Birdwood is a Australian town in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Formerly known as Blumberg, the German town name was anglicized during World War II, along with many others in the region. Birdwood is home to the National Motor Museum and is the endpoint of the annual Bay to Birwood run, in which vintage motor vehicles are driven by their owners from Glenelg past the city and through the hills to finish at the museum where a festival is held.
Transport
Birdwood is at one of the crossroads in the hills. The Adelaide to Mannum road forms the main road, Shannon St. West passes through Gumeracha and down Main North East Road to Adelaide. East leads towards the Murray River at either Mannum or Walker Flat , via Mount Pleasant . Norht fromt he western end of town leads to Williamstown and the southern Barossa Valley. South from the eastern end of town leads along the Birdwood flat to Mount Torrens giving connection to Woodside , Lobethal , Hahndorf and the South Eastern Freeway.
Birdwood has a lot of through traffic, and a traffic calming device was installed at the Adelaide end of town to discourage speeding, however it mostly slows down trucks and busses. A significant number of road accidents occur on the Adelaide-Mannum road, and the sites of these are marked with red and black posts.
Birdwood once had a train station on the Mt. Pleasant train line at 44.13 miles from Adelaide (See the National Rail Museum List of stations). The line came via Balhannah and was not a very direct route. The line was closed during one of the rail reformations as it was not a very profitable line, probably due to the more direct Adelaide-Mannum road. The track is now long gone but the earthworks can still be seen along the edges of the Birdwood flat to Mt Torrens and towards Mt. Pleasant. Also still standing is an old stone railway bridge near Mt Torrens.
Current township
The current residents are within an easy hour commute to the city, and many of the residents will own at least 2 cars for the commute to work, like most Adelaide Hills residents. Birdwood has a government-operated primary and high school, small supermarket, a few delis and antique shops. A number of churches have formed part of the history of the town, including the Roman Catholic Church near the sports grounds, the nearby Lutheran church and cemetery which is just beyond the town limits; the United Church in the centre of town, believed to be the only Uniting Church that has "United" in Australia, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church further along Shannon Street.
Walkabout Birdwood
