Property owned by Henry John Riggs. He was able to buy property as small holders sold their properties to go Victorian gold fields. The property was handed to his son, Albert Henry, who passed it onto his two sons.
Bentley was first built in 1848 by a Mr Kilsby, before that it is thought that there were a few huts on the property built by a squatter. When Colonel Light passed through Gawler in 1839, he met a shepherd near Dead Man’s Pass and the huts were about a mile South, it is thought that there is some connection with Horrocks the explorer. When Mr Kilsby built Bentley, it was small property of 80 acre sections. Mr Kilsby went to the South East and the property was taken over by Mr Turner the first Mayor of Gawler who made additions to the house. Doctor Townsend rented the house and started a boarding school there, he had an adjoining block and there is rubble to show the remains of his old house there. The pupils came from Adelaide and Burra, the old classroom is still there at Bentley. Mrs Fotheringham bought the property for her parents who were the proprietors of the Bunyip. Henry Riggs bought the property from Mrs Fotheringham in the 1870’s. The main farming activities today were sheep. There is some cropping of wheat and barley and some cattle are kept.
