History and Heritage
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Museums
Visit our numerous museums that will take you on a journey from our early days of mining in the copper triangle, the great maritime history of windjammers and shipwrecks in maritime museums, from early pastoral leases to modern day agriculture, visit the plane of an aviation pioneer, absorb yourself in a military museum or tour a currency and banking museum - with a short but colourful history, Yorke Peninsula has something to intrigue every visitor.
Historic Ports
From the early days of settlement, Yorke Peninsula's ports were full of life. Great windjammers and ketches loaded up with cargos of wool, lime, gypsum, grain and general supplies that traded as far away as England.
Some of our ports still trade today exporting grain and dolomite around the world in huge sea faring vessels, however most of our historical ports and jetties are now alive with recreational fishers and holiday makers enjoying the 'catch of the day'.
Historic Jetties
 | Historical Jetties Brochure (PDF 639KB) |
Yorke Peninsula is steeped in maritime history, with ketches and windjammers trading cargo loaded from our jetties and wharfs. Shipping was the main mode of transport for local produce for many decades, creating many colourful tales surrounding our jetties.
Today they still abound with life, full of holiday makers and recreational anglers trying their luck.
Yorke Peninsula's Historical Jetties Brochure depicts many of these interesting tales.
Shipwrecks
| Historical Shipwrecks Brochure (PDF 1.04MB) |
Yorke Peninsula's coastline is littered with shipwrecks and the fascinating history of their demise. Yorke Peninsula's Historical Shipwrecks brochure details the history of many of the shipwrecks.
There are also two waterproof maritime trail booklets available-
- The Wardang Island Maritime Heritage Trail, which has 8 shipwrecks within 10 miles to explore in clear shallow waters making it ideal for novice shipwreck divers.
- The Investigator Strait Maritime Heritage Trail is between Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island and features 26 shipwrecks dating from 1849 to 1982.
These booklets are available from The Farm Shed Museum & Tourism Centre, Kadina and the Yorke Peninsula Visitor Information Centre, Minlaton or the Department of Environment and Heritage.
Lighthouses
Surviving earthquakes, fires and constant erosion from the wind and
sea - Yorke Peninsula's lighthouses have withstood the test of time.
Guiding shipping safely through wild seas and around treacherous
coastlines, they have been an integral part of Yorke Peninsula's history.
Agriculture
Pastoral development commenced in 1846 but it wasn't until 1860 that the explosion of interest in agriculture began.
Today you will find a little part of Yorke Peninsula in most glasses of Aussie beer, as this is one of the richest wheat and barley regions in the world.
In 1876 the laborious backbreaking work of clearing mallee stumps became a practical proposition with the invention of the Stump Jump Plough.
Aviation History - Captain 'Harry' Butler
Captain 'Harry Butler's' life began in Yorketown on Yorke Peninsula, as a young man he later travelled to England to join the Royal Flying Corps. Harry excelled in his field and become an aviation pioneer who led the way as a fighter pilot and instructor before returning to make the first mail delivery across the sea in South Australia to Minlaton, on August 6th 1919.
Mining
Copper was discovered near Kadina in 1859, creating a mining boom and the 'Copper Coast', which consists of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo was born. Steeped in mining history you can climb aboard the tiny tourist train and weave your way through the Moonta mines. Tour the Moonta Mines Museum for a fascinating view into mining life and history.
Gypsum was mined in Inneston, a town at the 'toe' of the peninsula in what is now known as Innes National Park. The park was named after William Innes who discovered gypsum in commercial quantities in the 1880's. A horse drawn railroad ran from the Inneston mining complex to the Stenhouse Bay jetty, where bagged gypsum was loaded onto ketches for transportation. Many remnants of the mining era remain in Inneston as well as the heritage listed Stenhouse Bay jetty.
Lime has been utilized since the early days of settlement in its raw form, burnt and marine limestone. Farmers formed rock walls to divide their paddocks instead of expensive fencing and in lean times burnt lime for shipment to Birkenhead in Adelaide for cement manufacture. As the demand for lime grew, kilns were established at Stansbury and Wool Bay. Marine limestone was also used for flux and was shipped to the Wallaroo and Port Pirie smelters. Klein's Point at Stansbury is the principal supply of limestone for Adelaide Brighton Cement, and supplies approximately 2 million tonnes of raw limestone per year.
Salt production was first recorded in 1864 when Lake Fowler was leased and mined for butcher's salt that was shipped to Adelaide. Edithburgh and Yorketown boomed as salt production continued to increase peaking at 57,000 tons in 1918, the Edithburgh factory finally closed it doors in 1970. Today, Cheetham Salt produce 150,000 - 200,000 tons of salt a year at Price.
Dolomite is still mined today at the Ardrossan One Steel site. Just south of Ardrossan is a huge man-made hill with a fantastic lookout on the top overlooking Gulf St Vincent. If you walk to the other side of the lookout and look inland you can gaze into the huge hole where the dolomite is mined. Large ships still come into the Ardrossan sea port to transport the dolomite all over the world.