildest times, the River burst its banks, flowed the pug hole. From the trucks 4 FORMER HERSEY FARMHOUSE into people’s homes, cut roads in half and made the terrain it was tipped into the pug- 22a MARION HISTORIC VILLAGE MUSEUM The Hersey family were early Marion settlers who tended hazardous.” Winter flood waters were controlled by constructing mill, which was operated by This 1927 building, once used as a Sunday School, is well-established market gardens on a large land holding concrete drains and a flood control dam up-stream. “Gone are a horse plodding all day in a now managed and operated by volunteer members of the on both sides of the Sturt River. The orchards and market most of the ancient river gums that had witnessed the early giddy treadmill motion.” community, as a museum. Come and see changing exhibits gardens of Marion grew vegetables, fruit, almonds and top Aboriginal settlements, the coming of the Europeans, the tilling (Allison Dolling) and discover more about the Marion Village, its people quality table grapes. The and watering of the alluvial Little Marion Waiting. Sculpture by Gerry McMahon. Little Marion and their stories. Open every Sunday 2–4pm (free entry). Hersey family’s 100-year- plains and the magnificent is sitting on locally made bricks. During other days and old cottage that once produce of the district. Gone Tiled Hopscotch. Tiles for this hopscotch were painted by the times, school classes and stood on this site was now are the wells which were community under the guidance of mosaic artists, Irene Dougan other groups are welcomed demolished in 2015. the life-blood of the area. Gone and Cheryl Dean. The tiles depict games and childhood memories by arrangement (a small fee is the drama, the beauty and the from times past to the present day. may apply). 5 FINNISS STREET BRIDGE wildlife.” 16 23 This is the third bridge built over the Sturt River at this site. (Margaret Western) HISTORIC COTTAGE FORMER POLICE STATION When the second bridge was demolished in 1971, a time Little Marion Pondering Sculpture by Gerry McMahon, illustrates This house, built in about 1900, was used as a residence for the The need for a police station in Marion was brought about capsule was uncovered that for most of the time, the river was a safe place to play. manager of the brickworks. It was sold to Giuseppe Seccafien, a by thefts of fruit, vegetables and almonds from the area’s containing a nineteenth Village children delighted in any chance to escape to the river local market gardener, in 1945. Patrick Ford lived in a cottage to gardens and orchards during the great depression, when century map of the to play, swim, catch tadpoles, day-dream or just to enjoy nature. the west of the present structure in 1864. When he died in 1898, there was severe unemployment. The station office opened ‘Township of Marion’, (Margaret Western) all of his land on George Street was sold to Charles Boots and in 1933 in a side room of this house, the remainder of which is now at the Marion later, in 1906 to Robert William Wade. which accommodated the sole constable and his family. Heritage Research Centre The station closed in the 1960s when a new police station 17 EARLY SETTLERS’ COTTAGE on Sturt Road. with 24-hour services, including mobile patrols, was DID YOU KNOW... Believed to have been built in the mid 1800s, this cottage has opened at Darlington. All local police services have since 6 WATER PUMP solid mud and straw walls about 450 mms thick. Between 1914 That in 1839, Colonel Light died of tuberculosis, at age 53, re-located to the more-recently built Police Complex on Remains of this 1940s Pomona brand pump powered by and was buried in Light Square in Adelaide? and 1945 brick maker, Robert Wade, was the owner. The cottage Sturt Road, Bedford Park. electric motor stands as a silent was then transferred to the Seccafien family who operated a witness to the agricultural history of market garden on adjacent land until 1960 when all their land 24 SHOPS ON FINNISS STREET The Marion. Wells went down about 20 was sold for housing blocks. The Seccafiens made substantial Albert and Ada Gosling leased the old general store in metres whilst some bores went down 12 LAUREL COTTAGE & alterations by raising and plastering the external walls. Nixon Street from the Shearing family for 10 years. In 1927 over 60 metres. These efficient pumps GENERAL STORE they decided to build their own shop, post office and could pump up to 4 million litres a day Laurel Cottage was built in 18 HERSEY WORKMEN’S COTTAGES residence at this site. After the Goslings, it continued to on to the orchards or vineyards. They 1858 by Henry Shearing, a William Alfred and Julia May Hersey, who had established operate as were often mounted on a high block of brick maker. Near the back extensive market-gardens along Finniss Street in the 1920s, a local shop until it was converted to a café in 2005. It concrete inside the shed so as to be door was a bricked well from purchased this land in 1935. They built four cottages from locally has always been an important meeting place for the local above the highest flood level. which water was drawn by a produced bricks and these community. hand-pump. Henry’s mother- were ready for occupation 7 FORESTERS FRIENDLY SOCIETY HALL in-law, Mary James, lived by their workmen in 1940. Marion Historic Village Museum This was the site of the Foresters Friendly Society Hall. The with Henry and his wife Anne, May Hersey donated land (at 9 Township Road, behind the Wesleyn Chapel) Society provided financial and social benefits as well as and operated the general for the establishment Open Sundays 2pm to 4pm & Tuesdays 10am to 12 noon. support to members and their families in times of hardship. store to the east. Marion’s of the Resthaven Aged Group Guided Walks of the Village Foresters played a particularly active role during the Great first post office opened there Care Facility. Resthaven Walks also include a visit to the Village Museum. Morning or Depression and both World Wars. The Boy Scout Movement in 1877. Henry acquired renovated the two afternoon teas can be provided for an additional fee. rebuilt the hall in 1955. Their boys enjoyed playing and land in Township Road and remaining cottages camping on the banks of the Sturt River, which flowed established brick-works there in 2008 as part of the Contacts for Special Group Openings or Guided Walks behind the hall. in the 1860s. redevelopment of their site. Kathy Creer 0411 043 344 or Judy Morphett 0422 187 177 [email protected]

Please note: Annie Doolan's Cottage (No. 1 site in this brochure) is no longer open for public viewing.