The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929) Monday 1 January 190673922

A PIONEER OF TIN-
TINARA.  
DEATH OF MR. A. HELLING.
Mr. August Helling, pioneer of the Tin-
tinara country, died on Sunday at Walker
ville, at the age of 56 years. The deceased
gentleman, who had been ailing for some 
months, was a firm believer in the poten-
tialities and possibilities of what until re-
cently was generally regarded as a great
useless desert, and it was in large measure
owing to his foresight and enterprise in the
first instance that the value and magnifi-
cent prospects of the land were brought
under the notice of the public. Mr. Helling
was born at the Burra in May, 1849, and
when four years of age accompanied his
aunt to Adelaide, where he attended school
on the Bay road. Afterwards he went to
Kapunda, and there entered the old Ka-
punda Mine as an oredresser. After being
a couple of years at that occupation he
began farming, but left those pursuits to
proceed to Moonta, where he assisted in
hauling up the first poppet heads erected
on the Moonta Mines. For some time he
was engaged carrying between Blinman and
Port Augusta, and in 1879, when the Slid-
ing Rock Mine started operations he re-
moved thither and entered business as a
butcher and storekeeper. Once again, how-
ever, the call of the land proved irresis-
tible, and in partnership with another
he secured the best part of a thousand
square miles of good pastoral country on
the Diamantina River between South Aus-
tralia and Queensland. He spent several years
on Cowarie— the name of the station— and
during that period made a compact with
the Government to carry the mails by
coach, once a fortnight, between Hergott
Springs and Birdsville. and although he
did not actually drive the first coach which
went through he occupied a seat on the
box, and gave the necessary directions to
the driver. Then the drought came, and
Mr. Helling, accompanied by his wife, re-
turned to Sliding Rock in 1890, and acquir-
ed the Sliding Rock Hotel. A second time,
however, his hopes in the mine were doom
ed to disappointment, and after 10 years'
weary waiting he decided to return to the
land. Tintinara had made a deep impres-
sion upon him, owing to its contour and
general character, and he forthwith secured
about 60.000 acres at a cheap rate. With
the assistance of his sons he immediately
began operations on a systematic basis, put  
down bores and wells, cultivated the land,
and soon converted desert country into
land of profit and promise. Sheep were fat-
tened and forwarded to the markets, and
some of the wheat, maize, and other pro-
ducts gained the highest encomiums when
exhibited in Adelaide. But the country
was too extensive and wild for Mr. Helling
to deal with singlehanded, and so the
Triumph Plow Company took over nearly
the whole of the land, and they are now
engaged in clearing and preparing it for
cultivation purposes. In more ways than
one the circumstances of Mr Helling's
death are particularly sad. For years it
had been his one ambition and desire to
witness the opening up of the Tintinara
country, and just when his hopes were
about to be realized he passed away. He
has left a widow, four sons, and three
daughters.