Klemzig’s name betrays its European roots. The suburb of Adelaide began life in 1838 as the first settlement by German immigrants in Australia.Klemzig is the name of a village in Germany, which was then in the German state of Prussia.
Today, there is little evidence of Germany in the suburb; even the local football team is called Gaza following a name-change during the First World War due to anti-German sentiment. However, Klemzig was an important staging post for German immigrants who later founded famous settlements such as Hahndorf and the world-famous wine-growing region of the Barossa Valley.
The Torrens Linear Park runs to the south of Klemzig along the route of the Karrawirra-parri/Torrens River. This lovely green ribbon in the middle of the city was initially conceived as a way of mitigating floods, but is now a 30km-long park and bike trail that connects the Adelaide Hills in the suburb of Athelstone with the river mouth at Henley Beach.
