Observation Tower Birksgate - Windback Wednesday

This stone observation tower was situated on the grounds of Birksgate in Glen Osmond. Highly successful businessman and pastoralist Sir Thomas Elder (1818 - 1897) was the owner of Birksgate.

Constructed circa 1860, the 13-metre high observation tower was used to spot ships approaching the Port. According to a newspaper article in the Mail from 1926, a member of Elder's staff watched the Port with a telescope and notified neighbours of the arrival of a mail steamer by hoisting a Union Jack flag and firing the cannon.

The estate, including the tower, was demolished in 1972.

Photograph: Observation Tower, Birksgate Glen Osmond, 1926. Courtesy SLSA B 3794.