Booleroo Centre is a town in the southern

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...

region of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The town is located in the Mount Remarkable District Council local government area, north of the state capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. At the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, Booleroo Centre had a population of 516.

History

In 1853 a pastoral lease was taken out by partners

William Spence Peter William Spence Peter (1818 – 23 May 1891) was a pioneer pastoralist of South Australia and New Zealand, and a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council from 1868 to 1891. Early life and arrival in Australia Peter was born in Perthshire, Sc ...

and George Elder who then pioneered a sheep station which they named the Booleroo run. The name was derived from a local Aboriginal word. Sources vary on its meaning with suggestions including "plenty" or "soft mud". In 1856 W.S. Peter, who also owned Gum Creek Station near Hallett, became a brother in law to

George Charles Hawker Sir George Charles Hawker (21 September 1818 – 21 May 1895) was a South Australian settler and politician. Early life Hawker was born in London, the second son of Admiral Edward Hawker and his first wife, Joanna Naomi, '' née'' Poore. He w ...

Bungaree Bungaree, or Boongaree ( – 24 November 1830), was an Aboriginal Australian from the Guringai people of the Broken Bay north of Sydney, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader.Barani (2013)Significant Aborig ...

and Anama Stations. George Elder was a brother of

Alex Elder Alexander Russell Elder (born 25 April 1941) is a former Northern Irish footballer, who played for Burnley and Stoke City as well as the Northern Ireland national team. He was said to play a very mature game for someone with so little experien ...

, founder of

Elders Limited Elders Limited, formerly known as Elder, Stirling & Co., Elder Smith and Co. and Elder Smith & Co. Ltd, is an Australian agribusiness that provides agricultural goods and services to primary producers in Australia. History Early history (183 ...

. On 28 February 1861 the Booleroo run was profitably auctioned when W.S. Peter decided to settle in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

region of New Zealand as a stud sheep breeder. The purchaser was former Londoner

Philip Levi Philip Levi (1 February 1822 – 13 May 1898) was an early settler and pastoralist of South Australia. Born at Brixton Hill, Surrey, England, Levi arrived in South Australia at the age of sixteen, aboard the '' Eden'' in 1838 with his parent ...

, whose pastoralism interests eventually included Moolooloo, North-West Bend, Gum Creek, Mount Margaret, among others.

Land reforms Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

of the 1870s saw many pastoral leases resumed by the government in order to subdivide the land for closer farming settlement, the Booleroo run being among them. The pastoralists were to be replaced by grain farming agriculturalists. The Hundred of Booleroo was officially proclaimed in 1875 however no town was surveyed at this time. A town site in the hundred was surveyed by the colonial government in 1878, but the early settlers established the town elsewhere. The town's location at the centre of the Hundred of Booleroo led to the name Booleroo Centre. The historic Booleroo Whim well on the Willowie-Booleroo Road is listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. ...

Media

Booleroo Centre was home to two separate, but short-lived publications: * ''Booleroo Times'' (1 February 1912 – 24 July 1913) – published at the ''Crystal Brook Times''. * ''Booleroo Magnet'' (24 March 1914 – 27 April 1915) – published by W.H. Bennett. In April 1915, the title was briefly extended to ''The Booleroo Magnet and Wirrabara and Melrose Advocate''.

Present day

The major industry in Booleroo Centre today is grain production with

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

and lamb production also important. The town is also the service centre to the surrounding agricultural district. Facilities in the town include a range of shops and Uniting,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

churches. Booleroo Centre is also host to large grain receival facilities and fertiliser depots. The Booleroo Centre Hotel, the local

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, was established in 1883. Regional services offered in Booleroo Centre include the Booleroo Centre District Hospital, part of the Mid North Regional Health Service, providing health services to the town and a large catchment area with a population of 3,000. The Booleroo Centre District School enrolled 225 students from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

to Year 12 in 2007. The school draws students from surrounding towns such as Wirrabara, Melrose and Wilmington. Homeschooling also plays a role within the community, with several local students being educated in this way during recent years. Booleroo steam and traction-small

]Booleroo Centre is home to th
Booleroo Steam & Traction Preservation Society
The society, developed from an annual rally first held in 1969, now maintains one of Australia's largest collections of

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

s and steam engines along with farm and other steam equipment requiring over of undercover storage space. The rally is held at the town oval the last Sunday in March.

Transport

Booleroo Centre was serviced by the Wilmington railway line from 1910 until 1969. In 1884 the portion of railway between Gladstone and Laura was opened, but did not reach to Booleroo Centre. Coaches took travellers to the railhead. Agitation went on for many years until, in 1910, the first railway to Booleroo Centre was opened by the

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Aust ...

. The new (narrow) gauge line ran 24.25 miles (39 kilometres) between Laura and Booleroo Centre. The line was extended to Wilmington in 1915. The railway greatly facilitated the shipment of locally produced bagged wheat through Gladstone to export ports such as Port Pirie. In 1910 there were 100,000 bags of wheat stacked at Booleroo. It also provided valuable passenger services for many decades, until improvements in road transport began to replace rail, resulting in ceasing passenger service in 1969 and eventual closure in 1982.

Notable people

* Bob Schulz (1923–2008), fashion designer *

Vern Schuppan Vernon John Schuppan (born 19 March 1943) is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Schuppan drove in various categories, participating in Formula One, the Indianapolis 500 and most successfully in sports car racing. Although he consider ...

, motor racing driver, 1983 Le Mans winner

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Flinders Ranges