Myponga (Watercolour)

View of the Myponga area, with a rustic bridge over a creek feeding into the gulf.

Thomas Wood was born in England in 1854 and chose a career in the Church of England. He was curate of St Paul's, Blackburn, from 1878 to 1880. From 1880 to 1883 he was Railway Chaplain at Podanur, Madras, in India then travelled to South Australia where he became the incumbent at Robe (1884-1887). Wood was rector of Wallaroo (1887-1902) and at Willunga (1902-1921). He lived in retirement at Walkerville, and died on 12 November 1937, aged 83. Wood's record group in the State Library's collection features scenes of Hahndorf, Port Augusta, Salt Creek near Port Lincoln, Port Lincoln, Calicalinga (Carrickalinga), Mount Barker, Wallaroo, Willunga and Noarlunga.

Myponga Beach, with the Myponga Creek flowing under a footbridge into the sea, was one of South Australia's earliest settlements outside of Adelaide. A jetty was built in 1860 for the export of the local produce: grain, wattlebark and livestock. Inland the town of Myponga was in the heart of rich dairy farming land and a co-operative was established in the 1930s for the production of cheese from the local milk. The Myponga Creek was dammed in 1957 with construction completed in 1962: the reservoir created resulted in the flooding of rich grazing land and the evocatively named Lovely Valley. The water, collected solely from the local catchments, supplies the local district and, via a pipeline, supplements the Happy Valley Reservoir in Adelaide.

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