Overland Corner Hotel: In the Riverland region of South Australia
About thirty kilometres upstream from Morgan there's a huge bend in the River Murray. From high ground it looks like any other quiet stretch of the River dissected by the occasional houseboat and framed by a carpet of grapevines which stretch over the distant hills.
It's fairly quiet these days, but for a time it was a highway of sorts for huge mobs of sheep and cattle as the Overlanders drove their animals from New South Wales all the way to the new Colony of South Australia. There was one major stumbling block.. the River Murray.
“It was very narrow here and depending on what time of year it was it was also shallow so they could cross their herds safely.
“This is the original stage coach route from Broken Hill. It would come down through the old stagecoach trail and they'd over-night and water, replenish their supplies and head off. So I suppose this is one of the main routes from the eastern states to South Australia prior to the river steamer days.”
With so many thirsty Overlanders and their mobs camping on the floodplain and later, with the stagecoaches pulling in it was time to build a pub. That job fell to a group of brothers - the Brand Boys who'd migrated from Kent.
The Overland was built in 1859 and it still has the feel of a quiet English country pub - with a beer garden setting ideal for the occasional ploughman's lunch.
“It's got a lot of character from the English era and people certainly comment about that - especially international visitors.”
The big difference is that a massive levee bank designed to keep the mighty Murray at bay protects this beer garden. The level marker from the 1959 floods is proof that floods have been a perennial problem for publicans at Overland Corner.
As evening falls the locals settle in and on Sundays, entertainment is usually provided by a one-man band. It's a fun evening with time for a sing-a-long, and also plenty of time to recall the days when Overlanders gathered around the fire to swap yarns.
One of the most famous is about bushranger, Captain Moonlight. He's said to have ridden into the front bar of the Overland Hotel after locking up the local copper in the nearby police cells. Perhaps that's why the pub lost its licence in the 1890's! It regains the licence ninety years later but not before it was used as the local school, local church and local post office.
“We've still got the original organ in the Post Office where they used to hold their services. It was a school for the little kids in the area too. It's had an amazing history - it's pretty much been everything as well as a hotel.”
An amazing history for an amazing pub. Stay a night and you might run into Captain Moonlight's ghost or any one of the many others said to be a part of the history of the Overland Corner Hotel.
The Overland Corner Hotel
Overland Corner
Morgan to Renmark Road
Open daily
