EDITHBURGH HOUSE: In the Yorke Peninsula Region of South Australia

As you travel around Yorke Peninsula you can't help but tap into the rhythm of the seasons. By late Spring the paddocks are awash with fields of golden wheat and barley.

For many years the farmers at the bottom end of the Peninsula sent their crops to the Edithburgh jetty for shipment to Adelaide and markets overseas. The jetty also played a pivotal role in the export of other local commodities such as salt and gypsum.

And throughout the boom years many of the seasonal workers bunked down in what's known today as Edithburgh House. According to the old advertising hoarding, Edithburgh House, as well as accommodating the local boot-maker and green grocer, provided lodgings at very moderate terms. Mike Goodlet of Edithburgh House explains:

"Well the house was built in the 1890s basically to accommodate the people who used to harvest salt in the Yorketown area."

Now it's home to Michael and Trish Goodlet, who like so many others have escaped the pressures of the city for a more relaxed lifestyle. But while others are out catching a feed Michael's in the kitchen preparing one for those who dine at Favershams, a regional finalist in the Restaurant of the Year Awards. He's a chef with twenty years experience including a stint at the Hyatt. A few dishes, like the barramundi with mango and chilli might surprise the old salt workers who rented rooms here but other dishes would make them feel very much at home. According to Mike, it's all part of a century old tradition:

"It's always been a guest house accommodation. And since we've been here we've built on that seaside accommodation. Early Victorian style accommodation and dining."

Edithburgh House offers the ideal base from which to explore this historic town named after Lady Edith Fergusson, the wife of South Australia's Governor at the time. It's steeped in maritime history and the local museum across the road contains so much of it's story, including one of its most harrowing tales - the loss of the Clan Ranald. The wreck of the old steamer remains one of the top dive sites on the Peninsula. The vessel left Port Adelaide in January 1909 heavily overloaded. Incompetence and greed would eventually cost the lives of 40 men, most from the Indian subcontinent. Peter Stockings from the Edithburgh Museum:

"It was a greedy grab for money. A lot of the stevedores got their money - they didn't care what happened to the crew."

In the Edithburgh cemetery the officers' graves tell part of the story - but only part.

"This is where the officers are buried. The crew were of Indian... Mainly of Indian descent as we found out in later days. But in those days they called them Laskas because they were of a different colour."

And the Laskas were buried here in a back plot of the cemetery without headstones. For many years it was an anonymous memorial to men who died a long way from home. Now the locals have restored the site and erected a plaque as a sign of respect to those who died in one of the State's worst maritime disasters. The story of the Clan Ranald is told at the Edithburgh Museum in the Main Street. And across the road is Edithburgh House. You contact book on 8852 6373.