Wallaroo, South Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Wallaroo
state = South Australia


caption = Wallaroo Town Hall
lga = Copper Coast
postcode = 5556
est = 1851
pop = 3,000
elevation= 44
maxtemp = 23.0
mintemp = 10.8
rainfall = 386.7
stategov = Goyder
fedgov = Grey
dist1 = 160
dir1 = NNW
location1= Adelaide

Wallaroo (coord|33|55|S|137|37|E|region:AU-SA_type:city(3000)) is a port town on the western side of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. It is 160 kilometres north-northwest of Adelaide. It is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famed for their historic shared copper mining industry, and known together as "Little Cornwall".

It is about 8 kilometres west of Kadina and 18 kilometres north of Moonta. The population of Wallaroo is about 3,000.

The name "Wallaroo" comes the Aboriginal word 'Wadlu Waru' meaning wallabies urine. The early settler's tried to copy the aboriginals by calling it Walla Waroo, however they found this too big to stamp on the wool bales, so they shortened it to Wallaroo. [http://www.yorkepeninsula.com.au/directory/wallaroo.aspx]

History

Prior to European Settlement, Wallaroo was occupied by the indigenous tribe of Narungga. Matthew Flinders was the first European to visit the location of present day Wallaroo. On 15 March 1802 when he sailed by he stated that "the immediate coast ... which extends several leagues to the north of the point, is low and sandy, but a few miles back it rises to a level land of moderate elevation, and is not ill-clothed with small trees."Wallaroo was first settled in 1851 by a sheep grazier, Robert Miller. In 1857, Walter Watson Hughes purchased the land and named the land 'Walla Waroo'. The name was subsequently changed to "Wallaroo" (which is what the town became known as) so the name could fit on to bales of wool.

Wallaroo was established on Wallaroo Bay by 1861 and was proclaimed as a town in 1862. It was Yorke Peninsula's most important port until 1923, when Port Pirie was established. Wallaroo was connected to Kadina by horse-drawn tramway in 1862 and from Moonta in 1866. A connection to Adelaide was complete by 1880.. ["Horse and Steam, Wheat and Copper" Callaghan, W.H. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January;February, 2002 pp9-27;46-63] A jetty was built in 1861 for ships to take copper. Trading, however, prospered and other items were brought into the area from Wallaroo such as coal, timber and food. A copper smelter was also built at Wallaroo in 1861, which also smeltered gold and lead. Distilled sulphuric acid was also produced and superphosphate was manufactured between the 1890s and 1920s. By the 1920s Wallaroo's population was 5,000.

The Narungga had a healthy population during the early years but the population has since dwindled. The smelters were closed down in 1923 due to low copper prices.

Geography and climate

Wallaroo exists in a semi-arid location, above Goyder's Line. Wallaroo is surrounded by scrub mulga. It is located on the foreshore and is 13 metres above sea level. Wallaroo has a dry Mediterranean climate with seasonal temperatures a few degrees above Adelaide's temperatures. The temperature ranges are similar to those of Kadina's and the weather patterns are similar to those of Kadina's and Adelaide's.

Wallaroo's surrounds are used for growing barley and other crops such as legumes, canola, chickpeas and field peas. Barley from the region nearer Kadina is considered to be some of the best in the world.

Economy

Wallaroo exports various agricultural products such as fertiliser. To this day, it still handles grains through conveyor jetties and silos. One of the large mining chimneys still stands, aptly named the ‘big stack’.

There is a Heritage and Nautical Museum with information about the ships that sailed to the area as well as a Heritage Walk around the town.

New housing developments have been started on the former area of Office and North Beach.

Wallaroo offers a number of places to stay including several hotels and a campsite. Most of the hotels have their own restaurants, and there are also a few cafes and snack bars in the town.

The popular Kernewek Lowender Cornish festival is held every odd year in May in Kadina (as well as Moonta and Wallaroo where each location holds the festival for one day).

The Lions Club of Yorke Peninsula Rail has recently started operating tourist services between Wallaroo, Kadina and Bute on some Sundays on the previously disused railway line. ["Yorke Peninsula Railway" Beckhaus, John Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, February, 2001 pp43-44]

The Sea S.A Ferry departs from Wallaroo daily towards Lucky Bay, near Cowell. [ [http://www.seasa.com.au/ Ferry Services - Sea SA ] ]

Governance

The District Council of the Copper Coast governs Wallaroo at the municipal level. Wallaroo lies in the state electoral district of Goyder and the federal electoral Division of Grey.

Famous people from Wallaroo

* Adam Goodes, born January 8, 1980 ( [ [http://footystats.freeservers.com/Archive/D-03-R25.html Footystats diary: Stab Kicks] ] )

ee also

*Copper Coast
*Kadina, South Australia
*Kernewek Lowender
*Moonta, South Australia

References

External links

* [http://www.coppercoast.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=164/ District of Copper Coast: Wallaroo]

* http://www.seasa.com.au/