Geranium Plains is a small town located approximately 120kms from the capital Adelaide The area was originally the territory of the Ngadiuri people. The post office opened in 1894, but has since closed. There was a proposal to rename it to Iperta in 1916, but this did not go ahead. This district, on the Murray Flats, was named after the native geranium (Geranium solanderi) which grew in abundance here in damp spots along its watercourses.
The district was settled around 1885 by German background farmers. The first Lutheran congregation was formed here in 1900 when St Paul’s and St Stephen’s Lutheran churchs opened that same year. It closed in 1922. Like many small German settlements Geranium Plains actually had two Lutheran churches but St Pauls’ amalgamated with St Stephen’s in 1922 and the St Paul’s church was demolished in 1941. A mound of stones and debris marks the spot where St Paul’s once stood.
The cemetery beside St Stephen’s church, which is still in use, has burials dating from around the time church was erected (1900) and the most common names are Schmidt and Semmler. The earliest burial here seems to be in 1903. Most headstones are written in German but a few dating from after World War One are in English.
St Stephen's Lutheran church opened in 1900, It is now part of the "Eudunda Robertstown Lutheran Parish", which includes Lutheran churches at Robertstown, Point Pass, Geranium Plains, Eudunda, Neales Flat and Peep Hill.
Photo: SA Water
Geranium Plains is home to 19,000 solar panels installed by SA Water to power one of the nation’s largest drinking water pipelines, the Morgan to Whyalla Pipeline. The solar array, located at the pipeline’s third pump station, is now participating in the National Electricity Market (NEM), with the large solar photovoltaic panels capable of generating 14,000MW/h of clean, green energy. The array is one of four being installed along the Morgan to Whyalla Pipeline. A further 15,000 solar panels are to be installed at the fourth pump station outside Robertstown.
The Robertstown Solar Project is a proposed 636-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic and 250 MW, four-hour battery storage facility. The project will feed into the National Electricity Market via a 275-kilovolt connection to ElectraNet’s Robertstown Substation.
