Village Settlement: Kingston

Kingston was named after Charles Cameron Kingston, premier of South Australia from 1893 to 1899. The village settlement scheme was established under his premiership. The Kingston settlement commenced in late March 1894. It proceeded well in the first few years. Unlike other settlements the villagers generally worked well with each other and there were few disputes. The village association's first chairman, John Wetherall, was dedicated to the ideals of communism and organised the settlers well. In 1899, however, the Kingston villagers reported to the Royal Commission that they would no longer continue with the communal system. In 1898, the villagers had decided to retain the village association but to allocate each member their own block of land and work individually. The villagers believed that the decline of their settlement was due to their purchase of a faulty second-hand pump from the government. The government, on the other hand, believed that the villagers were to blame because they left their watering until too late and then worked the pump too hard to make up for this. Kingston village settlement came to an end in July 1903 and the remaining settlers were allowed to lease the land. It was incorporated into the Kingston Irrigation Area in 1914