Echunga

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2013}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Echunga | state = sa | image = Hagen Arms Hotel, Echunga.JPG | caption = Hagen Arms Hotel, located in the main street | coordinates = {{coord|35|06|0|S|138|47|0|E|display=inline,title}} | lga = District Council of Mount Barker | postcode = 5153 | pop =  | est = 1839

| stategov = Electoral district of Heysen | fedgov = Mayo | dist1 = 34 | location1= Adelaide | dist2 = 8 | location2= Hahndorf | near-nw = Chapel Hill, Biggs Flat | near-n = Hahndorf | near-ne = Paechtown | near-w = Jupiter Creek | near-e = Mount Barker | near-sw = Meadows | near-s = Flaxley | near-se = Bugle Ranges | footnotes=<ref name="PLB">{{cite web |url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/ |title=Placename Details: Echunga |id=SA0021861 |work=Property Location Browser |date=1 August 2007 |access-date=28 October 2016 |publisher=Government of South Australia |archive-date=12 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012010923/http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> }} '''Echunga''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|tʃ|ʌ|ŋ|g|ə}} {{respell|ih|CHUNG|gə}}) is a small town in the Adelaide Hills located {{convert|34|km}} south-east of Adelaide in South Australia.

The area was settled by Europeans during the period of British colonisation of South Australia in 1839, with the town laid out in 1849.<ref name="frr"/> The name of the town was derived from the Kaurna word ''Ityangga'', meaning "over there"<ref>{{cite web | last=Schultz | first=Chester | title=Place Name Summary: (PNS) 1/02: Kawandilla | date=30 April 2018 | website=Adelaide Research & Scholarship | series=The Southern Kaurna Place Names Project | publisher=University of Adelaide | url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/kwp/placenames/research-publ/1-02Kawandilla.pdf | access-date=16 November 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> or "close by".<ref name="smh"/>

Gold was discovered in 1852 and Echunga became the first proclaimed goldfield in South Australia. This led to a gold rush; however, it did not last long, with the diggings exhausted and all but abandoned within a year. Subsequent discoveries in 1853 and 1854 led to smaller and equally short-lived rushes. In 1868 more gold was discovered at nearby Jupiter Creek, which proved to be a much larger and more long-lived field.<ref name="frr">{{cite web | url=http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/echunga.htm | title=Echunga | access-date=29 March 2007}}</ref>

For a brief time Echunga prospered and it has been estimated that at its peak it had grown to a population in excess of 1,200.<ref name="smh">{{cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/South-Australia/Echunga/2005/02/17/1108500204243.html | title=Echunga, South Australia | access-date=27 November 2006 | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=8 February 2004}}</ref> Echunga is part of Battunga Country.<ref name="battungacountry">{{cite web | url=http://www.battunga.org.au | title=Battunga Country | access-date=3 July 2007}}</ref>

Echunga frequently hosts stages of the Tour Down Under, with riders racing through the main street and up the steep climb of Chruch Hill Road.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-13 |title=Church Hill Road {{!}} Santos Tour Down Under |url=https://tourdownunder.com.au/plan-a-trip/atlas/climb-guide/church-hill-road |access-date=2026-05-30 |website=tourdownunder.com.au |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Mining towns in South Australia

Echunga

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