Beach and holiday destination south of McLaren Vale, now part of Adelaide's commuter belt.
Aldinga in South Australia is located 45 km south of Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Aldinga is an interesting and unusual township which is notable more for its beautiful long, flat beach rather than the township itself. The town attracts tourists and holidaymakers, particularly on weekends and during the summer months. The beach is suitable for 4WD vehicles, beach walking, swimming, scuba diving and snorkelling.
Today Aldinga is rapidly becoming a desirable commuter destination south of Adelaide with the advantages of rural quietness and ready access to the city.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area was home to the Kaurna Aborigines.
The region was first explored in 1802 when Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Australia. Flinders was impressed by the long beaches and gently rolling green hills behind them which characterise much of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
Aldinga became a thriving settlement in the 1860s when it operated as a port for the surrounding farming communities. As such it had two mills for the wheat. Interestingly there were, for both locals and the sailors who plied the coast, no fewer than six pubs. The Aldinga Hotel, reputedly first came into existence in the 1840s. Although it was updated in the 1860s and the 1880s, it is a remnant of this earlier history that still exists today.
Sir Ivor Hele was an official war artist in both World War II and the Korean War. He won the Archibald Prize in 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955 and 1957. Sir Ivor lived in an old coaching inn situated on the corner of Little Road and Adey Road. The inn had been built about 1840 and Sir Ivor rented it in 1935. He subsequently purchased it in 1937 and lived there until he died in 1993. The house is currently owned by the artist Fred Schmidt.