Wangary, South Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Wangary
state = sa


caption =
lga = Lower Eyre Peninsula DC
postcode = 5607
est =
pop =
elevation= 35
maxtemp = 21.4
mintemp = 11.4
rainfall = 352.0
stategov = Flinders
fedgov = Grey
dist1 = 45
dir1 = W
location1= Port Lincoln

Wangary is a town on the Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia, located convert|45|km|mi|0|lk=on west of Port Lincoln on the Flinders Highway near Coffin Bay.

Its correct name is Lake Wangary owing to a large lake in the area that was once fresh water but has since been degraded to a salt lake. There are many spellings of Wangary eg. 'Wangauri' and 'wangeery' meaning "place of many ceremonies" in the local Indigenous dialect.

There are nearby inselbergs called the Marble Range. They possess many unique lifeforms, some of which has been described scientifically. [cite book|title=Natural History of Eyre Peninsula|last=Twidale|first=C.R. (ed)|coauthors=M.J. Tyler; M. Davies|year=1985|location=Adelaide|publisher=Royal Society of South Australia|id=ISBN 0-9596627-3-1]

The town was declared a settlement in colonial times, and the Old Lake Wangary Hotel, built in 1871, was once a stagecoach station on the 'West Coast' stage-coach run from Port Lincoln. Colonial views of the Lake Wangary area were done in the 1840's by English Colonial Artist George French Angas. His artwork is incorporated into one of South Australia's most valuable books - 'The South Australia Illustrated'.

Today, the town contains the Old Hotel, which offers pastries and cakes but has not held a liquor licence since 1933, the ruins of the historic general store and post office, the Coach House and Bakery and an oval. The village is close to many first class surfing and fishing beaches, including a beach called "Gallipoli Beach" used for filming the invasion scenes in the movie "Gallipoli", and attracts many 'life-stylers'.

References

External links

* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/South-Australia/Coffin-Bay/2005/02/17/1108500204205.html Coffin Bay] (SMH Travel)