Old SA place names

[grantleydawn]

Hi everybody,

I still think that Stephens Dale could be near Glen Osmond. I say that because the family stories say that William SPENCER was born in a one room 'dugout' in the side of the hill at Glen Osmond.
The name Stephens Dale has only become obvious to us in the past week.

We now know that the SPENCER family were in Gilbert Street, Adelaide during the 1841 Census.

William SPENCER was born in November 1841.

I note (from various web sites);

“On 3 March 1841 the Adelaide Chronicle reported that 'During the past week, a discovery of some importance has been made in the Mount Lofty Range. Two miners, from Cornwall we believe, have discovered a splendid vein of lead ore in the mountains, a short distance above Mr Gleeson's.”

Wheal Gawler, Glen Osmond - “Mining started here in May 1841 and it is regarded as being the first metal mine worked in Australia. The area soon saw several other silver-lead mines open up including the Wheal Watkins, Wheal Augusta and the Glen Osmond Mine amongst others. This became the start of a mining rush in South Australia.”

Could the mining, which ceased in 1851, been the reason for the influx of births using Stephens Dale as the residence?

Regards
Grantley

[MAPCO]

Hello All.

Over the past week I have completely revised 4 early Adelaide & S.A. maps on the MAPCO website (S.A. 1836, Adelaide 1837, & Adelaide Plains 1839 & 1840). This is a task that I have been meaning to do for ages, and it was this thread that finally prompted me to do it. So, thanks to all for getting me motivated! 

There is one possibility for Stephens Dale that I can find on the maps. Although there is absolutely no evidence at all of this being Stephens Dale, there is a certain logic to it that would probably warrant further investigation by interested parties. I had considered this possibility from the outset, but it was Didy's post that made me look into this further (and prompted the revision of the MAPCO Adelaide maps):

A thought came into my mind at Kris's mentioning of Grantley's family having children at Payneham and "on the Torrens". I wonder if there is a connection with what is now Stephen (formerly Stephens?) Terrace, which runs through Gilberton and St Peters and crosses the Torrens at a point which is quite expansive. Could that once have been known as Stephen's Dale?

I wonder how long the name has been associated with the area?

As a starting point, take a look at these map sections:

Adelaide 1839
http://archivemaps.com/mapco/adel1839/adelaide02a.htm

Adelaide 1840
http://archivemaps.com/mapco/adel1840/adelaide02a.htm

Please note that you can click the images for an enlarged view once you arrive at these pages, or use the 'Click Here For Supersized Image' link to view an even larger view of the map. It will certainly help to view the enlarged section of the 1839 map:

http://archivemaps.com/mapco/adel1839/adelaide02b.htm

and the 1839 supersized view makes it even clearer (note that this is a large image and will take a while to download):

http://archivemaps.com/mapco/adel1839/adelaide02c.htm

OK... on the 1839 map, look at Section 460 situated north-east (ish) of North Adelaide, owned by S. Stephens (Samuel Stephens, South Australian Company, Manager in Adelaide, 1836-1837). You can see contour hatching across this Section, indicating topographic relief where the land slopes down from what is now Medindie to Walkerville Terrace and the Torrens Valley. Stephens' land is bounded by Main North Road, Nottage Terrace, Northcote Terrace, and Robe Terrace:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=&vps=3&jsv=166d&sll=-34.89716,138.606455&sspn=0.013499,0.027616&ie=UTF8&geocode=FZ6H6_0duvJCCA&split=0

Anyone familiar with this area will know how quickly the land falls away to the east. Note that the hatching is not shown on the 1840 map, but the map still records Stephens as the owner of the land.

I found the following definition of a dale online:

dale - an open river valley (in a hilly area)

The possibility of this being Stephens Dale does seem logical. Being a sloped landscape it seems very possible that folk were living in dugouts here. As suggested by Kris, it is also situated close enough to Adelaide for a number of baptisms to be recorded in Holy Trinity, and it has an association with the Torrens and the Torrens Valley.

Of course this is purely speculation, and I am not an expert on early Adelaide history. I just thought that I would throw this idea out for interested researchers to investigate.

If this is the correct location, one final clue as to why the name disappeared from our history... Samuel Stephens died in 1840:

Stephens, Samuel (1808 - 1840)
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020444b.htm

For your reference, I have very briefly checked the following books for reference to Stephens Dale without success:

South Australia. Containing Hints to Emigrants; Proceedings of the South Australia Company; etc., by Henry Capper (1838)
History of the City of Adelaide, by Thomas Worsnop, Town Clerk (1878)
South Australia : Its History, Productions, & Natural Resources, by J.P. Stow (1883)
Notable South Australians; or, Colonists - Past and Present, by George E. Loyau (1885)
The Aldine History Of South Australia, by W. Frederick Morrison, M.A., M.D. (1890)
St. Peters - A Suburban Town, by Elizabeth Warburton (1983)

plus I have had a cursory glance at the reports of the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia, but as yet I haven't found Stephens Dale. Further investigation of the Colonization Commissioners reports may be worth while, but unfortunately I do not have the time to pursue this.

Anyway, good luck with your research!

Kind regards,

David.

[MAPCO]

Hello Again.

Note that Samuel Stephens' brother Edward could also have lent his name to the locale know as Stephens Dale:

Stephens, Edward (1811 - 1861)
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020442b.htm

He was associated with the early mining discoveries, and both brothers had close links with the South Australia Company.

Dig away... Good luck!

Regards,

David.

[Dinkydidy]

Great maps, thank you David. And food for thought regarding the possible location and inspiration for Stephen's Dale.

I had a brief but fruitless look at some early maps at the State Library this week, and also a browse through some likely Stephen(s) candidates.

The Stephens family you mention had three sons arrive in S.A., all reasonably prominent and all either dead or left the scene by the 1850's. Samuel Stephens' property on the site of what is now Medindie is an interesting possibility.
However, the road forming the boundary between Sections 475 and 476 and leading down to the river was named by January 1839 after George Milner Stephen, a close associate of the Hindmarsh family who also acquired land in Walkerville and elsewhere. Although prominent in early S.A. history, his reputation suffered from an accusation of perjury and he later left the state.

I wonder whether the place name was so fleeting because whoever was its namesake also had a relatively short association with the state.

I haven't even begun to look at the mining ventures around Glen Osmond yet, but I can understand how Grantley's family story of the birth being in that area would add weight to that location. My family had no previous or subsequent association with mining, but I guess there was plenty of call for general labourers and woodcutters in the mining operations. The head of my particular family worked most of his life as a shepherd.

Regards,

Didy.

[MAPCO]

Interesting... amongst other things, he was a Faith Healer!!

Stephen, George Milner (1812 - 1894)
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020438b.htm

Fascinating, but no closer to the truth...

Good luck!

[Dinkydidy]

Hi Everyone

Just thought I'd mention a reference I have just come across regarding Stephen's Dale at SAGHS. Graham Savage's book, "Place names of South Australia & Northern Territory" is an index of places found while indexing BDM certificates. It also suggests either the modern names or regions for those names which are no longer in use. Stephen's Dale is said to be in the Mount Barker area.

At first, this sounded logical for my family, which did indeed settle eventually in that area. However, after the original 1841 abode of Stephen's Dale, the next child's birth certificate says he was born at Glen Osmond in 1844, and the one after that in 1846 at Old Tiers, but christened at Blakiston, as were the final three children. Although it's possible that they moved back and forth, how likely would it have been? And does that location make any sense for the other families mentioned in earlier posts?

Savage's index does not explain how he linked the old and modern place names, so it would be interesting to know the reasons for his conclusions.

Didy.

[Dinkydidy]

Hello again everyone.

Thought I'd update this thread by a snippet I'd found since our discussion, but overlooked until recently. The Farmilo child, George, recorded on his Holy Trinity christening as born at Stephen's Dale in March 1841, was admitted to the (now "old") RAH in 1877. He gave his place of birth as Glen Osmond!

This aligns with the next Farmilo child's registered birth in 1844 at Glen Osmond and seems to support Grantley's family story.

So, it appears that two of the five 1841 Holy Trinity "Stephen's Dale" baptisms may relate to births in the Glen Osmond area.

Didy.