Tailem Bend Visitor Information Centre

The Info Center is open 7days/ 10am-4pm and is housed in the Old Railway Stn that incorporates a Rail Museum

Located 99 km east of Adelaide and 21 metres above sea level, Tailem Bend is one of those Australian towns where no one really knows the origins of its name. Prior to European settlement the area was inhabited by the Ngarrindjeri people. They made bark and reed canoes, and lived on the fish and animals residing beside the river.

Following Captain Charles Sturt, the whole area along the Murray was opened up by overlanders who moved sheep and cattle across the land. By the 1840s there was a ferry across the Murray River at Wellington which meant that the more difficult terrain, particularly the high cliffs, around Tailem Bend were overlooked in the development of the river bank.

The town's real roots lie in the railway. It is essentially a railway town - created when the railway came through the area in 1886. The town was proclaimed in 1887. If you doubt the importance of the railway, recall how many towns you have visited where the railway line (and the attractive local railway station) run alongside the main street.