Pioneers Association of South Australia

03/11/2026

The boundaries of Willunga 180 years ago...

🗞"1. Hundred of Willunga.

Bounded on the west by the coast line, from an inlet at the south-west corner of section No. 674 southwards, to the mouth of the Onkaparinga northwards ; thence following that river to the crossing of a road which forms the south bounadry of section No. 820, and the north bouudary of section No. 834 ; thence along the centre of this road to the south-west corner of section No. 821 ; thence by a direct line, following a direction nearly south-east, to a trigonometrical station known as Wickham's Hill; thence to follow the summit of the range about south-west, passing by another trigonometrical station, McLeod's Hill, and crossing the Encounter Bay Road at the summit level above Willunga; thence continuing along the some range passing Mount Terrible; and thence to follow that feature of the range which terminates at the south-west corner of section No. 674, and forms the watershed of the creek that enters the gulf by the inlet previously described."🗞

South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 - 1851), Tuesday 3 November 1846, page 7

📷"WILLUNGA: The Delabole Farm which was owned by Mr Edward Hunt. His family were on the property until 1911. Circa 1907, SLSA

01/11/2026

Sunday Funday, post Halloween day...😂😂😂
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

31/10/2026

Happy Halloween!🎃🎃🎃
"Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray and rove,
Among the rocks and streams
To sport that night.

Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu' blithe that night...."
From "Halloween" by Scottish poet Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796.
The source and rest of the poem here -
https://poets.org/poem/halloween

🎃The celebration of Halloween was brought to South Australia mainly by Scottish, and Irish colonists and was well introduced by the 1850s.

🎃The Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia established in 1881 (who celebrated Scottish traditions) would celebrate Halloween every year.

🎃📷"David Lawrance dressed as 'Masaniello'; Charles Lawrance dressed as 'Don Caesar de Bazan' and Mabel Lawrance dressed as a 'Neapolitan fishwife'." Circa 1880. State Library of South Australia.

30/10/2026

What does Halloween🎃have to do with the 1836 Ship⛵️ "Tam O'Shanter?" ⚓️

The Tam O'Shanter was named for the Halloween👻poem published in 1791 by Scottish poet Robert Burns....

🗞"Halloween.🎃🎃🎃

Tonight is All Souls' eve, or Halloween, the particular night of the year when spirits are said to be abroad. It is the Scottish prototype of the English mid-summer eve. In ancient times, on this night sacrifices were made to the sun god Bael of the ancient Celtic and other northern nations, a name which is remarkably similar to Baal, the sun god of the old Phoenicians.

So also in the rites associated with these respective divinities there is a striking likeness. How these rites were kept in Scotland at the close of the last century has been thus described by an eyewitness: —

"A bonfire of peats was first made, the neighbours ranging into two parties, one to defend the bonfire and the other to attempt a raid upon it. The man who could successfully carry off a burning peat was reckoned victor. This curious contest may have originally represented a sun myth, portraying the struggle of the seasons and the victory of the sun over winter. This being the night when demons and witches were at liberty, the sacred fires of Bael were lit on the hill tops to limit their mischief making powers.

But what was a solemn religious rite to our ancestors is now mainly left to the juveniles, and as they jump even yet through the fires they symbolize a dark period of human history, when they might, indeed, have been offered in actual sacrifice to secure the favour of Bael.

There are many curious old charms and spells which, practised on this night, are supposed to reveal to youth or maiden their future fate. If you stand before a mirror at midnight with a candle and eat an apple the face of your future partner will appear in the glass peeping over your shoulder. Another charm is to go out at midnight with a handful of h**p seed and sprinkle it about, repeat-ing the charm,

"H**p seed, I sow thee, h**p seed, I see thee. Who is to be my love, come after me and mow thee."

Look over your left shoulder and you will see the person invoked following behind in the act of mowing.

Robert Burns, in "Tam O'Shanter," gives a wild and fantastic description of the witches' revels on Halloween, and describes how they chased Tam as far as the stream, but, as spirits cannot cross running water, he managed to escape, although they deprived his mare of her tail.

Fates are still put to the test at Halloween parties, though the players profess to put no faith in the results. One is as follows: — In a bag are placed a ring, a sixpence, a thimble, a crooked stick, a small sod of earth, and small pieces of cloth of various colours. The boys blindfold the girls and hold open the bag, while each one plunges in her hand and withdraws some object. The ring shows who will be married first, the six-nence means a legacy, the thimble signifies that the finder will have to work hard all her life, a crooked stick means that she will marry a widower, the sod of earth means an old maid, while red cloth stands for a soldier, blue for a a sailor, black a clergyman, lawyer, or doctor, and green a farmer. Another game is to write the names of all the young persons present on slips of paper and then throw the slips, tightly folded up, into a bowl of water. A piece of lighted candle is then floated on the surface of the water, and is blown round till it comes in contact with the slips of paper. The slips that do not catch fire show that the persons they representwill never marry."🗞

Port Pirie Recorder and North Western Mail, Wednesday 31 October 1906.
🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻

"Warlocks and witches in a dance;

Nae cotillion brent-new frae France,

But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels

Put life and mettle in their heels.

A winnock bunker in the east,

There sat Auld Nick in shape o' beast:

A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,

To gie them music was his charge;

He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl,

Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.—

Coffins stood round like open presses,

That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses;

And by some devilish cantraip sleight

Each in its cauld hand held a light,

By which heroic Tam was able

To note upon the haly table

A murderer's banes in gibbet airns;

Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns;"

From "Tam O'Shanter" by Scottish poet Robert Burns.

👻Read the entire poem here -https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43815/tam-o-shanter

⛵️Did your family come upon the Tam O'Shanter? Ships list here -

https://bound-for-south-australia.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/1836TamOShanter.htm

🎃The Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia established in 1881 (who celebrated Scottish traditions) would celebrate Halloween every year.

⛵️There are two streets by the name of Tam O'Shanter Place - one in the Adelaide C*D and one in McCracken, near Victor Harbor. There is also a Tam O'Shanter Creek. 🎃👻



📷The Ship Tom O'Shanter
& Tom O'Shanter riding his horse Meg into the Doon to escape the witch.

29/10/2026

Who's aware of the Australian Century Farm and Station Awards? They are a group of country people, a registered charity, collecting the stories of our farm and station families who have been on the land for 100 years or more. To check out what they're about and what they do visit their website below - centuryfarms.org.au

About About About Century Farms Century Farms is a 253-home subdivision of Naperville, Illinois that features three beautiful ponds, a city park (with a merry-go-round), close proximity to District 203 schools, convenient access to I-88, friendly neighbors, and beautiful natural areas. Need help? Co...

28/10/2026

A strange creature, 180 years ago...

🗞"A few days ago Mr Whiteside found on the shore at Rapid Bay the carcase of a fish of a most extraordinary description. It was too large for him to drag away whole, and was also in a very putrid state.

He preserved, however, a part of its head and a part of one flapper which we have seen. These and the rest we will describe in the best way we can from his description, premising that Mr Whiteside has made arrangements for the remainder of the fish being brought up to a neighbouring station, and the bones preserved.

The creature is a flat fish, with a head shaped something like that of a fox, near the back on each side of which large jaws protrude. The nostrils and mouth are directly underneath. The length of the head to the tip of the nose is about nine inches, and the breadth behind the eyes one foot. The body is about three feet long by one broad, and has on each side a flapper of about two feet long by a foot and a-half broad.

From the body proceeds a tail four feet in length, on each side of which at its junction with the body springs a bony substance, eighteen inches long, terminating in what resembles the bowl of a ladle. The tail is armed all along; on each side, with strong ivory teeth, set on with large roots, like the thorns of a rose, and within the flappers are treble rows of ivory- teeth resembling fish hooks, each extremely sharp and barbed at the point.

These we saw. But the most curious part we have yet to describe, It is the mouth, which measures five inches across, has two lips, if they may so be cabled, each of which is covered with round sharp teeth, of about a quarter-of-an inch long. On each are twelve rows of about thirty-six teeth.

Mr Whiteside has not met with anyone to whom the species of fish was known; but it seems pretty clear to us that it lives upon, shellfish, which its remarkable teeth would enable it to grind up, while the spikes on the tail and flappers would serve to attach it firmly to the sea w**d, which abound in the part where it was found; while the ladle-like paws, would probably be used to tear the shell fish from the rocks and collect them for its food.

The appearance of its outer skin is exactly that of a light brown New Zealand mat; the threads and cross stitches may be distinctly traced. Some of the outer teeth are much ground down and quite blunt. The inner ones are as sharp as needles. "🗞

South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), Wednesday 28 October 1846, page 4
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27454119

📷"An oversized sting-ray caught at Victor Harbor suspended on to a heavy chain displayed on a jetty." Circa 1920. SLSA
Photo not of Stingray found on beach at Rapid Bay in 1846 - no photography was available then so a reference photo only.

27/10/2026

Another Overland party bringing stock....
*Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following post contains archaic language that is no longer appropriate.

🗞"Mr. Ray and a party of twelve persons arrived on Friday, on the overland route by the Darling, leaving its lowest inhabited station, Mr Wm. Lawson's on 15th June last. He brought from the Barwin. now known, to be the Darling, seven hundred bead of cattle and twenty horses in excellent condition.

The cattle and horses are on the Murray ,but he effected a sale of the whole immediately on arrival. The country through which he passed on the west bank of the Darling was barren and uninteresting, and was skirted on the north-west by Captain Sturt's desert. About one hundred miles above Laidleys Ponds, the blacks[sic] were troublesome, and evidently meditated an attack, but Mr Ray would not allow a gun to be fired, and sacrificed a bullock to peace, which was completely successful. He then made a long stage and left them to the full enjoyment of their feast. The distance from the starting point (Mohanna) seventy miles above Port Bourke, to the junction at the Darling with the Murray, is six hundred miles, and at the last stage there were only three head, short.

A report appeared in the Maitland Mercury that four of Mr Ray's party had been murdered by the blacks,[sic] his cattle dispersed, and that he was slowly and cautiously returning. We are happy to say that this is entirely false, all the party having arrived here safe."🗞

South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 - 1851), Tuesday 27 October 1846, page 6

📷"Overland Corner on Cobdogla Station. This was an important camping place for overlanders and their cattle. Drovers would rest their stock and let them graze on the extensive and lush river flats before continuing the journey to Adelaide." Circa 1889. SLSA.

24/10/2026

It's that time again, Sunday Funday! 😂😂😂

23/10/2026

Join the History Council of South Australia on Kangaroo Island next month for their Annual Regional Lecture and forum. Genealogy SA will be there to chat about local and family history – if you see us there, come and say hi!

📆 Fri 6 Nov, 9am - 4:30pm
📍 CWA Hall, 1 Howard Drive, Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
🎟 Tickets are free, but please book online – link in comments!

Featuring a keynote from Associate Professor Rick Hosking, editor of the revised The Kangaroo Islanders: A story of South Australia before colonisation 1823 (Wakefield Press), as well as panels from key institutions on how to access resources about Kangaroo Island, and on key issues, concerns, and opportunities in history and heritage on KI.