Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this text may contain names and images of deceased people. Tragic Story of John Horrocks.
Seventy-five miles north of Adelaide on the road to Clare lies the picturesque town of Auburn. The population is only about , yet Auburn is infinitely more interesting than many a place three times its size. Not far distant is the small village of Penwortham, where lie the remains of the explorer Horrocks, whose story is told in the article below.
An English woman, who had been resident in Australia long enough to know better, said to me one day when we were going through the country, "These towns are all so beastly new and uninteresting. We have never been good friends since. New and uninteresting. Tabby cats! They might be so to those who do not know the story of the grit, and courage, and triumph of the sons and daughters of Britain who buried themselves in the impenetrable bush of an unknown continent, with hardship staring them in the face, and danger ever at their elbow.
But they are not uninteresting to those who see them with an understanding eye, and know something of the circumstances which brought them into being.
Take this little village of Penwortham, so close to Auburn. There is a big story there. To me Penwortham is neither new nor dull. For Penwortham was founded by John Ainsworth Horrocks β and Horrocks was one of those men at the mention of whose name every South Australian should raise his hat. Some day Australia is going to wake up, and feel very ashamed of itself for its neglect of its Horrockses, its Parringtons.
