Hamley Bridge, South Australia

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Hamley Bridge is a community in South Australia located at the junction of the Gilbert and Light rivers, as well as the site of a former railway junction.

Hamley Bridge is a beautifully situated small town, nestled in a picturesque valley between the rivers and literally a town of bridges. Named by the government of the day, in honour of the Acting Governor of South Australia Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Gilbert Hamley, whose wife, Lady Edith Hamley laid the foundation stone of the River Light Railway Bridge on 25 July 1868.

Other settlements in the area had commenced in the early 1860s, and it was not until 1868 that the junction of the two rivers came under notice as a possible site for a township. The northern railway was extended from Roseworthy to Tarlee during 1868 and a bridge, said to be the highest in the state, was built over the River Light. Another line extends to the towns of Owen and Balaklava.

A railway station was established a few hundred metres north of it in 1880 and was at first known as Alma Railway Station. The stone building, occupied as a private residence today, represents the fine architecture of the era and is heritage listed along with the signal box and water tanks, and two of the bridges over the River Light.