South East Sketchbook: Max Lamshed and Ken Robins (Illustrator)

The South East of South Australia was settled by pioneers who drove their stock from east or west and by those who landed at the tiny ports on the rocky coast. Within a few years, huge pastoral properties had been established and big cargoes of primary produce were being shipped out through Robe. The governor had a summer residence there; it was a busy social centre and thousands of Chinese began their march to the goldfields from its beaches. Sea traffic dwindled when the railway came, inland towns flourished and Mount Gambier, Naracoote and Millicent became more important than the seaports. When engineers broke through ‘Narrow Neck’ and began draining the swamps, great areas of land for farming opened up. Winemaking and forestry thrived and played their part in making the South East one of the state’s richest areas.