Blanchetown
The gateway to the Riverland, Blanchetown is home to Lock 1 — the first of the Murray's locks and weirs — and a quiet riverfront framed by red gum and limestone cliffs.
Things to do in Blanchetown
4 places
Brookfield Conservation Park
FreeThe wombat reserve a Chicago zoo gave to South Australia
A 5,515-hectare conservation park west of Blanchetown, bought by the Chicago Zoological Society in 1971 to protect the southern hairy-nosed wombat and gifted to South Australia in 1977. Wombats, western grey kangaroos and mallee birds.
Burk Salter Wines
$$A small, friendly family cellar door at Blanchetown near Lock 1.
Lock 1 Blanchetown
FreeThe first weir and lock built on the River Murray, a working piece of river engineering you can watch in action.
Lock 1 Weir Walk, Blanchetown
FreeThe first lock built on the Murray, where you can watch the navigation and fishway up close.
Stories from Blanchetown
The Locks That Tamed the Murray
A century ago the Murray was unreliable and often unnavigable. A chain of locks and weirs changed that forever — and quietly reshaped the whole Riverland.
June 2026 · 6 min read
Wombat Country: The Riverland's Master Burrowers
The southern hairy-nosed wombat has been South Australia's animal emblem since 1970, and the bluebush plains near Blanchetown are its stronghold — including a reserve bought for the species by Chicago's Brookfield Zoo in 1971.
June 2026 · 6 min read
Image credits
- Little corella (Cacatua sanguinea gymnopis) Blanchetown.jpg by Charles J. Sharp , CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons