Monash, South Australia

Monash
Town
St Oswald's Anglican church
St Oswald's Anglican church
Monash is located in South Australia
Monash
Monash
Coordinates: 34°14′S 140°33′E / 34.233°S 140.550°E / -34.233; 140.550
CountryAustralia
StateSouth Australia
LGA
Location
Established25 August 1921 (town)
3 December 1998 (locality)[1][2]
Government
 • State electorate
 • Federal division
Population
 • Total1,110 (SAL 2021)[3]
Time zoneUTC+9:30 (ACST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+10:30 (ACDT)
Postcode
5342

Monash, known as Lone Gum to the early settlers, is a town in the Riverland area of South Australia. It is on the Sturt Highway between Barmera and Renmark. It is particularly known for its adventure playground, in existence since the 1970s and now known as Monash Adventure Park.

History

Aboriginal people were settled in the Riverland area long before the colonisation of South Australia,[4][5] with the Erawirung people being the traditional owners.[6]

The part of the settlement which became Monash was named Lone Gum, after a prominent local landmark, a river red gum tree (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), by the first European settlers there,[7][8][9] who were soldiers, in 1916.[10][11] After the end of World War I, land was allocated to repatriated soldiers, as part of the state government Soldier Settler Scheme.[7][12][13]

Monash was proclaimed in August 1921 and is named after General Sir John Monash, a World War I army commander.[7] It continued to be referred to as Lone Gum until at least 1926, when the ANZACs were commemorated there.[14]

The tree's image is used on the Monash Primary School emblem.

Governance and demographics

Monash is in the Berri Barmera Council, state electoral district of Chaffey, and federal Division of Barker. Its postcode is 5342.

In the 2021 Australian census, the population of Monash was 1,110, with a median age of 47. The predominant ancestries were English and Australian, with German coming in third at 14%.[15]

Economy

The primary industry is irrigated horticulture, in particular stone fruits, and viticulture.[7]

Attractions

Gurra Gurra

The Gurra Gurra wetlands, part of the Murray River National Park,[16] cover around 3,000 ha (7,400 acres) on the eastern bank of the Murray, with its lakes bordering the Sturt Highway near Monash. Bird life is prolific across the drowned floodplain, including pelicans, black swans, darters, and ducks.[17]

Monash Adventure Park

Monash is best known in South Australia as the home of a major adventure playground for adults as well as children, with tall, fast and twisty slippery dips (slides) and other equipment.[18]

The park was designed by local engineer and businessman Grant Telfer, after he had been asked by the Monash Progress Association in the 1960s to make a small playground slide and swing for the town. The playground was named Grant Park. In the 1970s Telfer began creating new equipment, including a carousel and a spiral slide around a tall tower, based on a "lighthouse-type" of slide that he had seen at the Adelaide beachside suburb of Semaphore as a child. He then designed and constructed various types of see-saws (totalling 33 in the end); ll types of slides, swinging ropes, a roller coaster, flying foxes (ziplines); and a number of rotary cones, all out of steel. Eventually 180 pieces of equipment covered 2 ha (4.9 acres), which was free to use for any visitors in the 1980s, with no restrictions. Around 300,000 adults and children visited Monash Playground each year during this times.[19]

In 1992, Telfer decided that the playground had to be closed, owing to prohibitive public liability insurance costs. It was redeveloped and reopened by Berri Barmera Council in November 1996 as Monash Adventure Park, with scaled-down versions of the equipment.[19]

Original playground (1983)

After rebuilding

Telfer also designed and created the original "Gopher" brand of three- and four-wheeled mobility scooter, around 1980,[20] as well as hand-propelled tricycles for use by disabled children. He also built an ocean-going catamaran, later launched at Morgan to motor down the River Murray, and he and his wife Margaret sailed around parts of Australia and the Pacific in it.[19]

Telfer died in 2021, aged 89. A statue of Telfer was unveiled at the Adventure Park on 23 August 2026 by his daughter Alison Halupka and Berri mayor Ella Winnall.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bice, John G. (25 August 1921). "TOWNS OF GLOSSOP AND MONASH" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. p. 382. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES ACT 1991 Notice to Assign Boundaries and Names to Places (in the District Council of Berri Barmera )" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia: 1711. 3 December 1998. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  3. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Monash (SA) (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  4. ↑ Clarke, Philip (2009). "Chapter 6. Aboriginal culture and the Riverine environment". In Jennings, John T. (ed.). Natural History of the Riverland and Murraylands. Occasional Publications of the Royal Society of South Australia Inc. No. 9. Includes Tindale's Tribal Map of the South Australian section of the Murray Basin. Royal Society of South Australia Inc. pp. 142–161. ISBN 978-0-9596627-9-5. Retrieved 25 August 2026 – via ResearchGate.
  5. ↑ "Aboriginal communities". People of the Murray River. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  6. ↑ Horton, David R. (1996). "Map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Monash, Riverland SA". Discover the Riverland. 25 August 2026. Archived from the original on 25 August 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Monash. In the Riverland of South Australia. Foundation stone of the General Sir John Monash Memorial Hall. Laid by a later Premier of South Australia Sir Thomas Playford in 1939". Flickr. 25 August 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "LONE GUM". Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record. Vol. 26, no. 12. South Australia. 26 March 1920. p. 5. Retrieved 25 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "Monash & Lone Gum". Monash & Lone Gum. 18 December 1920. Retrieved 25 August 2026. The Mail, 18 Dec 1920.
  11. ↑ "Advertising". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. LX, no. 18, 438. South Australia. 16 November 1917. p. 11. Retrieved 25 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Cobdogla, Glossop, Loveday, Monash, Winkie & Overland Corner". berribarmera.sa.gov.au. 15 July 2024. Archived from the original on 16 November 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  13. ↑ "LONE GUM". Murray Pioneer And Australian River Record. Vol. 20, no. 9. South Australia. 11 March 1921. p. 6. Retrieved 25 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ↑ "Lone Gum". Port Adelaide News. Vol. 15, no. 40. South Australia. 14 May 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 25 August 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ "2021 Monash (SA), Census All persons QuickStats". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "Murray River National Park". National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia. 1 July 2023. Archived from the original on 20 May 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "Lakes of the Sturt Highway". Discover the Riverland. 7 August 2026. Archived from the original on 25 August 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  18. ↑ "Monash Adventure Park". SouthAustralia.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Webster, Christine (24 August 2026). "Tribute to creator of SA's hair-raising Monash playground". InDaily. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "Gopher!". Health Museum of South Australia. 23 September 2022. Archived from the original on 18 May 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026.

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