Did you know?
- Over 27% of South Australia’s high quality grain is produced in the Mid North region.
- While the Clare Valley accounts for only 1.3 per cent of the Australian wine production, the region’s wine is internationally acclaimed, with listings in five star restaurants and aircrafts all around the world.
- The Clare Valley Winemakers were the first in Australia to invent the screw cap closure for Riesling bottles.
- The Riesling Trail was originally part of the railway line, which ran between Riverton to Spalding, but was abandoned after the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires.
- The Burra Monster Mine was the world’s largest mine in 1845, where migrants flocked in their thousands for copper.
- The Clare Valley is home to the only remaining Jesuit-owned winery in Australia, Sevenhill Cellars, which to this day, produces sacramental wine for religious ceremony.
- The district of Bylth was named in 1860 after Sir Arthur Blyth, who was one of the earliest statesmen in South Australia and was Premier on three occasions.
- The historical village of Mintaro was once a major hub for bullock drivers and muleteers who carted their copper ore to Port Wakefield on the Gulf of St. Vincent.
- Waterloo named to mark the 50th anniversary of the famous battle.
- The Riverton Railway Station was the site of Australia’s first ‘political assassination’, though in fact, a crazed passenger began shooting wildly and a visiting member of parliament from Broken Hill was shot while trying to overpower him.
- In the days of ‘early closing’ liquor laws, those who had travelled at least 60 miles in a day were recognised as ‘bona fide’ travellers and could demand a drink from the publican. Being sixty miles north of Adelaide, the Rhynie pub was long known as ‘bona fide’. And, it still is!
- Auburn was also the birthplace of the poet, CJ Dennis.
- Watervale’s place in the history of the Australian wine industry is significant. The first five acres of grapes for commercial use were planted by Francis Treloar in 1853.