Barossa Reservoir

Barossa Goldfields is a locality in South Australia. It is on the southwestern side of the Barossa Council, bounded on the southwest by the South Para River. The locality is now essentially rural, but is named for the gold mining and prospecting in the second half of the nineteenth century in the area, on the creeks descending to the South Para River. Part of that area is now preserved as part of the Para Wirra Recreation Park. A total of 778 kg of gold was produced in the area.Gold was discovered in October 1868 by Job Harris, a publican at Sandy Creek. Within the first week, 2000 people had rushed to the area and 4000 within a few weeks. The town of Barossa was established and survived until the 1950s. A second town of Victoria was established in 1869. By late 1870, the rush had subsided and only 100 miners remained with others having moved on to other fields. There were resurgences in 1887 and 1889 and companies formed to dig for deeper gold leads. None of the companies was successful, despite constructing a large gold battery and tramways to supply it. Alluvial deposits were reworked during the 1930s depression.

Cockatoo Valley is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about 41 kilometres (25 mi) north-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about 22 kilometres (14 mi) south-west of the municipal seat of Nuriootpa.It was first seen and named by Europeans on 3 March 1838 when an exploration party of four young horsemen comprising John Hill, William Wood, Charles Willis, and John Oakden camped there on the first overland expedition from Adelaide to reach the River Murray at present Morgan. Oakden reported that the valley was 'swarming with cockatoos, seven of which were shot' to roast for supper. They encamped there at 'a rivulet' they had discovered, later named Yettie Creek. The 2016 Australian census which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Cockatoo Valley shared 700 people with the locality of Sandy Creek.Cockatoo Valley is located within the federal division of Barker, the state electoral district of Schubert and the local government area of the Barossa Council.

Para Wirra Conservation Park (formerly Para Wirra Recreation Park and Para Wirra National Park) is a 1,417-hectare (3,500-acre) protected area located in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges in the northern end of the Adelaide metropolitan area in South Australia. The conservation park is part of a larger, 2,573-hectare (6,360-acre) block of contiguous native vegetation, the remainder of which is owned by PIRSA Forestry, SA Water and private landholders.

The Hundred of Barossa is a cadastral unit of hundred in South Australia in the northern Adelaide Hills. It lies west of the Barossa Range at the south end of the Barossa Valley and is bounded on the north and south by the North Para and South Para rivers, respectively. It is the most northern of the eleven hundreds of the County of Adelaide and was named in 1846 by Governor Frederick Robe after the Barossa Range. The principal towns within the hundred are Williamstown, Lyndoch, and Gawler East at the western edge. Other localities include Kalbeeba, Concordia, Rosedale, Sandy Creek, Cockatoo Valley, Barossa Goldfields, Pewsey Vale, Altona and Rowland Flat.

Sandy Creek Conservation Park, formerly the Sandy Creek National Park, is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia in the localities of Lyndoch and Sandy Creek about 42 kilometres (26 mi) north-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west-south-west of the town centre in Sandy Creek.The conservation park consists of land in sections 72, 317 and 319 and in allotments 10, 50 and 202 in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Barossa.The land first received protected area status in respect to section 72 as a wildlife reserve under the Crown Lands Act 1929 proclaimed on 7 October 1965. On 25 May 1967, sections 317 and 319 were declared as a national park under the National Parks Act 1966 and on 9 November 1967 along with section 72 were named as the Sandy Creek National Park. On 27 April 1972, the national park was reconstituted as the Sandy Creek Conservation Park under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. Since 1972, the following land from the Hundred of Barossa has been added to the conservation park - allotment 10 on 11 April 1991, allotment 50 on 8 September 1994 and allotment 202 on 19 January 2006. As of 2019, it covered an area of 1.58 square kilometres (0.61 sq mi). In 1980, the conservation park was described as follows:The topography of this park is one of gently undulating sandy hills and plains dissected by creeks, elevation ranging from 185m to 235m above sea level. The major vegetation associations at Sandy Creek consist of various combinations of Eucalyptus fasciculosa and Callitris preissii. The structural formation ranges from low woodland to open forest while the understorey is variable. Abandoned vineyards and small discrete areas of Eucalyptus leucoxylon and E. odorata also occur in the park… Lomandra multiflora which is an endangered plant in South Australia and three rare plant species… occur in the park. Macropus fuliginosus (western grey kangaroo) is present, while 120 species of birds, including five species of cuckoos have been recorded… The occurrence together of birds from both sclerophyll forests and from mallee areas is ecologically significant. The conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category III protected area. In 1980, it was listed on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate.

Williamstown is a small South Australian town on the southern fringe of the Barossa Valley wine-growing region. It is 51 km north east of Adelaide and 16 km south-east of Gawler. Williamstown was originally known as Victoria Creek. The township was laid out in 1858 by Lewis Johnston, or Johnstone, on land he purchased in 1857, and named for his son.Williamstown has an elevation of 310 m and an average rainfall of 680 mm. It has a summer average temperature of 31 °C with temperatures often reaching the mid 40s, and a winter average temperature of 15 °C, with nights dropping below freezing, which makes the region excellent for the cultivation of fruits, especially grapes in the lower riverine alluvial deposits.

South Para Reservoir is the second largest reservoir in South Australia, behind Mount Bold Reservoir, and the principal reservoir of the South Para River system. The reservoir's large capacity of around 45,330 megalitres and its location in the catchment area mean that it only ever fills completely once in every five years. Costing A$6.4 million, the reservoir took almost a decade to construct, between 1949 and 1958, due to a demand on resources in the post-war boom. The building of the historic Mannum–Adelaide pipeline from the River Murray to the water-short city of Adelaide was a key delay in South Para's construction; that pipeline today disperses water into the reservoir. The Reservoir is surrounded by nature reserve and has been a focus for two major revegetation projects, the first in the late 1950s when over 5000 trees and shrubs were planted, and the second as part of the South Australian Government's "Million Trees" initiative. In 1979 the mutilated body of 17-year-old Alan Barnes was found after being dumped in the South Para Reservoir. His murder, one of the five cases known as The Family Murders remains unsolved. Capacity: 45,330 ML Length of wall: 284 m Height of wall: 44.2 m Type of wall: rolled fill

Sandy Creek is a town in South Australia. The town is situated approximately 6 kilometres east of Gawler and is the last town passed through before reaching Barossa Valley at Lyndoch. At the 2011 census, Sandy Creek had a population of 439.The Sandy Creek Conservation Park is nearby as is Tindo, a members only gated nudist enclave with several permanent residents and a fully functioning caravan park.

Yattalunga is a northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the eastern in the City of Playford. Yattalunga is east of One Tree Hill, between the Gawler–One Tree Hill Road and the South Para River. The road runs near the top of the ridge separating the South Para River gorge from the Adelaide Plains. The eastern part of Yattalunga includes most of the Para Wirra Recreation Park. The name of the suburb is drawn from the name of a historic homestead, which in turn was derived from Yertala or Yattala meaning cascade, waterfall of creek and unga or nga meaning place or locality in a local Australian Aboriginal language, according to state government records citing Norman Tindale in 1949.

Lyndoch is a town in Barossa Valley, located on the Barossa Valley Highway between Gawler and Tanunda, 58 km northeast of Adelaide. The town has an elevation of 175m and an average rainfall of 560.5mm. It is one of the oldest towns in South Australia. The town is now primarily a service centre for the surrounding grape and wine industry and a dormitory town with a significant number of local residents commuting to the city of Adelaide each day for employment. Lyndoch is in the Barossa Council. It is in the state electoral district of Schubert and the federal Division of Barker.