A 19th-century mansion with a new, manageable formal style garden featuring English, French, Italian and Canary Islands lavender.

The majestic old mansion Para Para was built in 1862 for Walter Duffield who had arrived in South Australia in 1839. His hard work and astute business dealings had made him wealthy man and allowed him to build what was at the time, one of the finest homes in the colony. The property is named for its proximity to the junction of the North and South Para Rivers.

Extensive grounds surrounded the Georgian style house, and a large team of gardeners maintained the ornamental gardens, the orchards, vegetable gardens and a vineyard. Duffield, who was also a Parliamentarian, was known as a generous man and made the property available for the first Gawler races, for local fetes, picnics and other community events. During the 20th century Para Para changed hands several times and was uninhabited for a many years during which time the buildings and the garden fell into disrepair. A demolition order was made but eventually the property was saved and a vast renovation commenced.  The present owners have owned the property since 2001 and have beautifully restored both the interior and exterior of the building

The existing garden required extensive maintenance and irrigation but has now been adapted to cope with the changing climate and to contend with strong northerly winds that frequently decimated all but the most robust of plants.  A new, much smaller and more manageable formal style garden has been set out and instead of the roses that once struggled in the difficult conditions, hedges of rosemary form a framework that is infilled with many different species of lavender. English, French, Italian and Canary Islands lavender enjoy the microclimate and thrive creating a haze of soft silvery green foliage and perfumed purple flowers much loved by bees and butterflies.

Significant very old trees that were part of the original garden remain in what is now adjacent grazing land and a paddock next to the house has recently been planted with rows of select lavender cultivars. The flowers are harvested and used by the owners to create a range of lavender products sold under the name of Para Para Lavender. Several of the varieties are high oil yielding and were developed at Charles Sturt University in conjunction with the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation especially for the essential oil industry.

Foot note: Para Para, Corryton Park in the Barossa and Yallum Park in Penola have all been locations for the production of a classic Australian period drama series to be released later this year. They will all open their gardens as part of the spring 2026 and autumn 2027 Open Gardens SA program.