Uraidla is a small town in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, Australia. At the 2006 census, Uraidla had a population of 461.
History
Once the home of the Peramangk Aboriginal people, European settlement commenced in the mid nineteenth century, a primary school opened in 1871 and the town was formally established in the 1880s.
Etymology
The name Uraidla is derived from local Aboriginal origins. The neighbouring Kaurna people (from the Adelaide plains) had a tale about an ancestral giant who fell in battle and whose body formed part of the Mount Lofty Ranges, with his ears forming Mount Lofty and Mount Bonython. The name Yurrēidla may derive from the Kaurna words yurre (ear) and the suffix denotaing location, -illa (Teichelmann & Schurmann 1840 ). This was later corrupted to Uraidla and adopted as the name of the town.
Industries
Uraidla and the surrounding area is an agricultural district with vegetable market gardens on large scale producing leek, cabbage and lettuce, with apple and cherry orchards, along with vineyards producing many local wine vintages. Local wineries that are part of the Adelaide Hills wine district include Parish Hills Wines and Barratt Wines.
The central oval and showgrounds are used annually for the historic Uraidla and Summertown Show, drawing many hundreds of people in mid-February. Uraidla is also traditionally a centre for sport with Australian Rules Football, Netball, Tennis and Lawn Bowls the main sports. The football club rooms and Bowling Club both have licensed premises. Uraidla and nearby Summertown and Carey Gully are serviced by a mixed business general store and post office and a Village Pharmacy, Hairdresser and the Uraidla Family Practice. Private massage therapists, chiropractors, artists and craftspeople including glass and ceramic producers, a metal foundry and a freestone quarry also operate in the immediate area.