Adelaide, South Australia
Nairne
This is one of the oldest towns in South Australia, laid out as early as 1839 by a wealthy Scottish lawyer Matthew Smillie. Nairne was the maiden nme of his wife. The Georgian architectural influence is apparent. In 2003, the main street was transformed for a section of the movie The Honourable Wally Norman, which was filmed using various areas of the Adelaide Hills, including Mount Barker, Nairne and Lobethal.Where is it?: Nairne is about 7 kilometres from Mount Barker and about 5 kilometres from Littlehampton in the Adelaide Hills.
Nairne began as a town on Princes Highway, which used to be the main traffic route from Sydney to Adelaide (via Melbourne) before the South Eastern Freeway superseded this section of highway in 1969. The early settlers would be astounded at the ease with which we now travel to Adelaide via our freeway system. Back in 1841 the government made it clear they could not afford to continue road building at public expense. On 15 July 1841, the government approved a system whereby trustees administered an act which provided for a levy toll on travellers using the road. Matthew Smillie was a member of this board of trustees. A toll house and gate were erected at Glen Osmond and continued to operate until December 1847, by which time the road was at least functional.
The town features numerous murals depicting scenes from the story of the town and surrounding region, going all the way back to the first settlers and founders. The first plaque can be found in Byethorne Park and the others are placed along Main Street. Copies of the Nairne Mural and Historic Walk brochure are now available in the Main Street businesses. All the murals were painted by local artists, children from the Nairne School, members of the 'Big Week Out Festival group' and a young disabled group.
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District Hotel: The heritage listed 1851 District Hotel in Nairne a great example of the Georgian style in a commercial building in the Adelaide Hills. Stoddard the flour miller ran this early hotel.
The Crooked Billet Inn: James Shakes established the Crooked Billet which remained an Inn until 1860. Its assembly room was used for council meetings and was where Sir Robert Torrens gave the first country address on his proposed system of land registration, now known as a "Torrens Title". The Inn was later converted into a residence. It has one wonderful 16 paned windows still intact. The inn's name recalls the Battle of Crooked Billet in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on May 1, 1778 near the Crooked Billet Tavern (present-day Hatboro, Pennsylvania).
The Old Mill: Built by Thomas Stoddart, called the Albert Mill and mortgaged for 1,000 pounds to Henry Ayres. Sold to John Dunn in 1864 for 1,500 pounds and operated as a mill until 1906. The Nairne area was denuded of trees to supply wood for the steam driven mill. From 1906 to 1926 it was used as a hardware and grain store by the Beecham family. Later owned by the National Fitness Council during WW2. Currently a private residence.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church where Mrs Smillie used to worship with her black African servant stands near the little park by the Nairne Institute. it was built very early in 1852 and is now a private residence. Also along the railway line is the later Primitive Methodist Church built in 1884.
The Soldiers Memorial hall, which was formerly the Oddfellows Hall, was built in 1880. It became the memorial Hall in 1921 after World War I. It has a modern 1950s Littlehampton brick facade. Next door is the former Catholic Church which began life as a state school in 1875. It has been used as a church since 1956 until recently when it closed. Note the air vents from when it was a school room and the sole chimney.
In the Main Street the building on the opposite corner to the little park on Jeffrey Street is the former carpenters and undertaker's shop. It dates from the 1850s although the rear is of new Besser block construction. The facade is Mt Lofty purple sandstone. The town s morgue used to be located beneath the shop dug into the embankment for coolness.
In 1870, Henry Timmins built the house and shop now known as 'Upstairs Downstairs', in a style reminiscent of his native Cornwall. Initially it was used as a leather shop and later as a butchers.
Nairne railway station: The town's now disused railway station opened in 1885, reducing travelling time to Adelaide to just 2 hours (formerly a 15 hour horse team journey). Residents recall, that as children they earned 3 pence helping to drive cattle and pigs from the station to George Chapman's bacon and smallgoods factory. Sometimes, the animals were from remote parts of the state and were not used to people and towns, so it was often chaos in the main street. Residents soon learnt to anticipate the event and bolt their gates.
Naiming Nairne: Nairne was the maide nme of his wife, Elizabeth Corse Nairne, the wife of wealthy Scottish lawyer Matthew Smillie who laid out as early as 1839. Elizabeth Smillie is best remembered for her weekly visit to the Nairne Wesleyan Methodist Church: "On a Sunday she would be driven to town on a dray with a big sofa strapped to it, and her servant John Ferguson was a rather tall Afro-American with a silk topper. He would drive her up the hill to church dressed in suit and top hat. It must have been quite a sight."
Smillie had a vision of becoming a Scottish lord with many tenant farmers on his large estate. He built his fine two-storey residence, which he called, The Valleys (1844) north of Nairne. To cement his role as local lord of the region he subdivided a small part of his land to create the village of Narine in 1839. It was named after his wife s maiden name. He advertised the blocks for sale and many sold quickly. He donated small portions of land for a reserve, a town market and a town cemetery.
A few years later in 1847 Matthew Smillie died but his wife Elizabeth continued with the role of estate manager until her death in 1861. As late as the 1880s there were still around 15 tenant farmers on Smillie land and the Smillie family still owned around 2,500 acres. Matthew and Elizabeth were buried in the Nairne cemetery after their deaths in 1847 and 1861 respectively.
