Yankalilla - Places to See

Christ Church

The money for this church was raised between 1851-57 and on 9 July 1857 the church was opened by the Bishop of Adelaide.

The window in Christ Church, Yankalilla which is dedicated to John Woods Clayton and his wife Elizabeth, is an extraordinarily strange depiction probably of St Elizabeth of Hungary but in a very contemporary kind of way. The St Elizabeth looks more like a Hollywood movie star than the Mary of more conventional religious paintings. The Christening Font has been vandalised. People have actually scratched their initials into the marble which is tragic given that it originally came from Salisbury Cathedral in England and is over 250 years old.

The Old Schoolhouse
Located at 48 Main Street the Old Schoolhouse is not open to the public. However, people interested in the history of Australia's first saint, Mary McKillop, should recognise that this schoolhouse is claimed as the first place where her Sisters of St Joseph order taught. Certainly Mary McKillop opened the school in 1867 with an enrolment of 40 pupils.

Gnomeland
On the outskirts of town, on the road to Victor Harbour, there is a strange, and charming collection of garden gnomes in a place known as Gnomeland. It is probably the only one of its kind in Australia.

Normanville
Located only 3 km further south from Yankalilla, Normanville is a pleasant holiday resort town. There was a time when it was a busy port servicing the area which was once of South Australia's richest wheatbelt districts. Consequently there are a number of interesting old buildings still in the town although its focus is now firmly on modern tourism.