Timeline

The township of Mintaro is sited on traditional lands of the Ngadjuri people who occupied the region when South Australia was colonised in 1836.

Mintaro, with 48 new dwellings between 1984 and 2021, continues to progress whilst retaining its unique character
through active conservation and restoration of the town’s historic buildings and heritage features.

1848

Early staging camp for bullock teams carting copper on the 'Gulf road' between Burra and Port Wakefield

1849

Township of Mintaro established by Joseph Gilbert, pioneer pastoralist

1850

Mintaro Hotel (Magpie and Stump) opened by Matthew Bailey Muir

1853

Mule teams and South American muleteers imported from Uruguay appear on the Gulf Road

1854

Slate Quarry opened by Peter Brady
First church (Wesleyan Chapel) built

1856

Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate opened, oldest existing Jesuit church in Australia

Slate quarry leased to Thompson Priest who recruits Cornish miners

1858

Flour Mill opened by John Smith

1865

District Council of Stanley proclaimed

1866

First Post Office opened; Telegraph opened in 1878

1867

Police Station completed and new Wesleyan Methodist church opens

1870

Mintaro Railway Station opened; renamed Merildin in 1917

1872

Mintaro Public School opened, later amalgamated with Farrell Flat School

Catholic Convent School opens

1877

District Hall (Council Chamber) erected

1878

Mintaro Institute completed, funds raised by public subscription

1880

Martindale Hall completed for Edmund Bowman Jr.

1881

‘Kadlunga’ purchased by Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Way

First Horticultural and Floricultural Society Show held

1891

Martindale Hall and station bought by William Tennant Mortlock

1904

Norman Jolly, first South Australian to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship

1905

St Peter’s Anglican Church opens in former Primitive Methodist Chapel

1911

W. T. Mortlock grants 11 acres of Martindale estate for ‘Mortlock Park’

1932

District Council of Stanley amalgamated into the D. C. of Clare

1935

Mintaro Progress Association established

1936

Mid North Electricity connected to town and quarry

Public garden and celebrations for SA Centenary year

1957

Sisters of St. Joseph Convent and School closed

1965

John Mortlock Experiment Station established by the University of Adelaide

Town threatended by fire and surrounding properties burnt, fires again on Ash Wednesday 1983

1979

Martindale Hall and estate bequeathed to the University of Adelaide

1984

Mintaro declared the first regional State Heritage Area

2004

Clare Valley Water Supply Scheme connected to Mintaro

2006

Mintaro campus of the Mintaro-Farrell Flat Primary School closed