Look within the ancient dunes and layers of limestone around Hindmarsh Island and you’ll discover fascinating clues to how the Murray River and the Southern Ocean shape the appearance this part of South Australia.

The ever-changing environment of this region is evident not only in the six kilometres which the Murray Mouth has shifted over the past 3,000 years, but also in the people who called it home. The Aboriginal clans that occupied Hindmarsh Island came from three different language groups. Clan boundaries were continuously changing, new clans came and displaced the existing ones. The rich food resources and moderate climate drew many other clans to this area and contributed to a stable population which belied the generally nomadic nature of the Aboriginal people. With European settlement, however, clan numbers were decimated by epidemics of smallpox, spread down the Murray from New South Wales.

Hindmarsh Island was first settled by Dr John Rankine who expanded from his holdings at Strathalbyn to establish cattle breeding operations on the southern end of the Island called “Wyngate”.  Access to the Island was achieved by boat across a narrow stretch of water at Clayton.

Later the Price family took up land on the western end of the island, which they called “Sturt Farm”, now partly occupied by The Marina Hindmarsh Island.

In the ensuing years a flour mill was established on the Island while the inter-colonial telegraph from Adelaide to Melbourne passed down Randall Road and made it’s way across Mundoo Island to Pelican Point and thence around the coast to Melbourne.  At various times the island had its own chapel and cheese factory.

Much of the sheoak timber on the island was cleared for firewood used in the boilers of paddle steamers. Plague proportions of hares also contributed to major problems with soil erosion with Aleppo pines planted in an attempt to stabilise the sandy soils, creating their own problems once they adapted to Island conditions.

The Marina Hindmarsh Island foundations were laid in the purchase of a parcel of land in 1977. The largely degraded cropping land comprised just a handful of sheoaks and open country dotted with salty depressions.

During the 1980s various planning approvals were obtained to develop a marina basin with the first dig taking place in 1984. The marina basin was later extended in two separate sections while further land was purchased to consolidate the current landholding.

In 1989 a proposal was lodged and the State Government approved the development of The Marina Hindmarsh Island in a form very similar to that into which it is now being developed. Prior to commencement of the Stage Two lagoon the Government’s approval required construction of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge.The much publicised community controversy delayed completion of the bridge until March, 2001 when road traffic flowed freely to Hindmarsh Island for the first time.

The extensive network of lagoons within The Marina Hindmarsh Island has been created by excavating low lying areas to create an average water depth of approximately three metres, with soil retrieved from the lagoons used to build up residential development zones and roads to at least three metres above water level.

Everywhere you look at The Marina Hindmarsh Island, you’ll glimpse something of the rich history of the region.

All roads within the development are named after the paddle steamers which were constructed in Goolwa at the height of the River Murray’s busy trading era.
The lagoons within the residential development were named after the area’s earliest explorers while the islands which lie within them carry the names of birds commonly found on and near Hindmarsh Island.