Milparinka Pioneer Memorial Wall & SilhouettePrint Page

The Milparinka Pioneer Memorial Wall and Silhouette commemorate the early settlers of the area. 

In 2005 local residents constructed a stone memorial wall alongside the park, and invited the descendants of local families to provide plaques commemorating their ancestors. Complemented by a steel silhouette of a pioneer family and a wheel barrow laden with belongings, the site is positioned to be seen first as one approaches the town. It is stark and symbolic of the region’s social history.

The first proclaimed Albert Goldfields township, Milparinka is sited on the edge of Evelyn Creek. Charles Sturt had camped nearby at Preservation Creek for six months in 1845 and it was he who named a nearby gum creek, Evelyn Creek. Later, Mount Browne Goldfields miners camped on the banks. They chose this spot as a waterhole in the creek gave them much-needed water. At first this was a shanty town of several hundred souls huddled in huts and tents. Before long, though, civilisation caught with the gold boom and by the mid-1880s the town boasted a police officer, newspaper, chemist, blacksmith, photographer, two butchers, four hotels, a school, a hospital and a general store. But by the mid-1920s the golden years were only a memory.

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