American River

History

The area now known as American River was first visited by Europeans in 1802 when Matthew Flinders landed to survey this part of Kangaroo Island. In 1803, a group of American sealers camped for four months in the area. They arrived on the brig and built their own 35 ton schooner Independence from local timber. The town takes its name from this time. A memorial plaque and accompanying anchor (recovered in 1969) from an early American whaling vessel is dedicated to Unions crew. Frank Potts was the first official settler in 1842, before moving to the mainland and establishing the Bleasdale vineyard and winery at Langhorne Creek. John Buick, a professional boat builder, built the first house in the town in 1844. It was fashioned out of local stone, pug and sput timber and remained standing until 1985. A fish canning factory existed for a few years from the late 1890s, remnants of which may still be found on the shore north of the town proper. Gypsum was mined at Flour Cask Bay, later at Pelican Lagoon and trucked to nearby Ballast Head, from 1956 until 1986. Until the 1980s, the town was serviced regularly by the ketches Falie, Nelcebee (last service 15 April 1982) and Ulonga, operated by R. Fricker & Co. Consequently, for some time after the cessation of this service, the wharf area for some time was a redundant commercial facility; this resulted in the removal of several buildings and fuel facilities.

Most-observed species

• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,359
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  1,163
• Silver-eye

  Zosterops lateralis (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,021
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  999
• Pacific Gull

  Larus pacificus Latham, 1801 · Aves
  911
• Pied Oystercatcher

  Haematopus longirostris Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  907
• Gray Currawong

  Strepera versicolor (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  892
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  798

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2007-07-08
  26 km SW of Normanville, Australia
• M 3.5 — 2006-03-11
  86 km W of Kingscote, Australia
• M 2.9 — 2004-11-25
  18 km W of Kingscote, Australia
• M 2.7 — 2003-09-22
  11 km SSE of Normanville, Australia