Pioneers of Renmark Paringa DistrictPrint Page

The memorial commemorates the pioneers of the Renmark Paringa District and also recognises the original settlers of Lyrup which was founded in 1894. 

The Renmark district was part of a large  pastoral empire owned by brothers John and Robert Robertson since the 1860’s.  During the 19^th century the indigenous Erawirung people co-existed peacefully with the white pastoralists.  The river provided fish, mussels, yabbies, ducks and reeds for weaving while the land supported game and was forested with river gums for canoe making and carrying vessels.  The Erawirung territory encompassed a chert quarry at Spring Cart Gully.  Chert was highly prized for cutting and scraping tools as well as spearheads and was traded with other indigenous peoples from the lower Murray regions.  By 1900 the Erawirung had ceased to occupy their territorial lands and today the district has many former burial sites, shell middens and canoe trees.

On 14 February 1887 Canadian brothers George and William Chaffey signed an agreement undertaking to establish an irrigation colony on part of the Robertson brothers Bookmark Station leasehold.  Younger brother Charles was appointed to be in charge of the Renmark settlement.  Surveys of the Renmark township began in September 1887; it featured a wide boulevard entrance and numbered streets after the American style of street naming.

At the beginning of 1894 the SA Government were confronted by the necessity to do something about the large number of unemployed men gathering for rallies in the streets of Adelaide. In addition to their current policy of creating relief works (some of lasting, others of limited value) they then decided to further assist by putting men on the land to establish settlements which could become self-supporting. A total of eleven settlement sites were chosen along the upper Murray and eventually established, Lyrup being one of first.

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