The
first European to travel through the Riverland area was
Charles Sturt as he navigated the mighty Murray River from
the Great Dividing range in the east to Lake Alexandrina
in the west.
It
is believed the name Renmark refers to an Aboriginal word
meaning "Red Mud". A settlement began to grow
in 1887, when the Renmark Irrigation Settlement was established
by George and William Chaffey, who created an irrigation
system using water from the Murray, to allow orchards to
be planted in the area.
By pumping water onto the hot red sand they transformed
it into a fruit growing area similar to California.
Renmark was proclaimed a town in 1904 and a municipality
in 1935. Renmark hosts the Renmark Rose Festival every October.
The
name Berri comes from the Aboriginal description of "big
river bend" on which the town has grown. Up until the
1870s the area was part of the Cobdogla sheep station and
the home of the Erawirunga tribe of Aborigines. In those
days it was just one of the hundreds of woodpiles along
the huge Murray-Darling system, used by the riverboats for
refueling.
The town was proclaimed in 1911. The first irrigation blocks
were allotted in 1911 and the first permanent settlers took
up residence. In 1943, "Berri Juices" (Berri Ltd)
were first produced. By the 1950s, Berri and other Riverland
towns dominated the local economy with fruit and their products.
Loxton
was originally known as Loxton's Hut on account of a primitive
pine hut built on the riverbank by a boundary rider during
the 1880s when graziers were pushing into the district.
Initially a farming and grazing area. Iit is now a thriving
irrigation town.
Waikerie
was the first of the large irrigated areas into the Riverland.
Originally settled in 1894 as a Village Settlement when
its first settlers arrived by paddle steamer.
'Waikerie'
is said to mean 'many wings', after the giant swift moth
"wei kari", the name given by the original indigenous
community. It's an appropriate name, considering the teeming
birds of the lagoons and wetlands that edge the river.
