MOUNT GAMBIER CONNECTIONS.
I suppose it is to be expected - families in an area marry - but
I have been amazed at the number
of connections in the Ewens family to other families in Mount Gambier.
Looking at this logically, it is
probably because I am researching well over 100 years after their arrival and
the Mount would not have
the larger population that it has now. Also, I am probably the exception
to the rule in that my grandmother
married someone from Adelaide and so did not stay in the area of the Mount and
as happened back then,
we didn't have the regular visits due to the distances involved.
Cars still being a novelty, they tended to "come to the boil" in
warmer weather and there weren't really all that many local garages along the
way to come to the rescue if the 'old girl' broke down. I can still
remember the
yellow painted drums of water that were left along the roadsides in warm weather
by the RAA wherever there
was anything remotely like a hill to be climbed.
Ewens Ponds
Prior to July 1939 it was named 'Eight Mile Creek', its present name being adopted at the behest of the local district council.
Thomas Charles Ewens, my great grandfather, held section 355, Hundred of MacDonnell. One day in the 1870s while out shooting he heard the honking of wild geese and, attempting to locate them, found the ponds.
A Mortlock Library note says:
The original name was "Thomas Ewens Springs Ponds''. The reason for this
designation was that his three elder brothers, William, John and Wolford, were
also known in the South-East'
General Notes
Thomas Ewens Springs Ponds are described in Parliamentary Paper 112/1878.
An unique spring fed system, it is a series of 3 shallow basin shaped ponds. They are approximately 10 metres deep and are all connected by shallow channels. The clarity of the water enables plants to grow underwater to a depth of about 6 metres, some of these plants are not found growing fully submerged underwater anywhere else.
While it cannot be felt in the ponds when snorkelling through the channels, the current will carry you along. You will glide along on top of the 1 to 1.5 metre deep channel and float past dense stands of plants while coming face to face with a variety of fish.
The tiny, rare Ewens Pygmy Perch is found hiding in the cover of the reeds in these channels. When in the ponds, look for the tell-tale bubbling limestone sand that indicates where the ground water is rising from the bottom.
The Ewens family connect to the Umpherston's through the marriages of Mary Jane Talbot, Alfred Talbot, Margaret Emily Talbot marrying one of the Stuckey boys as did Lil Ewens. The Patzels 'joined' the clan with Bertha marrying Thos G......... and so it goes on.
Once a cave formed through dissolution of the limestone, this sinkhole was created when the top of the chamber fell to the floor of the cave, creating the perfect environment for its "sunken garden".
Originally beautified by James Umpherston around 1886, it is open at all times, from dusk each evening the area comes alive with possums as they venture into the floodlit gardens to feed.
Geology of the area - http://www.mountgambiertourism.com.au/geology.htm
History of the area - Mount Gambier Cave Gardens and Environs State Heritage Area