Cox Creek (South Australia)

Cox Creek, also Cox's Creek, previously Cock's Creek, is a small stream in the southern Adelaide Hills. Cox's Creek was also the name of the settlement which became Bridgewater, South Australia.

Description edit

The creek arises near Uraidla and flows in a southerly direction through the Piccadilly Valley, and joins the Onkaparinga River south of Bridgewater[1] near the Mylor bridge.

It flows through the Raywood gardens,[2][3] which, along with the large home, are heritage-listed on the SA Heritage Register.[4]

Naming edit

Robert Cock emigrated with his family to South Australia on HMS Buffalo, arriving in December 1836. He led a small exploration party from Adelaide to Lake Alexandrina in 1837, on Christmas Day camping at, and with some difficulty crossing, the creek which was named for him.[5]

A settlement was later formed on the creek, some few kilometres from where Cock and party made their crossing, first naming it "Cock's Creek", then "Cox's Creek",[6] finally "Bridgewater" named after James Addison's Bridgewater Hotel and John Dunn's Bridgewater Mill, which was powered by water from a dam on the creek.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ "Cox Creek, Piccadilly Valley; 2015 Report". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Adelaide Hills Mansion 1969". Flickr. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Cottage, Bridgewater". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Heritage details: Dwelling ('Raywood', previously 'Arbury Park') Garden, Chapel, Driveway and Gates". SA Heritage Places Database Search. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  5. ^ "A Jewell Casket". The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser. SA. 5 August 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 2 October 2015 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "Advertising". South Australian Register. Vol. XIX, no. 2645. South Australia. 16 March 1855. p. 4. Retrieved 28 November 2020 – via Trove. Evidence of Bridgewater Hotel operating while the township was still Cox's Creek
  7. ^ John Dunn (17 December 1886). "Memories of Eighty Years". The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser. SA. p. 4. Retrieved 28 November 2020 – via Trove.

35°01′47″S 138°46′49″E / 35.02971°S 138.78030°E / -35.02971; 138.78030