Eden Valley in the Barossa Valley. St Peters Lutheran Church built in 1912. The first church was built on this site in 1862. The bell tower is impressive.
Image by denisbin
Eden Valley.
Most of the land between Springton and Eden valley was taken up by Thomas Matthews and occupied by tenant farmers, and the area that became the town of Eden Valley was owned by William Lillecrapp who also had tenant farmers on the land. Eden Valley was created from land owned by Lillecrapp in 1864. Land was first surveyed in the district for one of Angas’ Seven Special Surveys in 1839. The Angas land, however was not sold off to other buyers until 1884, five years after the death of George Fife Angas. The other major land owner of the district was Thomas Matthews of Hurds Hill, Coromandel Valley who purchased land here in the early 1840s. He built a grand house called Charlton House and moved his family here. He established a dairy with over 100 milking cows to produce cheese. He ended up with over 5,000 acres of land. Once the Kangaroo grass gave up in the mid 1850s and the dairy ceased, Matthews moved back to his property in Coromandel Valley but his family did not sell their 5,000 acres at Eden Valley until the 1940. Eden Valley, once surveyed blossomed over night with the hotel opening in 1866. Next William Randell of Gumeracha opened a flour mill for the wheat farmers in 1866. He wanted more milled flour to cart down to the Murray River for transhipment to the Victorian gold fields. (The mill burnt down in 1913.) Late in the 19th century a butter factory opened in a small stone structure beside the combined Post Office and store. This Post Office and store was built around 1884 once freehold land was available in the town. A Baptist church was built in Eden Valley in 1869 and it continued for many years. A new Baptist Church was erected in 1928 in Gothic style with buttresses etc. It became a Congregational Church in 1929 and then a joint Presbyterian-Congregational Church from 1965 to 1977. It next became part of the Uniting Church of Australia but it has since been deconsecrated around 2001 and is now the Eden Valley Community Arts centre. St Peter’s Lutheran with a thick thatched roof was built before the town was developed in 1862 and it still stands, albeit covered in concrete and with a galvanised iron roof behind the current church. It was heightened and updated in 1892. The Lutherans built a fine new church in 1912 with an impressive bell tower. Note the bell tower and steeple and the side gable with pressed tin facing to the gables. The town had a Lutheran school from 1871 until closure during World War One. The state school opened in 1877, only closing in 1971. Apart from a blacksmith shop the town flourished because of the wine industry. Vines were extensively planted in the 1880s but Penfolds was the first big winery to set up in the town. This happened in 1922. Other wineries have established themselves here since the 1960s.