Thursday, May 15, 2008

Kingston S.E, South Australia.


Kingston S.E is a lovely seaside town located 297 km south east of Adelaide. It is known as a substantial port which is famous for its lobsters. It also happens to be the home of the Big Lobster, one of those wonderfully quirky 'bigs' which Australians seem to love to build.

Before the arrival of Europeans this whole area was settled by the Ngarranjeri Aborigines who lived along the Coorong and extended across the Murray River to the present day site of Goolwa.



The first European to make contact with this stretch of coastline (except for the itinerant sealers who drifted along the coast from earliest times) was the French explorer Nicolas Baudin (pictured above) who discovered Lacepede Bay in 1802.
The district was the subject of a much publicised tragedy in 1840 when the Maria was wrecked off the coast. The Maria left Adelaide bound for Hobart on 7 June, 1840. About 28 June it was wrecked off the coast near Lacepede Bay but the crew and passengers managed to get to shore. It appears that the sailors began trying to take advantage of the local Aboriginal women. As a form of reprisal 25 of the 26 survivors were killed. One young girl survived and was looked after by the Ngarranjeri people until eventually handed over to Europeans.


The town of Kingston (it only became Kingston South East to distinguish it from Kingston-on-Murray) was established Archibald and James Cooke took up land near Maria Creek in 1856. The town was named after the government surveyor, George Strickland Kingston, (pictured below) by the Governor of South Australia, Governor McDonnell, in 1858.



The Cooke brothers saw the potential of the area and duly sublet some of their land and built the first jetty. They were largely responsible for the wool stores which were built in the town. It was formally proclaimed a port in 1866 and it was in that year that the town got both a police station and a post office.
Today Kingston South East is a charming coastal town which is an ideal holiday destination for people seeking somewhere which is quiet and peaceful.
The Cape Jaffa lighthouse(pictured above) was built in 1868-1872 on Margaret Brock Reef, 8 km from shore and 19 km south from here and rebuilt on this site 1975-76. It is open 2.00 p.m. - 4.30 p.m. on holidays. It is the first lighthouse on the Australian coast to be dismantled and brought to the mainland.

Below, a glorious image of the sunset from where we stayed at Kingston S.E. Quite amazing to see the sun go down into the water! It is such a lovely place,we shall return.




14 comments:

Mal Kiely [Lancelots Pram] said...

Ding! The lightbulb above my head goes off... when I put "The Maria" and "Margaret Brock Reef" together.

Sounds like a lovely spot around there. I'm almost inclined to pack my car and head off to go there myself in the morning, you know. No, seriously. Sounds delightful. Even the giant Lobster! lol.

Thanks for making the time and effort to create these really entertaining and informative posts about places I've yet to visit. Thank you.

Cyalayta
Mal :)

Cyalayta
Mal :)

Keshi said...

beautiful! Never been to SA...this makes me wanna.


me PMSLing too after reading ur comment in my blog Caz, hahahaha! Luv ya MWAH!

Keshi.

Mom said...

Some day I am going to come for a really long visit and enjoy some of the spots you make sound so interesting and beautiful.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

Giant Lobster as cultural landmark. I'm guessing that the reprisal included women since the lone survivor was a female child. I wonder if the European colonizers returned to seek vengeance against the Ngarranjeri.
Strike me stupid, but I assumed your country was on the Kings English system of measurements. I need help with conversions. Enjoying your blog, come to mine and learn about our native peoples the Tongva.

karisma said...

ok I was getting hungry looking at the lobster! Have not had one of them for a very long time!

Great history lesson there!

Middle Ditch said...

That was a lovely history lesson with beautiful pictures to boost. Thank you

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Geraldo Maia said...

Hello Cazzie,
In Kingston, a portion of the history of Australia.
It is a great pleasure to visit your nice and interesting blog for the first time.
Best wishes from Brazil:
Geraldo

Ginnie said...

Interesting post, Cazzie. The lady who sat next to me on the plane from Rome to London was from Australia. I complained to her that I had a 9 hour flight ahead of me and she promptly put me to shame by telling me she was on her way to Hong Kong and then to Australia...a total of 23 HOURS !!

Ann ODyne said...

Kingston S.E.S.A is where I spent NYE in 1962.
Boy it rocked.
All the hands from surrounding stations were there.
We bodysurfed the Coorong and a shipwreck was visible.
I was a teenager then and staying on a station called Tilleys Swamp about 30 miles away.
The Coorong features in the old movie 'Storm Boy'.

Anonymous said...

an amazing story

daktara said...

good look at the history

Mal Kiely [Lancelots Pram] said...

Sorry you've lost your enthusiasm to keep this blog going, but I wholly appreciate what that is like. I've had a few 'off-to-the-side' blogs in the past, and after a few months I lost the sense of why i was doing them for too! it's quite OK, you know. :) Just trying to encourage you :)

Anonymous said...

Interesting info & pictures, and all I can think of is the B-52's song "Rock Lobster!" LOL, must be the late/early hour here & lack of sleep. Cheers!