River Murray Towns: Loxton

• Loxton is located 255 kilometres east of Adelaide.
• Land in the Loxton district was first taken up by Europeans in the 1840s and '50s.
• A village settlement was established in 1894 at nearby Pyap and from 1895 farmers of stock and wheat, mainly of German descent, began settling in the district.
• The town was proclaimed in 1907 and named after William Charles Loxton, an employee of Bookpurnong Station, who lived in a hut beside the river in the late 1870s. Even after he moved on, the hut was known as Loxton's Hut and the residents of the district voted to retain the name when the town was proclaimed.
• Late in her life Daisy Bates, famous for her work with the Aboriginal people of Australia, lived at the Pyap settlement just outside of Loxton for several years from 1936.
• In 1948, the South Australian government established the War Service Land Settlement Scheme, opening up small parcels of irrigated land in the Loxton area to returned servicemen. This was South Australia's largest soldier settlement scheme and many war veterans and their families moved to the district to grow citrus, stone fruits and grapes. Loxton grew rapidly as a result.
• During this period, galvanised iron Nissen huts, like those used in wartime England, were used for temporary housing for the new settlers and later converted to storage sheds.
• Loxton is renowned as the 'Garden city of the Riverland' and was awarded the title as South Australia's Tidiest Town in 1995.
• Loxton Historical Village near the town of Loxton recreates times past in the area.

Further reading

Casson, Marjory R. Loxton: district and town, Melbourne: Hawthorn Press, 1972

Links

Loxton Tourism