Europeans both adapted to the environment and also altered it. Their settlement, in its second phase, brought a diversity of land use and enlarged towns and industries. This map tracks the changes they made – tourism for example.
Established industries – wine, farming, quarries, milling – were formed before 1900 and communities grew around them. Regions were governed by Councils that cared for roads and public facilities. The major towns, such as Morphett Vale, Clarendon and Willunga, had police stations, court houses, shops, hotels and post offices. Livestock, wine and produce were famed around the world and many people from Adelaide took their summer holidays at one of the coastal guest houses or hotels.
In the midst of this plenty the First World War, 1914–1918, the Great Depression, from 1929 and the Second World War, from 1939, took their toll on communities. The loss of significant numbers of young males by death and injury and the lack of finance left their mark.
Yet people and industries were resilient. In fact tourism at places such as Port Noarlunga grew markedly and export markets for agricultural products were renewed. Agriculture remained the dominant industry and feature of the land, and horticulture flourished in places like Willunga, Coromandel Valley , Cherry Gardens , Clarendon and McLaren Flat. It was a rural world.
