Penola Branch
Petticoat Lane
Declared a State Heritage Area in 1997, Petticoat Lane, thought to be named because of the predominance of females living there, was also known as Christie’s Row after Christopher Sharam. According to an old resident recalling his younger days in Petticoat Lane in the late 1800s, “Every Sunday evening all the lads would flock down Petticoat Lane. As there was no wireless or phonograph in those times, all hands got around the piano and sang songs until midnight. Believe me, those were the happy days. Everyone had a hack to ride and there would be as many horses in Petticoat Lane of a Sunday as you would see on a race course… We had people of all walks of life and many tradesmen living in Petticoat Lane. We had two poets, William Neilson and John Neilson [father of well-known poet John Shaw Neilson who was born in Penola], two masons, one carpenter, Mr Laing, one tailor, Mr Marcus, one bootmaker, Mr Sharam, Miss Neilson who was a school teacher and Miss Adams a dressmaker. We had a doctor, but Father Tenison Woods was as near to a doctor as you would find anywhere. We had no policeman and had to fight our own battles in those days. In later years we had the Gammon brothers, great horsemen and colt breakers. They would ride any horse that ever stood on four legs and sit him as long as the pig skin lasted.”
Petticoat Lane was unofficially known as Lover’s Lane in the 1930s. By the 1890s, the town roads and footpaths had been built with limestone, and kerbing was installed. In 1987, redgum kerbing was re established in Petticoat Lane.From a narrow entrance to the Lane and travelling east, Gammon Cottage on the left is the first of the buildings owned by the National Trust. The adjacent approximately two acre lavender garden surrounds, on two sides, is the next cottage known as Wilson’s Cottage. Next on the left is Davidson Cottage. Across the Lane on the south side stands the original Sharam Cottages for which the Lane is most famous. The Penola Branch purchased the next door property to establish a large park to add to the peaceful nature of the Lane. All the buildings referred to above in Petticoat Lane, as well as the old Post Office and residence at the corner of Riddoch Highway and Riddoch Street, are owned by the National Trust of SA.
Walking tours by Branch members are offered to schools and visitors to help bring the history of the Lane alive.
Penola Telegraph Station and Post Office
The telegraph station was presented to the House of Assembly on 14th June 1859. This building was officially opened on August 13, 1860.
The Post Office was built in 1876 as the ‘post office’, a term which by this time embraced both letters and telegrams.
Enquiries
Ms Evelynne Bowden (08) 8737 2152, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Meetings
Third Monday of month except December
at 7.30 pm at National Trust meeting room at John Riddoch District Interpretive Centre, Penola