Birdwood, South Australia

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Birdwood South Australia
Population:	750
Established:	1848
Postcode:	5234
Location:	44 km from Adelaide
LGA:	Adelaide Hills Council
State District:	Kavel
Federal Division:	Mayo

Birdwood (34°49′9″S, 138°57′52″E; post code 5234) is a town near Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Facilities
4 Transport
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Kaurna Aborigines

Main article: Kaurna

The Kaurna people (pronounced "Garner" or "Gowna") people were the indigenous inhabitants of the Adelaide region, numbering approximately 650 in 1842.

[edit] Origin of the name

Formerly known as Blumberg, the German town name was anglicized during World War I, along with many others in the region in 1917. The new name honoured Sir William Birdwood, the Australian Imperial Force general who led the Anzacs at Gallipoli. The original name's origins are uncertain but some Prussian settlers originating from a village of that name is the most likely source.^[1]

[edit] European settlement

Migrants who had temporarily settled at Lobethal began looking for land of their own in 1848. Pastor Fritzsch recommended this spot beside the Torrens, where he camped on the way to Bethany. Birdwood grew with homes on land leased from G F Angas and a church some distance away. The town prospered by the 1850s, and the area was producing enough grain to justify the construction of the Blumberg Flour Mill (now the site of the motor museum). In 1865, during the local gold rush, the Blumberg Inn was built.

[edit] Rail history

Birdwood once had a train station on the Mt. Pleasant train line at 44.13 miles (71 km) from Adelaide ^[2] The line came via Balhannah and was not a very direct route. The line was closed during one of the rail reformations as it was not a very profitable line, probably due to the more direct Adelaide-Mannum road. The track is now long gone but the earthworks can still be seen along the edges of the Birdwood flat to Mt Torrens and towards Mt Pleasant. Also still standing is an old stone railway bridge near Mt Torrens.

[edit] Geography

Birdwood sits on a crossroads between the Adelaide-Mannum Road, the road leading north towards Williamstown and the Barossa Valley, and the road leading south towards Lobethal, Hahndorf and the South Eastern Freeway.

At the ABS 2001 census, Birdwood had a population of 750 people living in 285 dwellings.

[edit] Facilities

Birdwood has a government-operated primary (opened 1878) and high school (opened 1909), small supermarket, a few delis and antique shops. A number of churches have formed part of the history of the town, including the Roman Catholic Church near the sports grounds, the nearby Lutheran church and cemetery which is just beyond the town limits; the United Church in the centre of town, which united long before the Uniting Church formed, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church further along Shannon Street.^[3]

Birdwood is also home to the National Motor Museum (in what used to be the Old Mill), and is the endpoint of the annual Bay to Birdwood run, in which vintage motor vehicles are driven by their owners from Glenelg past the city and through the hills to finish at the museum where a festival is held. The museum was started by Jack Kaines and Len Vigar in 1964, and was purchased by the South Australian Government in 1976, holding a large and historically important collection of cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles.

Just north of Birdwood is the Cromer Conservation Park, proclaimed in 1976, with an open-forest formation of long-leafed box with Pink Gum and an open woodland formation of Red Gum, which forms an important habitat for honeyeaters. Mining for yellow ochre occurred in the park during the 1800s. There are no formal walking trails or visitor facilities.^[4]

[edit] Transport

The area is not serviced by Adelaide public transport. A coach is operated from Tea Tree Plaza Interchange to Gumeracha and Mount Pleasant by Affordable Coachlines. ^[5]

Birdwood has a lot of through traffic, and a traffic calming device was installed at the Adelaide end of town to discourage speeding, however it mostly slows down trucks and buses. A significant number of road accidents occur on the Adelaide-Mannum road, and the sites of these are marked with red and black posts.