Echunga is south east of Adelaide. It originaly formed a part of the 1839 Echunga Survey which was owned by a Quaker, John Barton Hack. His estate included fields of wheat, 12 acres of grapes, dairy herds and orchards. He spent a very considerable amount of money upgrading the property. He had taken out a mortgage on his property and unfortunately for him, a period of depression occured which led to the mortgagee foreclosing. This left Hack in a state of bankruptcy.

It was this very mortgagee, Jacob Hagen who built the first inn behind the present day Hagen Arms Hotel in 1848. This made considerable sense for him as it acted as an outlet and market for his vineyard. He provided land for the Anglicans to build St. Mary's Church and Rectory. It was really from this time on that the village began to grow a little and develope.

With the discovery of gold in the State of Victoria, the government in SA was very keen to see if their State would have any such luck, and so as an incentive they offered a 1000 pound reward for anyone who came upon precious gold.

It was at Echunga that this first discovery in SA was made below the Wheatsheaf Hotel. This was a relatively small find, and it was in fact a later more substantial find that led to the claiming of the reward. This second find was at Chapman's Gully.

This caused an avalanche of interest with 684 miner's licences being issued. In 1868 there was yet another rush following the discovery of gold at Jupiter Creek which attracted 1200 men and resulted in the establishment of a township. The Echunga Goldfields have been the State's most productive.


Historical Attractions

The Old Echunga Diggings and the Jupiter Creek Diggings are both heritage sites today which can be visited and you can even try your hand at some fossicking. A visit here will take you back in time to when all of those miners hoped and prayed to come across the fortune that would free them from such work for the rest of their lives.

There are numerous buildings of historical note dotted around Echunga. Although the town had a postal service more or less up and running by 1848, it was not until 1870 that the Post Office was constructed. The town's first butcher's shop dates back to the 1850s and is known as Miss Bailey's Cottage. In the 1880s the Old Blacksmith's Shop, House and Ostler's Quarters were all built. 1884 saw the arrival in town of the Methodist Church, and it changed to become the Uniting Church.

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