Clare, South Australia

[AlStaunton]

I have just spent a fantastic weekend in the Clare Valley of South Australia, a great wine producing area. The first vines were planted by the Jesuits in 1851 at Sevenhill.

Clare itself was first settled in the early 1840s by Edward ('Paddy') Burton Gleeson. The area was variously known as The Twins (after the two gum trees where Gleeson first pitched his tent), Inchiquin (after the name of his property), Gleeson's Village (for obvious reasons) and eventually Gleeson, to remove confusion, named the township after County Clare, his home place in Ireland.

He had purchased 500 acres and by 1842 he had it surveyed and some of it divided into small blocks. It was also around this time that he planted crops leading to the claim that he was the first person to reap a grain in South Australia.

By 1848 David Kenny, another Irishman, had leased land from Gleeson and established the town's first pub. Clare District Council was formed in 1853 and by 1868 the town had a corporation which was dominated by Gleeson who became known as 'the King of Clare'.

http://www.southaustralia.com/ClareValley.aspx

[AlStaunton]

Had lunch here. It was a hot day so washed it down with a few glasses of Rose

http://www.skillogalee.com.au/