SAFarming
Waikerie
An unemployment-relief experiment beside the Murray.
1894Village settlement established
WHAT STARTED IT
Waikerie began under South Australia’s village-settlement scheme during the 1890s depression. Unemployed people were offered a chance to establish a cooperative farming community using Murray River irrigation.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The settlement was founded in 1894, alongside several similar Riverland experiments. Communal schemes struggled with debt and difficult conditions. Waikerie later became part of a government irrigation area, allowing farming and the town to develop on a different footing.
TURNING POINTS
1894The village settlement is established.
1909The South Australian Government begins developing Waikerie’s irrigation district.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A Riverland town serving irrigated horticulture and visitors. Its beginnings combine agricultural planning with an attempt to solve an urban unemployment crisis.