Windback Wednesday - Glen Osmond

Check out this photograph of the Glen Osmond Toll House from 1903 - the Tollgate intersection looks much different today, over 120 years later!

Land agent Robert Cock laid out the first section of Glen Osmond, one of the earliest villages laid out in South Australia. This area was situated between the present Glen Osmond and Portrush Roads and contained service industries and cottages. The purchasers of this land paid between £9 and £12 per acre.

In the early years of its subdivision Glen Osmond had a strong Cornish character, with many of its inhabitants being miners originally from Cornwall. In the area of Glen Osmond east of Portrush Road (known as Woodley) were the Wheal Gawler and Wheal Watkins silver and lead mines. Opening in 1841, the Wheal Gawler mine was the first metal mine in Australia, with Wheal Watkins opening shortly after in 1843.

Osmond Gilles (1788 – 1866), the Colony of South Australia’s first Colonial Treasurer, had a key influence on the area, and hence the origin of the suburb’s name. He was a landowner and lived at Woodley House, which was built circa 1842. He established a 20-acre vineyard on the property, planting mainly Shiraz, Malbec and Mataro grapes. These plantings later became part of Woodley Winery. Vigneron Horace Pridmore bought the property in 1905, extending the vineyard and building large cellars.

The well-known Toll House near the intersection of Cross, Portrush and Glen Osmond Roads was opened in 1841 as a means of raising funds for the road to Mount Barker. It was closed in 1847 to the great relief of the public.

Photo: Children near the Toll House, circa 1903. Burnside Local History Collection.