National Museum of Australia

Master weavers creating their craft, Grant (Goolwa)

Picture of Aunty Ellen

Aunty Ellen Trevorrow preparing starters for basket weaving. Much time and effort is put into harvesting freshwater sedges and then the preparation of them as materials for groups at Camp Coorong to use for basket weaving. Now with the water quality issues, salinity and contamination the sedges (which are freshwater) are becoming harder to find.

Basket weaving, Grant (Goolwa)

Intricate weaving

Ngarrindjeri basket weaving is extremely complex and many examples of beautiful work are displayed at Camp Coorong.

The committee, Kerri (Goolwa)

Members of the Angas Bremer Water Management Committee (ABWMC)

The ABWMC is a publicly elected committee of volunteer irrigators formed in 1991 to represent about 160 irrigators in the Langhorne Creek area. These irrigators use a combination of River Murray water drawn from Lake Alexandrina, watercourse water drawn from the ephemeral Angas and Bremer Rivers and groundwater drawn from the freshwater lens that has formed under the Angas floodplain. The main crops are vines, lucerne, olives, turf and potatoes.

Goolwa Barrage, Cassie (Goolwa)

A historical photo of men working on the Goolwa Barrage in the 1920's

Men working on the Goolwa Barrage c1920's

Val's husband worked on the barrages around the Goolwa District before WWII. He was one of the lucky ones that returned home unharmed. Before the barrages were built, there used to be heaps of mulloway around. Trading at the Goolwa Wharf came to an end not long after the end of the war. Val remembers a row of small huts along the road near the Goolwa Barrage which were accommodation for married barrage workers only. These huts had names such as Hot as Zell; Windy as Zell, Sandy as Zell and so on. By the late 1970's only one of these huts remained but today there is no sign that they even existed.

Val Lawrence, Cassie (Goolwa)

Val showing off her magnificent Bougainvillea

Val moved to Goolwa at the tender age of 18 to commence work as a cook at the Corio Hotel, then owned by Mr & Mrs Graham, and stayed. She met her husband in Goolwa and married at the age of 19. They had three sons, one of whom still resides in Goolwa. Val still lives in the same family home and is very proud of her Bougainvillea.

Margaret Brown, Cassie (Goolwa)

Margaret at the Centre

Margaret became the first volunteer with the Heritage Club in 1984, only retiring from volunteering in February 2005 and still drops in for a chat. Margaret and her husband, Ossie, bought land on Hindmarsh Island in 1971 and built themselves an Island Retreat (shack). They remember how they could walk from the Island to Goolwa and back on the Goolwa Barrage - it was a bit scary back then as there were no handrails! In 1981 the Browns retired permanently to their shack and in 1986 they sold up and moved into the township of Goolwa.

Living

Living

Master weavers creating their craft, Grant (Goolwa)

Basket weaving, Grant (Goolwa)

The committee, Kerri (Goolwa)

Goolwa Barrage, Cassie (Goolwa)

Val Lawrence, Cassie (Goolwa)

Margaret Brown, Cassie (Goolwa)

Living

Living

Image Gallery Page Navigation

Master weavers creating their craft, Grant (Goolwa)

Basket weaving, Grant (Goolwa)

The committee, Kerri (Goolwa)

Goolwa Barrage, Cassie (Goolwa)

Val Lawrence, Cassie (Goolwa)

Margaret Brown, Cassie (Goolwa)