Millicent - Culture and History

It is believed that the Bungandidj Aborigines occupied the area before European settlement. The first European into the district was Charles Bonney who, in 1839, overlanded cattle through the area. He was followed shortly afterwards by Samuel Davenport who established Mayurra sheep run in 1845. It was later managed by George Glen.

In 1863 a major swamp clearing project began and the previously useless land was turned into rich wheat and barley crops by the creation of an elaborate and deep drainage system. The key development occurred when a drain was blasted which allowed the swamp to drain into Lake Frome. It is said that there are 1450 km of drains and 500 bridges in the area.

A town was surveyed in 1870 and built on land previously owned by Mayurra Station. The town was named 'Millicent' after Millicent Short the daughter of the first Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide. When she died in 1930 the Adelaide Advertiser's obituary offered a fascinating insight into her life and how she came to be honoured by the town. 'The death occurred in Mount Gambier on Sunday,' it reported, 'of Mrs Millicent Glen. Mrs Glen was ninety-four years of age, was the eldest child of the Right Rev. Dr Augustus Short, first Bishop of Adelaide, and was born at the vicarage, Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire, England on 29 September 1837. With her parents she arrived at Adelaide in December 1847. The Bishop chartered the Derwent, of 362 tons, to bring his family and several clergymen to Australia, the journey occupying 117 days.

'Mrs Glen had vivid recollections of the appearance of Adelaide at that time. She remembered seeing stumps of trees in Rundle Street, and had seen bullock waggons bogged there. Miss Millicent Short (Sir James Fergusson named the town of Millicent after her) married Mr George Glen, of Mayurra Station, at Trinity Church, when Bishopscourt, North Adelaide, was just being completed. Mr and Mrs Glen came back to Robe in the vessel Ant, and drove to Mayurra, a distance of sixty miles. With the exception of her two maids, Mrs Glen was the only white woman in that part of the country. She took great interest in the tribes of blacks who lived near the station.

'Mayurra Station at that time was an immense run, extending from Tantanoola to Rendelsham and occupying the whole of the land upon which the township of Millicent is now built.'

In 1872 the first hotel, the Somerset Hotel, was constructed. It is still in operation although it is hardly the original building. At various times the hotel has served as a school and a court house. Famously it was the site of a court hearing involving many prominent citizens and the charge of looting. In 1876 a barque, the Geltwood, was wrecked on the coast nearby. The next morning saw the beach littered with bodies and cargo from the ship. The locals felt no qualms about pilfering the flotsam and jetsam and a court case followed where they were all acquitted on the dubious grounds that they didn't know that looting from a shipwreck was a crime. The Shipwreck Room in the Millicent Museum has the anchor from the Geltwood.

The railway arrived in 1879 thus ensuring Millicent's continued importance as a major regional centre. Today Millicent is a prosperous country service centre with a strong tradition of timber and milling as well as agriculture and fishing industries. It is also a popular tourist destination.