Why Brown’s Beach?

Truth is often stranger than fiction

Possibly because we share a name, but definitely because I like the feel of sand between my toes, Brown’s Beach has become a favourite place to visit in Meningie and recent events have led me to consider the naming of this sweet little cove. 

Sitting in my camp chair at the beach last week, I could see Mt Barker and even Mount Compass away in the distance, which was nice, but it also got me thinking that this beach is possibly named after a Mr Brown, who first surveyed the cove. In the warmth of the sun, I wondered at the character of a man who would leave distant homelands to begin a new life in an ‘apparently’ uncharted foreign country? Would he have sat barefoot enjoying the warmth of the sand here too?

After musing, I decided it was more likely that the beach was named after some pompous Governor or a Lieutenant from somewhere significant in the 1800’s, around the time of South Australian colonisation. Then I remembered that Mount Compass was evidently so named because Governor Gawler lost his compass somewhere nearby. What “Brown” thing might have been lost or found at this peaceful nook in the Coorong?

While rummaging at the local second hand store I made a new friend, Bobby, who was quick to answer that question when asked, “ You should have seen the size of the Brown snake that made its’ way onto the shore there, it was enormous!”  Given the sparkle in Bobby’s eye, I thought it prudent to make more enquiries, though I‘m still having trouble shaking the image of an enormous brown snake basking on my, once favourite little beach! 

Recognising that places are often named to preserve heritage, I decided to research early European history, looking for migrants arriving in the region throughout the mid to late 1800’s and discovered one James Brown, aka Farmer Brown, who, records indicate, was the first drover to transport his sheep across the Murray mouth with his companion Watts Newland. The image of sheep being taxied across the treacherous Murray mouth amidst gale force winds in a whale boat seems ridiculous, but often truth is stranger than fiction. I like the idea that James Brown and some of his sheep found their way to our little inlet! 

by Isa Brown. May 2024