Renmark Hotels

Renmark is a town in South Australia's rural Riverland area, and is located 254 km northeast of Adelaide, on the banks of the River Murray. The Sturt Highway between Adelaide and Sydney runs through the town; Renmark is the last major town encountered in South Australia when driving this route. It is 31 m above sea level. As of 2000, the population of Renmark (combined with the neighbouring settlement of Lyrup) was 8,054. It is the oldest European settlement on the River Murray. The name Renmark refers to an Aboriginal word meaning "Red Mud" - the original inhabitants of the area were the Naralte tribe. Captain Charles Sturt was the first European to pass though the area in January 1830, as he navigated the length of the Murray from the Great Dividing Range, eventually reaching Lake Alexandrina. A settlement began to grow in 1887, when the Renmark Irrigation Settlement was established by George and William Chaffey, who created a system of open drains using water from the Murray, to allow orchards to be planted in the area. By pumping water onto the hot red sand they transformed it into a fruit growing area similar to California. Renmark was proclaimed a town in 1904 and a municipality in 1935. Bush poet and soldier Breaker Morant worked locally, at the Paringa Station in the 1890s, before serving in the Boer War. Renmark is famous among Australian youth for being the closest town to the vineyard on which the concept of box wine or goon was invented in 1965. Renmark was connected by rail on 31 January, 1927.