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Populating the Mid North: a History of Settlement
Interactive Maps
A timeline of Settlement with a 5-yearly progression of land surveys.
1854-2012 Construction of Railways
The development and decline of the railways.
The Development of Agriculture
Graphics, showing increase in productivity and land use, with early Newspaper articles
A number of articles related to the history of Guano
Extracts from the Parliamentary Act and Newspaper articles
1836-1970 History of Sheep Scab in SA
Excellent Article by W. Stephen Smith, B.V.Sc.,F.A.C.V.Sc. PDF file.
Infrastructure
1895-1999 The Electrification of the Mid North
Timeline and early Newspaper articles showing the development of the electricity grid in South Australia.
A brief description of the creation of Road Boards, etc, with an 1879 newspaper article on the condition of the Main North Road.
A history of the invention of the Telegraph and its introduction to Australia
Whims, wells and the Morgan - Whyalla Pipeline.
Articles from Early Newspapers & Books
1836-1842 Preliminary & Special Surveys
Extract from H. J. Scott's South Australia in 1887 describing how the British Government organised the sale of South Australia
Correspondence between an 'old' settler and a Glaswegian. The last paragraph is a gem.
1841 The first port, Trade, the Financial Crisis, etc:
Contemporary Newspaper article.
Contemporary Newspaper article.
A short extract from Anthony Forster's book 'South Australia, its Progress and Prosperity' 1866
Rainfall chart, maps and articles describing the creation of Goyder's Line of rainfall.
Newspaper article discussing the state of the government dam, a sign calling Warnertown Napperby, and the need for a school
Newspaper article describing the Hundred, the towns of Carrieton and Eurelia, and the problem of water.
Newspaper article describing the condition of the land on the first railway trip from Murray Bridge to Bordertown
1910 Early Farming on the Appila Plain
Newspaper article describing the settlement of the early agriculturalists.
1914 Petersburg. A Dip into History
Newspaper article describing the establishment of the town of Peterborough, the railways and the water.
- Maps+
1828-1874 Routes of Exploration
Contemporary alongside early maps
1850-1920 Progress of the State:
Pastoral, Alienated Land & Infrastructure
Interactive Maps
2012 Map of the Area covered by this Site
showing Terrain, Subdivisions, Roads, Towns, Services, etc
A timeline of Settlement with a 5-yearly progression of land surveys.
1854-2012 Construction of Railways
The development and decline of the railways.
- Documents+
1834-1917 Parliamentary Acts
Parliamentary Acts in PDF format
Books in PDF format
1829 Wakefield's Colonization Proposals
1839 John Stephens' South Australia
1841-2 Edward John Eyre's Journals
- Climate+
Interactive Graphics
Graphics courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology
Figures courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology
- Towns+
- Services+
Police
BankSA
Australia Post
Westpac
NAB
- Accommodation
- Galleries+
In the Hills East of Port Pirie
Watercolours by George Angus, 1846
Trees Alongside Pekina Creek at Orroroo
Abandoned farmhouses between Orroroo and Appila
A drive from Port Pirie over the Hills to the Beetalo Valley
Paddock beside the road between Pekina and Booleroo Centre
Aboriginal Fire Trees North of Port Germein Gorge Road - 1 and 2
Trees beside the road from Laura to Warnertown and Crystal Brook
Town Services
Orroroo-Carrieton Visitor Centre
24 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1480
Orroroo Swimming Pool
1 West Terrace ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1382
Police Station
Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1300
Sport & Recreational Clubs
Orroroo Bowling Club Inc
Sixth Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1036
Orroroo Football Club Inc
East Terrace ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1281
Orroroo Golf Club Inc
1 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1036
Education
Orroroo Area School
West Terrace ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1100
Medical
Orroroo Community Home Inc
43 Fourth Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1094 & 8658 1207
Orroroo & District Health Service
Pekina Road ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1200
Orroroo Health Centre
23 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1222
Jamestown Dental Surgery
23 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1112
Spencer Gulf Podiatry
Pekina Road ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1054
Accommodation
Blue Gum House Bed & Breakfast
Phone: 08 8658 6021
Commercial Hotel
30 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1272
Magpies Nest
13b School Terrace ORROROO . Phone: 0427 581 302
Nana's Home
12 Fifth Street ORROROO . Phone: 0427 581 302
Nuccaleena Cottages
Government Road ORROROO . Phone: 08 8648 4861
www.nuccaleenacottage.com.au
Orroroo Caravan Park
Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1444
Orroroo Hotel
6 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1018 . 0408 100 585
Orroroo Roadhouse
Railway Terrace ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1235
Banks
BankSA
16 Fifth Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1547
Butchers - Wholesale
Dew's Meats Pty Ltd
Cafes & Restaurants
Orroroo Cafe & Takeaway
22 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1016
Open 7 days
Churches
Uniting Church
Phone: 08 8658 1113
Cremation
Murray Gibb Funerals
20 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1103 . Fax: 8658 1022
After Hours
Geoff Gibb 8658 1013 . 0427 581 013
Murray Gibb 8658 1075 . Sam Gibb 0428 846 908
Internet Marketing Services
Froling Enterprises
Retail
Australia Post
19 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1020
IGA
18 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1092
Joan Gibb Flowers
7 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1088
M J Crafts
7 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1088
Orroroo Fruit Bowl
9 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1346
Monday - Friday 9 am - 5.30 pm
Orrorroo Hairdooz
Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 ????
Orroroo Hardware
14 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1202
Orroroo Meat Co
8 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1046 . 0447 072 236
Orroroo Newsagency
14 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1277
Orroroo Pharmacy
38a Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1548
Scooters - Mobility
Mid North Scooters
cnr. Fifth & Third Streets ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1262
Service Stations & Repair
Gibbs Garage
20 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1103 . Fax: 8658 1022
After Hours
Geoff Gibb 8658 1013 . 0427 581 013
Murray Gibb 8658 1075 . Sam Gibb 0428 846 908
Pro Motors
5 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1009
Repco Auto Repair
Phone: 08 8658 1103 Fax: 8658 1271
Stock Agents
Elders
Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1002
Windmills
Northern Windmills & Agencies
26 Second Street ORROROO . Phone: 08 8658 1206
Orroroo is a small town on the R M Williams Highway between Jamestown and Hawker. It is a town where people pause for refreshment and stay forever. It contains all the amenities necessary for comfortable living - shops, a hospital, doctor, pharmacy, sporting clubs, service stations......all set within wide tree lined streets of spacious house blocks for early stone and modern homes. Like the majority of the Mid Northern towns it is very clean, and very well maintained.
The surrounding countryside, just outside Goyder's Line of rainfall, has the arid beauty of the approaching outback, set within the soft foothills of the Southern Flinders Ranges.
Huge ancient gum trees thrive alongside the Pekina Creek which winds past the town, accessed by dirt roads, cycle tracks and walks past aboriginal rock carvings down to a small reservoir, behind Tank Hill with its magnificent lookout.
27 October 1880
THE WANTS OF ORROROO.
TO THE EDITOR.
Sir— Through the medium of your paper I should like to ventilate the wants of the important but much-neglected township of Orroroo. The most pressing of our wants is and has been the long-felt one of a Police Station and Court house.
At present the police are accommodated in a shanty composed of wood and iron, situated about half a mile from the township, for which the proprietor I believe receives an exorbitant rental, and when an arrest takes place you may readily imagine the amount of inconvenience and annoyance that has to be encountered in lagging the unfortunate to durance vile, let alone the walk again the poor trooper has to go through next morning when he brings his often too unwilling guest of the previous night before the Magistrate.
Besides, it is undesirable that a large township like this should be without the police resident in it. A Courthouse is almost as badly wanted as the former. This is the centre of a very large district, where a large number of cases come on for hearing on a full Court-day, and the majesty of the law ought to be dispensed in a more fitting place than the dining-room of a public-house.
The Government holds plenty of available land, so it is only a matter of erecting the necessary buildings. I may also mention that the present Local Court office consists of little better than a wooden box, which has done service in sundry places and at different times, and in different businesses.
I am, Sir, &c,
PRO BONO PUBLICO. Orroroo, October 21, 1880.
