Gumeracha.
Gumeracha and Kenton Valley – William Randell's Town.
David McLaren took out three Special Surveys of the Torrens Valley area for the SA Company in 1839/40. They had a manager's residence built there called Tinmath, then renamed Ludlow House for the sheep and cattle herd manager. William Beavis Randell, a SA Company manager arrived in SA in 1837 and was sent to work at Tinmath House. When his contract with the Company expired in 1845 he bought land for himself in Kenton Valley adjacent to Gumeracha. Here he built a grand house for himself called Kenton Park and a flour mill which opened for business in 1847. From 1848 he attracted wheat from the early settlers at Blumberg. One of his sons, William Randall managed the mill. In 1853 this son called William entered the Governor sponsored race up the Murray to prove that it was navigable and suitable for steam boat river trade. This William was known as Captain Randell of Mannum and he was the winner of the race and the monetary prize. Much of the flour produced in the Gumeracha Randell mill from 1853 onwards was carted by bullocks to Mannum to be loaded onto a Randell ship for transport up the Murray and Darling rivers and to the gold mining centre of Bendigo!
William Beavis Randell was a good Baptist and friend of David McLaren the former SA Company manager who was also a Baptist. McLaren had lived in Ludlow House himself for some time. Early Baptist services for the Gumeracha area were held in Randell's barn until the Salem Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist congregation in SA was opened in 1846 by Reverend Thomas Playford of Mitcham. Randell donated some of his land for the church. William Beavis Randell and his wife and family are buried in the attached cemetery. Until 1899 baptisms were conducted in a spring in the circle of oaks opposite the church. A Methodist Church opened in Gumeracha in 1860 followed by the Institute in 1864 and the District Hotel. Gumeracha also got the first Court House and police station for the Torrens region.
William Beavis Randell subdivided some of his land to create the township of Gumeracha in 1853. He named streets after his friend David McLaren and the reigning English monarch and her prince consort. Randell died at Kenton Park in 1876 and the milling business was then taken over by his son Captain William Randell. He was an interesting character. A few months after his wife died when he was aged 76 years he married his 38 year old housekeeper. He died himself four months later but by then the second wife was pregnant. She got 100 acres of land, but not Kenton Park house. Her son from this marriage eventually bought the property for himself in 1928. In the meantime the Randell mill was converted to a butter factory, a butcher's shop and finally a milk depot. It is now a private residence and bed and breakfast establishment. The workers cottages erected by William Randell senior are still adjacent.
The SA Company residence Ludlow House was retained by the SA Company until 1908 when it was sold to Mr W Hannaford. But for many years it too was leased out once the SA Company moved its headquarters for stock from the Gumeracha district. As a result of the three Special surveys in the areas around the origins of the Torrens and the Onkaparinga the SA Company had over 9,000 acres of land in the district. The Company moved out of stock production in the Gumeracha-Birdwood districts in the 1850s as they started receiving more and more rents from tenanted farmers. Rents and land sales became the Company's major source of income after this early development stage of SA. Much of its land in this area was sold in the 1910s and 1920s. The Company ceased operations in 1949.
Orignal From: Gumeracha.
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