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The name "Goolwa" means "elbow" in the Ngarrindjeri language, and the area was known as "The Elbow" to the early settlers.
Before 1837 the area was briefly considered for the site of the colony's capital; a "special survey" was undertaken in 1839–40, with a sizeable township laid out at Currency Creek and land for a port with substantial warehousing on the river where Goolwa now stands. A wharf was constructed in 1852 and government buildings soon followed, including a post office in 1853. However, the treacherous waters of the Murray Mouth made it difficult for shipping and made the town unsuitable as a major port.
Goolwa nevertheless developed as Australia's first inland port (1853). Australia's first railway was opened in 1854 to connect Goolwa to Port Elliot. It was later extended to Victor Harbor, allowing goods to move from river boats to ships, so that neither had to negotiate the Murray Mouth. Goolwa was officially established in 1857.
The spread of railways to inland Australia put an end to the river trade and Goolwa's significance as a port. With the decline of the river trade Goolwa became dependent on local farming and fishing, as well as becoming a popular destination for holidaymakers from Adelaide.
In 1935 a permanent barrage (called the Goolwa Barrage) was constructed between Hindmarsh Island and Sir Richard Peninsula on the south eastern outskirts of Goolwa. The barrage separates the fresh water of the River Murray from the salt water coming up from the River Murray mouth. The barrage was constructed to prevent the salt water traversing further up the River Murray and polluting much needed fresh water.
Rumbelow Rd, Narrung, SA 5259
Narrung is a very small settlement west of Meningie. It is situated at the northern extent of the Narrung Peninsula, which separates The Coorong from Lake Albert adjacent to The Narrows which separates Lake Albert from the larger Lake Alexandrina.
In June 1881, 140 years ago, Prince Albert aged sixteen and Prince George aged fifteen, who later became King George V (and father of Queen Elizabeth), grandsons of Queen Victoria visited Meningie and district.
The Royal Princes travelled on the PS Dispatch from Milang via Point McLeay (now Raukkan)
While the name appears to have been in use since the 19th century and by all levels of government in South Australia, the name was not listed in the state government's official list of placenames until January 2020.
The Narrung Ferry takes only a couple of minutes to cross between Point Malcolm Lighthouse and the Narrung Lakeside Reserve, offering vehicles the opportunity to explore Australia's only inland lighthouse at Point Malcolm and drive past the back of the historic Poltalloch Station.
Henry Rumbelow
In 1907 Henry Rumbelow left Encounter Bay for 17 years, due to ill health and commenced farming at Narrung.
“On Saturday Mr. Henry Rumbelow sent away by train his well-known fishing cutter The Ferret, and he himself leaves Victor Harbor on Monday for Narrung, where he has taken up land and intends to settle with his family. These are the closing scenes of a long partnership of fishing and boating life with which the Rumbelow family have been connected through three generations, a partnership which had become one of the chief institutions of Encounter Bay.”
Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 15 June 1907, page 30
After the 1st World War Henry & Mary returned to their home in Yilki in the 1924. Their son Herbert took over the farm and Henry returned to fishing. Although he was not directly engaged in fishing, he was never so happy as when busy mending nets or looking after other parts of the tackle.
Henry was renowned as a raconteur telling tales of hazardous fishing trips across Backstairs Passage to Kangaroo Island.
Henry and Mary had ten children, and some 23 grand children:
Jane Caroline Shannon
Mary Jane Bird
Henry Rumbelow Jnr
Thora Blanche
Lester Malen Rumbelow
Ruby (Mrs. Jack Bottrill)
Lawrence
Thelma (Mrs. W. Montgomerie)
Freda (Mrs. Ernest McKeon)
Dulcie (Mrs. Keith Watson)
Thomas Keith Watson
Norman John Rumbelow lived in at Narrung for 64 years before moving to Meningie. He was born on 8th September 1927 to parents Herbert Victor Rumbelow and Hilda Blanche Heading .
As there were no local hospitals in the district his mother came to Adelaide for the birth.
Walter Malen Rumbelow
Walter Malen Rumbelow was born at Yilki on 7th October 1894, and married Ethel Isabell Herraman on 15th October 1913 at Narrung SA. Walter grew up at Narrung.
In 1924, at the age of 30, he left Narrung with his father and went to Encounter Bay where he purchased The Ferret and continued as a professional fisherman. On December 23rd 1932, Walter, aged 38, was tragically drowned when “The Ferrett” was wrecked off Waitpinga Beach, SA. His body was not recovered.
Douglas
Beth
Zaphne
Aileen
Robert
Dorothy
William
Arthur
Ken Rumbelow was born in the family home at Encounter Bay, on July 30, 1902, one of six children of Godfrey and Ada Rumbelow.
He was sent to Narrung to work on dairy farms owned by his uncle William Henry Rumbelow for 18 months and Jack Bottrills for about 12 months.
"My principal job there was to keep out of the bosses' way. I went to Narrung because I was thin and pale and my family thought I needed building up.”
He then had a series of selling/delivery jobs including bread, carting, groceries, milk, tea and coffee, fish, furniture on the West Coast, haberdashery at Narrung, almonds, door to door with Telsons and AMP Insurance. During the 1930s depression when work was hard to get, Ken did anything he could, including hawking material around Narrung and Point McLeay, selling furniture around Wudina and fish door to door around Victor Harbor.
1919 - 2011
Descendant of Sophia Rumbelow
Keith Neighbour was born on 13 June 1919 at Goolwa, South Australia, the son of Arthur Neighbour and Ivy (nee Doddridge).
Keith was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Neighbour, who ran a store in Goolwa. Educated at Victor Harbor High School, Neighbour then studied sculpting and painting at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts.
In 1940 Keith joined the RAAF air crew at aged 20 and trained at Point Cook as a gunner on a bomber. On 5 February 1941 Keith married Lorna Pauline, daughter of Ernest and Florence (Florrie) Crafter, with whom he would later raise two girls.
Thomas Keith Watson
Thomas Keith Watson was born at Milang on 28th March 1908 and married Dulcie Helena Rumbelow, his second cousin once removed, on 21st December 1940.
Thomas was a sheet metal worker and they had a son.
Minnie Pearl Watson
Minnie Pearl Watson was born at Goolwa on 31st January 1914 and married Selby Young Loftes on 11th April 1931.
Selby enlisted in the Australian Army on 13th June 1940 and when discharged on 14th December 1943 was attached to 2/25 Battalion. They had four children; Margaret, Rhonda, Elsie and Barbara.
Zaphne Grace Rumbelow
Zaphne Grace Rumbelow was born at Goolwa on 6th May 1920 and married Joseph William Cooper on 3rd January 1942. Joseph enlisted in the RAAF in 1941, and was a corporal attached to 5 Central Reserve when discharged in 1946. He was a farmer and orchardist who bred Jersey cows and Berkshire pigs that won a number of prizes at shows. Zaphne and Joseph had four children.
Lindsay Keith Watson
Lindsay Keith Watson who was born at Prospect, SA, on 5th February 1942. Lindsay lived at Narrung but also owns a property in Russell St, Encounter Bay.
He has contributed a lot of the information on which this record is based, as well as providing information for other branches of the family.
Lester Malen Rumbelow
Lester Malen Rumbelow was born in Adelaide on 9th October 1914, one of nine children to Walter Malen and Ethel Rumbelow. Lester attended school at the Loveday Base School
He lived in the Narrung district until 1923 when his father returned to Victor Harbor to fish commercially. Lester left school in 1928 and fished with his father for rock lobster at Victor Harbor and as far away as Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island. All fishing was under sail and all thirty pots were lifted by hand. Prices varied with most selling for six pence to a shilling per pound.
Lester spent the last twenty seven years camped on the shores of the Coorong at Pelican Point. From 1946 to 1992, Lester worked in partnership with W H (Bill) Ayres of Meningie. His day began at 4 am, seven days a week during the season, when he would row up to eight miles a day to set and later retrieve his nets before the pelicans got to his catch of mulloway, bream and mullet.
Carlene Isabel
Yvette Joy
Valerie June
Doris
Lynette
Carlene Isabel Oliver
Garry Ian Hera-Singh
Garry Ian Hera-Singh was born 16 January 1956 at Meningie, SA. Gary is a commercial fisherman of the lakes and Coorong like his Grandfather Lester Rumbelow. Garry is a proud 5th generation fisherman on his mother’s side.
Garry first started fishing during the mid 1970’s working as a deckhand with his grandfathers. In 1984 he became a full-time fisherman when he invested into the industry. He continues the tradition of static net fishing but has deferred to a boat with an outboard.
Garry has served as the President of the Southern Fishermen’s Association (SFA), representing the interests of commercial licence holders in the South Australian Lakes and Coorong Fishery.
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