Meldonfield - a world in miniature at Peterborough: Ron is amazed by this wonderful collection of Australia's past in miniature. Located in the Mid North region of South Australia.
Peterborough in the mid-north of South Australia is a community of some three thousand residents located about 250 kilometres north of Adelaide. Today it's a quiet little town with a big railway history.
In it's heyday, as many as 120 steam engines would come through Peterborough on their way to towns like Jamestown, Port Augusta, Silverton, Broken Hill, Adelaide - you name it - it's fair to say this place was booming. So much so that all of the steam from the engines created it's own micro climate and that could sometimes interfere with the weather readings at the local bureau of meteorology. It had to be moved to the outskirts of town.
The old loco in the heart of town harks back to Peterborough's booming past and those in the know come from all over the country to marvel at it's railway heritage. Sadly a pivotal part of that railway story was lost forever, when the South Australian Railways knocked down the original station to make way for it's less flattering 60's equivalent.
But in the back blocks of town, one passionate local is doing his bit to bring a little piece of Peterborough back to life. In his backyard, Eldon Zimmermann, was firing up the brick saw, slicing through bricks from the town's original station, which he and a few mates retrieved from an old dumpsite.
Eldon Zimmermann, Meldonfield: "These are original hand-fired red bricks from the original Petersburg Railway Station."
That's what it was called up until World War One when hostilities provoked a lot of anti-German sentiment in a town first settled by German immigrants back in the 1870s. Now Eldon is travelling back in time to the 1890s when the Petersburg Railway Station was a bustling transport hub and the red brick and sandstone structure was the breathing, steaming, pulsing heart of town. He's re-creating the old station as a scale model that will weigh about one and a half-ton when finished.
Next door the shelves are packed with miniature Cobb and Co coaches and other reminders of Australia's pioneering past - like Dava Singh's wagon. This model is again a scaled down replica of the one in the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach Queensland.
It's fair to say Mary Zimmermann married Eldon and his shed. And while he spends hours and hours out here, so does she - bringing the human touch to Eldon's amazing marvels in miniature, with her clay figures. For visitors to Meldonfield - the models may be small but the impact is huge - as each draws on a key part of our Australian story.
Meldonfield's Australian past in miniature is located in Lloyd Street, Peterborough. It's open most days. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Meldonfield
Lloyd Street
Peterborough
Contact Eldon on 8651 2122Published 19th April 2009
