Jacobs Creek (formerly Jacob's Creek) is a small creek that runs through the wine-producing region of the Barossa Valley, 80 km north of Adelaide, South Australia. The creek itself is only several kilometres long and flows westwards from its beginning in the Barossa Ranges, eventually meeting the North Para River. It was first discovered and surveyed by William Jacob (1814–1902), the assistant surveyor to Colonel William Light, in 1839 as part of a wider survey of the Barossa region. It was named in his honour in the early 1840s. In the local aboriginal dialect it is called "Cowieaurita", meaning "yellow-brown water".
In the early 1840s Jacob's Creek was briefly home to Johann Menge, South Australia's first geologist, who lived for some time on an island and in nearby cave on the creek. Here he grew vegetables, and was particularly struck with the possibilities for viticulture. Menge was influential in facilitating the settlement from the Barossa Valley by German Lutheran immigrants.
The creek lent its name to the famous wine brand Jacob's Creek, which is produced by Orlando Wines, located 2 km southwest along the Barossa Valley Highway in the small town of Rowland Flat. Johann Gramp, the founder of Orlando Wines, first planted grape vines on the banks of Jacob's Creek in 1847.
In 1997 Orlando Wines, in conjunction with the Northern Adelaide and Barossa Catchment Water Management Board, commenced a rejuvenation project for Jacobs Creek. All non-native plants and trees, such as bamboo, ash, and olives were removed, and replanted with blue gums, red gums and other Australian native trees and shrubs. As a result of the project, many native species of frogs, native fish, and waterbirds have returned, with the creek gradually returning to its former natural state.
Famous quotes containing the words jacobs and/or creek:
“There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)