From a lookout near Palmer, South Australia
Farming land and wheat silos near Palmer, South Australia
Palmer is a small town about 20 minutes’ drive north of where I live. The main crop in the district is wheat which accounts for the storage silos shown in the photo above. After being stored here for a while, the grain is then transported to flour mills like the one in nearby Murray Bridge, to other mills elsewhere or to Port Adelaide for export.
Palmer is only a short distance from the River Murray town of Mannum, a centre for the river boat trade in a bygone era and now a top tourist destination. It doesn’t show up in the photo above, being slightly to the right of the frame.
The area around the lookout is quite rocky, as shown in the photo below.
From a lookout near Palmer, South Australia
Farm ruins near Palmer, South Australia
Farm ruins near Palmer, South Australia
For a good proportion of the nearly 175 year history of the state of South Australia, agriculture has been predominant. In the last few decades manufacturing and mining have taken over as our leading economic arenas.
Because of this history of settlement on the land in the early days, farms were established in many parts of the state, including many which didn’t last all that long. Travelling in the rural areas of our state reveals many formerly fine homes and farm sheds now in a poor state; most are buildings slowly becoming ruins, mere shadows of the dreams of their optimistic builders.
The buildings shown on this post can be found near the road from Palmer to Tungkillo, east of Adelaide.
Farm ruins near Palmer, South Australia
Rock formations near Palmer, South Australia
A bygone era
Old plough along the Riesling Trail near Clare, South Australia
South Australia has a rather short history since European settlement in 1836. We don’t have buildings and monuments which are hundreds of years old like you get in Europe, for example. Despite this, throughout our state we have many buildings regarded as historic scattered across the rural landscape.
The rural regions also contain remnants of a bygone era. Almost every farm has a collection of machinery used in earlier times, like the plough shown in the photo above. I took this photo on a walk I did on the Riesling Trail in the Clare Valley during the Easter weekend earlier this year. The photo below shows one of the many gum trees along the trail, lit beautifully by thesetting sun.
Along the Riesling Trail near Clare, South Australia
Trees at sunset
Along the Riesling Trail near Clare, South Australia
I enjoy taking photographs of trees lit up by the last rays of sunshine in the evening. I was pleased to get these good shots of eucalyptus (“gum”) trees along the Riesling Trail in the Clare Valley in the mid north of South Australia. The photos were taken one evening on a family walk last Easter.
Along the Riesling Trail near Clare, South Australia
Along the creek
Creek bed at sunset along the Riesling Trail near Clare, South Australia
The Riesling Trail runs from Auburn to just north of Clare in the mid north of South Australia. This popular walking/cycling trail follows the old railway line which serviced this region in the early days of settlement.
My family and I walked a good part of this trail over the Easter weekend earlier this year. On the last day we walked just on sunset and this accentuated the colours in the surrounding hills and paddocks and lit up the many gum trees lining the many creeks meandering through the landscape. Most of these creeks are ephemeral, only flowing after good rains.