Strathalbyn - Handsome heritage and antiques town: In the Fleurieu Peninsula Region of South Australia
There are signs everywhere in Strathalbyn of its solid Scots farming community origins. Call in to the picturesque railway station that’s become it’s Visitor Information Centre and they will equip you with a guide map that takes you past the old gasworks (now a beautifully restored bed & breakfast) and the old court house and police station housing it’s National Trust Museum, and you’ll soon discover their heritage pearls are cast on both sides of the River Angas. In fact, Strathalbyn has developed two main steets, with today’s shopping and business focus, Dawson Street, leading on to the old flour mill that looks down on the central river’s park.
There is a lot of Strathalbyn’s story that begins in the central green reserve, now the Soldiers Memorial Park with a quaint Edwardian Iron Rotunda. Back in 1839, a group of hardy Scots, newly arrived after some five months at sea, came over the hills to camp on this elbow bend of the Angas River. Markings in bark of the river red gums showed this was originally part of the Ngarrindijeri nation, but now the narrow peninsulas within the river arc became the first sheep paddock.
The Rankine family from Ayreshire were leaders of this little clan that built the town. Dr John Rankine came up with the name “Strath”, means a valley and “Albyn” came from an old name for Scotland, and brother William soon built his Glenbarr homestead just upriver. It is now the home of the Springtime Highland Gathering.
The river park gained it’s distinctive arched footbridge when a district farmers’s wife died in the early 1900’s. With no children from their marriage, he asked that the memorial to her be known as The Children’s Bridge. It is a prime viewing spot for the annual duck race held every November, when the Rotary Club launches 2,500 little yellow plastic ducks for charity, with much merriment for the assembled picnic day hordes.
Just above the river was the 1850’s goldrush stopover for stagecoaches and gold escorts bringing the nuggets back to Adelaide. The old two story Angas newspaper building houses and colourful craft shop today, but the almost matching post office where the mail crouches called has been replaced. Stathalbyn today is still a hub linking the Adelaide Hills and the Fleurieu region, and the Terminus Hotel still serves travelers as it did went the horsedrawn railway started here on its journey all the way to Middleton where it joined up with the historic Goolwa to Port Elliott line.
“Opez!” Strathalbyn’s legendary townerier, Mac in a stentorian voice, in front of the handsome two-storey centerpiece of the High Street. “The Strathalbyn Town Hall, venue for the two day collector Hobbies and Antique Fair, third weekend in August.” Mac will climb aboard your tour bus any day and tell you tales of the town. St. Andrew’s church, for instance, has a dominating castle-like tower that adds charm and significance to the town’s oft photographed river park. He’ll point out that the spirettes on each corner of the tower look new. And they are, because a storm blew two of them off in the 1950’s, and they have only recently been replaced above the old Presbyterian part of the nave which dates back to 1844.
The annual gathering of the antique and craft clan that Mac was spryiking about (he turned on a special bell-ringing burst for our Postcards visit) takes over both sides of the Angas River, but there is an all-year-round concentration of dealers in the well-preserved ninetieth century High Street. We soon uncovered some special gems inside.
In an old blacksmith’s shop, Linda and Paul, specialize in immaculate scientific instruments, old signs and antique furniture, but it was a huge framed South Australian Railways poster that attracted me.
“It was printed by the Railways in 1900”, she revealed, “and you can see it promotes special excursion fares from long-gone little sidings all round, the state” Why were people coming to Adelaide?”
“They were the families and friends of the horsemen in the second continent, going to the Boer War in South Africa. There’s possibly only this one of the original edition left, and it’s a lovely piece of South Australian history.”
‘All in Good Time Antiques’ would have been more hectic in its blacksmith days because of the imposing two storey general store. Just up the street there was a stagecoach stop, and the Hill and Co horses were stabled in the old stone structures that are still at the back.
The old shop front leads into “London House”, a stalwart in the three decade campaign to make Strathalbyn the antiques town in South Australia. It certainly has plenty of heritage shops like the old pharmacy to house establishments like “Highlander Antiques” with its several rooms all beautifully dressed in quality furniture, crockery, silverware and all the accouchements of high Victorian domestic bliss. A magnificent sideboard is attracting a lot of browsers to ask shop manager Charmaine about its origins.
“It’s from Adelaide,” she enthused. “It was make by the craftsmen at a big furniture maker and retail store, James Marshall and Co.”
Just over a century old, it has gone onto the market for the first time since the family bought it, and so the fine carving detail of this Edwardian gem is again temporarily on show for all to see. We also found that there is a real surprise in store for visitors who enter the old carpenters shop just around the corner. A virtuoso didgeridoo performance might be unusual enough, but what’s a very blond German immigrant, Hermann, doing playing and selling them amongst his antiques, bricabrac and books? That’s another story, and you’ll have to pop in and ask.
More typical of the mainstream is the expansive corner “Antique Market” opposite the old land mark hotel. A dozen or more small traders share the space to pursue their enjoyment of the romance and workmanship of the past, and they’re not just an everyday attraction, but also a harbingers of the traders and customer invasion during the annual August Fair. It adds even more colour and craft and collectibles to a town that always offers treats like rustic angels and very individual teddy bears, beautifully sewn heirlooms of the future and a “depression glass” collection of tableware that will bring back tasty memories of jellies and reserves.
It is also noticeable that there is a growing number of taste temptations of today mingling with Strathalbyn’s trademark antique dealers. Any self-respecting High Street has its own lolly shop, of course, and theirs will create another charming diversion as you gather some goodies for the trip home. This is a town tht is high on the day trip of a weekend list anytime of the year, but come the August Fair, 60 or more traders from near and far present their best in several halls as well. A shuttle bus will take you round the very attractive town that turns into a hotbed of heritage and antiques. Why not join the happy throng in Strathalbyn?
Strathalbyn Collectors, Hobbies and Antique Fair
August 16th and 17th 2003Sales, Displays and Collections in 5 Halls Saturday 16th August 10 am - 5 pm Sunday 17th August 9 am - 4 pm
Treasure Market, Strathalbyn Oval
Sunday 17th August 9 am - 4 pmAdmission: $7 Includes daily entry to all venues Children under 12 free
Bus available from Adelaide and return Bookings 1800 088 552
Strathalbyn Visitor Information Centre
South Terrace
Strathalbyn, South Australia, 5255
Ph (08) 8536 3212Open 9 am - 5 pm Mon - Fri 10 pm - 4 pm Sat-Sun-Pub Hols
