The South East of South Australia

Adam Lindsay Gordon

The flowers of Penola
and the Coonawarra District.
South East of South Australia.

We were told that we must see Yallum Park
which is situated about 8 kms. out on the
Millicent Road.
John Riddoch purchased the park in 1861
from the Austin brothers.


In early January 1869 Adam Lindsay Gordon set out by train
from Melbourne to Ballarat,
where he had left his old white mare 'Fairy', and then
leisurely rode the 200 miles to stay with the Riddoch family
at Yallum Park (above). There he continued writing,
returning to Melbourne in February 1869.
The mansion in the front of the old dwelling
was built for John Riddoch and was completed in 1880.
GPS Coordinates **S 37º 23.683 **E 140º 45.023
GOOGLE MAPPING

You must go to Robe, we are told, where Adam Lindsay Gordon
took up horse-breaking.

ROBE SA
(With special thanks to Geoff Dening of Robe.)

Caledonian Inn GPS: **S 37º 09.808 **E 139º 45.486
GOOGLE MAPPING
Dingley Dell Robe GPS: **S 37º 11.338 **E 139º 47.599
GOOGLE MAPPING

Above Left is the Caledonian Hotel where Adam Lindsay Gordon met Miss Maggie Park.
At right, Dingley Dell, Robe. Situated off the Robe-Nora Creina Road.
"Gordon booked passages for Maggie and her sister from Robe to Port MacDonnell by sea,
and met them with two side-saddled horses, and rode with them the twenty miles
to Mount Gambier.
Until the wedding Maggie stayed at the house of Gordon's good friend Bradshaw Young
a fellow Scot, who was then stationed at the town."
(From Adam Lindsay Gordon, The Man and the Myth by Geoffrey Hutton.)

MOUNT GAMBIER SA

Obelisk GPS: **S 37º 50.617 **E 140º 46.363
GOOGLE MAPPING
In 1864 Adam Lindsay Gordon, a skilled horseman, performed the daring riding feat know as
Gordon's Leap. He jumped his horse onto a narrow ledge above the Blue Lake then turned his
horse and repeated the jump back onto the road.

PORT MACDONNELL SA

Gordon Purchased
Dingley Dell
in 1864.
Please see below and right for details.
Dingley Dell Conservation Park (pdf)
GPS:**S 38º 02.465" **E 140º 40.775"

GOOGLE MAPPING

(NEARBY) CAPE NORTHUMBERLAND SA

GPS: **S 38º 03.547 **E 140º 39.704
GOOGLE MAPPING

Adam Lindsay Gordon loved the sea.
Dingley Dell and Cape Northumberland inspired him.

From Ashtaroth:
"Down drops the red sun; through the gloaming
They burst--raging waves of the sea,
Foaming out their own shame--ever foaming
Their leprosy up with fierce glee;
Flung back from the stone, snowy fountains
Of feathery flakes, scarcely flag
Where, shock after shock, the green mountains
Explode on the iron-grey crag.

The salt spray with ceaseless commotion
Leaps round me. I sit on the verge
Of the cliff--'twixt the earth and the ocean--
With feet overhanging the surge.
In thy grandeur, oh, sea! we acknowledge,
In thy fairness, oh, earth! we confess,
Hidden truths that are taught in no college,
Hidden songs that no parchments express."

My thanks go to my wife, Elrae Adams, for the digital photos.
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