THE AUSTRALIAN ARK – Federation to the Modern Era | 1900–1982
In South Australia, a new railway line from Adelaide to Port Willunga, crossing through Reynella, Morphett Vale, Noarlunga, and McLaren Vale, was opened by Governor Sir Henry Galway on the 20th of January 1915. It was quite an engineering feat, with several extensive cuttings and bridges constructed through the landscape. There were great hopes this passenger and ‘luggage’ railway line would assist the development of the rich slopes and flats of the region. Already, McLaren Vale was well known for mixed farming, especially market gardening, sorghum, and wine production. One of the first shipments on the so- called luggage train was 300 hogsheads of wine destined for the export market. The railway line would gradually close down between 1969 and 1972. . . . In 1913, Carew Reynell and viticulturalist Gordon Cox planted the Jericho Vineyard at a rate of 10 acres a day. And by 1914, the vineyards around Reynella extended to 500 acres. But Carew Reynell was also a part-time soldier. He was initially commissioned in the 16th South Australian Light Horse and then transferred to the 22nd Light Horse as a major and second-in-command. These regiments often practised their soldiering skills with manoeuvres near Bordertown, McLaren Vale, and Gawler, and used the railway network to reach their encampments. Carew Reynell was a highly skilled horseman and proved to be an inspirational leader. He landed at Gallipoli as second-in-command of the 9th South Australian Light Horse and was killed on the 27th of August 1915 on Hill 60, leading a charge on foot where half of his regiment fell as casualties. The Honourable Aubrey Herbert, a polyglot diplomat, member of parliament, English aristocrat, and friend of TE Lawrence and Hilaire Belloc, was an ANZAC liaison officer during the Gallipoli campaign. He befriended Carew Reynell, and they would speculate about their futures after the war. When he heard of Carew’s death, Herbert was greatly affected and wrote a poem entitled ‘To R – At ANZAC’. . . .
You left your vineyards, dreaming of the vines in a dream land, And dim Italian cities where high cathedrals stand, At Anzac in the evening, so many things we planned, And now you sleep with comrades in the Anafarta sand. – Aubrey Herbert, 1915
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