Life in Riverland and Mallee, South Australia, from 1840s to 1950s recaptured at Loxton Historical Village

The Loxton Historical Village's buildings and displays included a blacksmith store, school building, general store, Loxton’s first newspaper The Clarion, a chapel, and a telephone exchange, on a site on the banks of the River Murray near where the original Loxton’s Hut was occupied by William Charles Loxton.
Images courtesy Loxton Historical Village

Loxton Historical Village opened in 1973 to preserve, display and promote the history and heritage of the Loxton district, the eastern Riverland and northern Mallee communities of South Australia.

Featuring more than 45 replica buildings fully furnished with artefacts and items, the village reflected life in the Riverland and Mallee from the 1840s to the 1950s. The village’s buildings and displays included a blacksmith store, school building, general store, Loxton’s first newspaper The Clarion, a chapel, and a telephone exchange. An irrigated fruit block, typical of those owned by the region’s World war II soldier settlers featuring older varieties of grapevines, stone fruit trees and citrus was also at the site on the northwest corner of town on the banks of the River Murray.

The site was selected as close to Loxton’s pepper tree, believed to be the one planted after the original Loxton’s Hut was occupied by William Charles Loxton. Loxton was a boundary rider on Bookpurnong Station and a noted horseman. William Loxton lived with his wife from 1878-1881 in the modest pine-and-pug hut formerly occupied by his aunt and her husband. The area around the hut was known as Loxton’s Hut and, eventually, Loxton.

With about 70 volunteers, shop staff and a manager, the award-winning historical village museum conducted working days and Village Alive Days, with many volunteers in period costume, operating displays and machines, stationary engines and tractors demonstrated . Coordinated education programmes were run for school groups for students to experience early rural life in the district.

In 2019, the Loxton Community Heritage Group took over  managing the historical village,  a regional and state award-winning tourist attraction, recognised for its high quality displays, marketing activities and presentation In 2019, the Loxton Community Heritage Group took over managing the tourist attraction from the District Council of Loxton Waikerie.

One of the group’s biggest tasks was to keep the village safe during the 2022-23 River Murray flood.  Guided by the Loxton Historical Village’s curator Roselyn Sincock and the South Australia History Trust, dozens of local people donated their time to relocate treasured memorabilia to higher ground before the waters rose in December 2022. Loxton Community Heritage Group chairperson Paul Kaesler said the local council was able to increase the height of the existing levee and also extend it to prevent the flood waters entering the village.