Two Wells is a town approximately north of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna language, Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaid ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

adjacent to

Port Wakefield Road Port Wakefield Highway (and its southern section as Port Wakefield Road) is an important South Australian highway, connecting Adelaide to the Yorke Peninsula, Port Augusta, northern and western South Australia, the Northern Territory and Weste ...

and passed by the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line. The first settlers in the area used two aboriginal wells in the area as a freshwater source. At the , Two Wells had a population of 1926.

The two wells

Originally the wells were natural and permanent waterholes. In the 1880s the wells were deepened and strengthened to facilitate regular use by travelling stock. By 1900 a water pipeline supplied the area, and the wells were neglected. In the 1960s a local youth group rehabilitated the wells and surrounding area, but after a time they were again neglected. In 1979 the area was again rehabilitated, partly fenced, and signed as a reserve. It continues to be maintained by interested locals. Two Wells cemetery 1

Governance

The boundaries were of the town officially fixed on 21 June 1990. Two Wells is located in the federal

division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who w ...

, the state

electoral district of Taylor Taylor is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. This district is named after Doris Irene Taylor MBE, a leading force in the founding of Meals on Wheels, and Labor activist. Taylor is a 246.2 km2 semi-u ...

and the local government area of the

Adelaide Plains Council The Adelaide Plains Council (formerly the District Council of Mallala) is a local government area in South Australia. It consists of a largely rural region along the Gulf St Vincent, covering a total area of approximately 926 km2. The coun ...

Media

The local newspaper is the ''Two Wells and Districts Echo'', began as a newsletter in 1978, before changing to newspaper tabloid format in 2010. Servicing around 4,000 households in both Two Wells and Lewiston, between 2002 and 2010, it was known as "''Your Local Echo''", and prior to that as simply "Newsletter (Two Wells Community Advancement Association)". Along with a sister publication, ''

Plains Producer The ''Plains Producer'' is a weekly newspaper published Wednesdays by Papers and Publications Pty. Ltd. in Balaklava, South Australia. It was founded in 1903 and was printed until 1941, when it was stopped by the second world war. The publication ...

'', it is produced by Papers & Publications, whose main office is on Howe Street,

Balaklava Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Cr ...

Notable persons

James Park Woods James Park Woods (4 January 1886 – 18 January 1963) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War I; the Victoria Cross was the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded to members of ...

who was born in Two Wells in 1886, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces in 1916 and was awarded a

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for gallantry during preliminary attacks on the Hindenburg Line in September 1918. Woods survived the war and returned to a career in viticulture in Western Australia. ABC TV host Annabell Crabb was born and went to school in Two Wells.

References

External links