Travelling to Barmera, South Australia

I went to Barmera with my friend to help her drive to a Catholic gathering. I was the designated driver. It is a hot place in summer over 50 degrees, wow. It was a great opportunity to see my country, this wonderful land in Australia. Our destination was Barmera, I had never heard of this place, but life took me there. Here is some information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmera,_South_Australia

Barmera is a town in the Riverland region of South Australia. It is on the Sturt Highway A20, 220 kilometres north-east of Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia. It is primarily an agricultural and viticultural town and is located on Lake Bonney (Riverland), a freshwater lake. The population was 1928 in 2006.

History

It is unknown where the name “Barmera” comes from but it is suspected that it means “water place” or “land dwellers”, being a word from a local Aboriginal group. Others postulate it comes from Barmeedjie, the name of the tribe that lived to the north of the Murray River prior to European settlement.

Lake Bonney was first seen by Charles Bonney and Joseph Hawdon in 1838 drove cattle along the Murray River. The lake was named after Bonney. The land however, was settled in 1859 with the establishment of Overland Corner Hotel. It was a popular area with drovers that drove sheep from New South Wales into South Australia. A police station was also built to prevent and stop arguments between the indigenes and settlers.

An irrigation system was established in the town in 1921. The town became gazetted. An influx of World War I veterans settled with promises of irrigated land from the government. A railway station was opened in 1928 and the town was proclaimed in the same year. In World War II an interrment camp was established south of Barmera in Loveday and was one of the largest World War II camps in Australia.

Climate

Barmera exists in a semi-arid location, north of Goyder’s Line. Barmera is surrounded by mallee scrub. It is 29 metres above sea level. Barmera has a dry climate with hot summers and warm days and cold frosty nights in winter with seasonal temperatures a few degrees above Adelaide’s temperatures and similar to those of Berri. The weather patterns are similar to those of Berri. It receives less than 250 mm of rain per annum. Rain patterns shift from year to year over a nineteen year cycle.

The Town Today

Attractions are Lake Bonney, which is good for fishing and sailing and sunsets at dusk, but there has been some problems with the Murray River with water shortage so they transferred most of the water in the river and cancelled of any water getting in, but now there has been a change with some water getting in every day due to protests and now making the lake nearly full. There is an irrigation and steam museum as well as wine estates. The Overland Corner is also a very popular attraction nearby with its own walking trail. There is also the remnants of a copper mine and historic graves.

Every Easter, a sailing regatta is held on Lake Bonney and a country music festival is held every June. Riverland Field Days are held in September a Show is held in March.

Barmera is in the Berri Barmera Council local government area, the South Australian House of Assembly electoral district of Chaffey and the Australian House of Representatives Division of Barker.

The town is home to the sporting teams Barmera/Monash Roos Football Club and the Barmera United Soccer Club.

Aboriginal people

I am doing a search and it is not easy to find much about them. Here is some information. We have much to learn about these incredible ancient peole and their relationship to this land.

This report was prepared by research staff of the National Native
Title Tribunal to assist in the mediation process involving the First
Peoples of the River Murray & Mallee Region Native Title Claim
(SC98/003) in South Australia. The circumference of the claim
area extends from the western boundary of Chowilla Regional
Reserve to the north of Renmark, south along the border of South
Australia and New South Wales, and South Australia and Victoria
to the town of Peebinga. From there it runs west across the
northern border of Billiatt Conservation Park and then south to
include the northern portion of Carcuma Conservation Park. It then
travels generally north passing on the western side of the town of
Nildottie, Murbpook and Morgan.

Maps produced by linguists and anthropologists show a number of
language or tribal names overlapping or within the claim area:
Yirawirung, Ngayawung, Ngarkat, Ngawait, Ngangurugu, Ngintait,
Danggali, Maraura and Barkindji. This report, then, is based on
publicly and readily available information relevant to the location
of these groups.

A search was then made of the print collection of the AIATSIS
catalogue1 using the following names in the ‘language group’ field:
Danggali, Yirawirung, Ngayawung, Ngarkat, Ngawait,
Ngangurugu, Marawara, Meru and Ngintait. Additionally, a search
was completed using the language group name Meru: The results
are outlined below:
Danggali — 25
Yirawirung — 9
Ngayawung — 34
Ngawait — 6
Ngarkat — 12
Ngangurugu — 6
Ngintait — 4
Marawara — 79
Meru — 6

The searches yielded 181 results. Materials that were subject to
access restrictions, obviously duplicated, irrelevant, in a foreign
language or overly technical were omitted.