Pewsey Vale is a locality east of the southern Barossa Valley in the western part of the Eden Valley of South Australia. It was first established as a sheep station pastoral run in the early years of the colony by Joseph Gilbert. Gilbert named his run Pewsey Vale in 1839 after the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, where he was born.[2] It was originally to be called Karrawatta, however this name was easily confused with the neighboring Tarrawatta.[3]
Over the years, Gilbert planted grapevines and made wine, as well as running sheep at Pewsey Vale and other pastoral leases in the colony.[4] The school and chapel were built by Gilbert in 1861,[4] and the cemetery contains predominantly only Gilbert and his relatives.[5]
The vineyards planted by William Gilbert were removed shortly after World War I. New vineyards were planted in the 1960s in conjunction with the Yalumba wine company.[6]
^"Placename Details: Pewsey Vale". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. 6 February 2007. SA0054760. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
^"Placename Details: Karrawatta". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. 6 February 2007. SA0015633. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
^ abMarjorie Findlay, 'Gilbert, Joseph (1800–1881)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilbert-joseph-3610/text5605, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 28 December 2015.
