Onkaparinga

Distinguished and Famous people from Onkaparinga

🍇 John Reynell

John Reynell arrived in South Australia in 1838 and established Reynella Farm, initially growing crops and raising livestock. He planted vines in 1841 and made wine in 1843, drawing on observations of cultivation in southern Europe. Bankruptcy during an economic downturn interrupted his enterprises, but support from creditors and family helped him continue. Later plantings and wine exports gave the property a lasting place in the district’s industry. Land sold from the farm in 1854 became the township of Reynella. The familiar place-name therefore preserves a career that included setbacks and recovery as well as vineyard beginnings.

🍷 Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy worked for John Reynell after arriving in South Australia, then developed his own wine interests at Bankside near Adelaide. His important southern connection came through purchasing a disused McLaren Vale flourmill in 1874 and the Tintara vineyard around 1876. Further land and production expanded the enterprise, drawing on both his own grapes and those of other growers. The result helped connect the Southern Vales with markets beyond the colony. Hardy’s contribution involved organisation and commercial reach as well as vines: good wine needed somewhere to be made, stored, sold and shipped.

🎨 Sir Ivor Hele

Sir Ivor Hele moved into a former coaching inn at Aldinga in 1937 and established the studio where he would work for the rest of his life. Portrait clients came to him, including Robert Menzies on two occasions, while nearby beaches and cliffs supplied subjects for more personal paintings. The demanding portrait practice ran alongside major works developed from his service as an official war artist. He won the Archibald Prize five times. Aldinga was a sustained home and working base, joining internationally known sitters and distant wartime subjects with the landscapes he encountered on almost daily visits to the beach.