SA settler farm immortalised

“In 1915, the Returned Soldiers Settlement Act was set up, which involved allocating land through the Soldier Settlers Land Grant Scheme to create employment opportunities for returned servicemen, open up new land to agriculture and grow the economic wealth of the state,” Pompoota Hall Committee president Trevor Twigden said.

“With some soldiers not from farming backgrounds, the SA government decided to establish a training farm, with the training sometimes a prerequisite before returned soldiers were allocated a farm.”

Just prior to the war, the floodplains along the Lower Murray had been developed for agriculture, including at Pompoota.

During the war, the SA government decided on a site at Pompoota for the training farm and set aside reclaimed land for the soldier settlement scheme.

“The scheme set much of our state up and the training farm was the foundation for these new settlements,” Mr Twigden said.

The first trainees arrived in March 1916, fresh from the war, and the government built the Pompoota hall as part of the training farm.

In early 1917, then-Premier Crawford Vaughan officially opened the hall, which was used as a school and social centrepiece of the farm.

The hall still hosts social events and celebrated its centenary at the weekend, with more than 350 attendees.

This included SA Premier Jay Weatherill, who re-enacted the journey to Pompoota made by Mr Crawford on the PV Mayflower paddleboat, 100 years ago to the day.

Mr Weatherill unveiled a plaque commemorating the centenary and opened a 12-panel exhibition After the Trenches, which will be on display in the hall on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from 1-4pm until and including Anzac Day.

At its peak, the farm was about 1600 hectares and was home to many agricultural pursuits, including a piggery, hatchery, dairy and orchards.

Most trainees stayed for up to 12 months, depending on experience.

“Those that ‘graduated’ stood a better chance of making a go at farming,” Mr Twigden said. “It also enabled some trainees to figure out whether the rural lifestyle was for them.”

The farm was showcased in 1918 at a national conference because of its success.

“SA was considered to really have its act together,” Mr Twigden said.

“It helped that SA had some progressive politicians and seemed to take a fairly bipartisan approach to the soldier settlement scheme and training farm.”

By the time the farm closed in the early 1920s, more than 350 returned servicemen had been trained at the facility.

Pompoota itself became a large dairy district, with up to 12 farms.

The training farm was eventually subdivided and allocated to some of the trainees, which included Rupert Ellis – the first generation of the Lindner family, who own and operate the only remaining dairy farm at Pompoota today.