Parham, South Australia


Parham is a town and a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the eastern coastline of Gulf St Vincent about north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide and about west of the municipal seat of Mallala.
Parham was proclaimed as a government town on 7 July 1876 with its boundaries being extended on 24 January 1980. The boundaries for the locality of same name and which includes the extent of the government town were proclaimed on 5 June 1997. It is reported as being named after John Pocock Parham, an early settler who arrived in South Australia in 1839. It was also historically known locally as Dublin Beach. It was known as the Dublin landing place as early as 1871. with shipping recorded from 1870s. Prior to the Government Town and well before the railway reaching Calomba and Long Plains, Parham was the site of a major port for shipping grain to Port Adelaide from the Northern Adelaide Plains.
The 2016 Australian census which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Parham had a population of 216 people.
Today, Parham is a holiday and recreational fishing settlement, famous for blue swimmer crabs. In the past was a port for Ketches shipping grain and for shell grit.
Parham is located within the federal division of Grey, the state electoral district Narungga, and the local government area of the Adelaide Plains Council.