Bowmans (; postcode: 5550) is a locality in
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 ...
's
Mid North
The Mid North is a region of South Australia, north of the Adelaide Plains and south of the Far North and the outback. It is generally accepted to extend from Spencer Gulf east to the Barrier Highway, including the coastal plain, the southern ...
. 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 ...
, Bowmans had a population of 203.
It is named after R and C Bowman who were "pastoralists in area."
Traditional occupants
According to the ''Manning Index of South Australian History'' the "
Nantuwwara ictribe of some 25 to 30 once occupied the country from the
River Wakefield, north to
Whitwarta and west to
Hummock Range
The Hummocks or Hummock Range is a range of hills in the northern Mount Lofty Ranges extending north from the eastern edge of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. It is traversed by the Copper Coast Highway immediately west of where it passes arou ...
", an area which would encompass the modern localities of Bowmans,
Whitwarta,
Goyder,
Beaufort,
Nantawarra and
Mount Templeton. The term Nantuwara (or Nantuwaru) is considered to be a specific name for the northern hordes of the
Kaurna
The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...
people. Stone implements thought to have been used by the Nantuwara people were discovered at sites adjoining the banks of the lower reaches of the River Wakefield and added to a
South Australian Museum
The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultu ...
collection curated by
Harold Cooper in the 1960s.
Transport and industry
Bowmans is passed by the
Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line and Port Wakefield-Auburn Road (route B84). There is a railway spur servicing
Balco Australia hay
Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...
processing and sidings servicing grain receival bunkers operated by
Viterra
Viterra began as a Canadian grain handling business, the nation's largest grain handler, with its historic formative roots in prairie grain-handling cooperatives, among them the iconic Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
Viterra Inc grew into a global agr ...
. The main industries in the area are cereal, hay and sheep farming.
This road was one of the early country roads in South Australia, as the ''Great Western Road'' for delivering copper from the mines at
Burra to the port at
Port Wakefield. It was used for this purpose from 1848 until 1857 when a railway from
Gawler
Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...
to
Port Adelaide provided a more attractive transport option.
From 1870, Bowmans was a station on the
Port Wakefield-Hoyles Plains tramway which ran inland from the port along a similar alignment to the road. This was built to narrow gauge and initially used horses instead of steam locomotives.
In 1923, the railway from Adelaide north towards
Port Pirie
Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South A ...
was built as broad gauge and crossed the Port Wakefield line at Bowmans. Both lines passed through the station but there was little infrastructure provided for transhipping goods or passengers. The
break of gauge
With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...
was solved in 1927 when the Western System, including the Port Wakefield railway, was converted to broad gauge as well.
The Port Wakefield railway has been closed and removed. The
Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line has been converted to standard gauge and rerouted to bypass the station and township. The alignment of the southern entrance to the station is now the spur to service the
Bowmans Rail
Bowmans Rail is an Australian railway operator hauling freight in South Australia.
History
Bowmans Rail was founded as Bowmans Intermodal in 2003. It was a joint venture between hay processor and exporter Balco, and logistics operator Patrick Co ...
intermodal terminal.
See also
*
List of cities and towns in South Australia
References
External links
Wakefield Regional Council
Towns in South Australia
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