Darke Peak (formerly Carappee) is a small agricultural town located in central

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...

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 the population centre for the surrounding agricultural district and has become a minor historical

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

town. It is situated on

Barngarla The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Languag ...

lands. The J. C. Darke Memorial and Grave, commemorating early European explorer John Charles Darke, is located near the township and is located 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. ...

. The town has a number of limited facilities, including accommodation, grocery and fuel supplies. 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 ...

, Darke Peak had a population of 175.

History

The area was in the general vicinity of Nauo and

land. The town takes its name from the

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

John Charles Darke, who was injured in a

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

attack by

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

while he was climbing nearby Waddikee Rock on 24 October 1844. Waddikee Rock is a sacred site of the

Barngarla people The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Languag ...

. He died the next day and was buried at the foot of the Rock. Governor Grey expressed a wish that some landform in the region of the

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...

should be named to honour him. In 1865 surveyor Thomas Evans who was performing a trigonometrical survey of the

Gawler Ranges The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba and Wudinna. The ranges are cover ...

and named the high mount, 'Darke's Peak'. In 1909, another surveyor, W.G. Evans, reported that he had found bones in a grave and was satisfied they were the remains of Darke. Darke's grave and monument are located on the western side of the range, still standing as a memorial to the first European who explored this area. The memorial was erected by the SA Government in 1910. The township of Darke Peak was originally proclaimed ''Carappee'' in 1914. The town was renamed in 1940 after the peak that bears John Charles Darke's name as further honour to the explorer. A school opened in the town in 1917. Darke Peak includes Darke Range, Caralue Bluff, Carappee Hill Conservation Park and Carappee Hill in the surrounding area, with Carappee Hill known for being the highest exposed

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

rock mass on

Economy

Darke Peak is predominantly a

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

community, with surrounding areas producing

cereal crops A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

, with

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

also produced as a backup for when the region experiences poor

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

. Local

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s have been farming the area for a number of generations, predating the establishment of the town. The farming areas are very similar to other towns across the central

, growing much the same crops under similar

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

conditions.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

is a minor component of the towns economy, with Darke's Grave, The Darke Range and various tourist drives the main attractions. Tourist information is present at The Peak Stop shelter.

Facilities

Darke Peak has a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

which dates back to the early days of the settlement and offers accommodation and meals.

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

ing facilities in the town include

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

courts, oval, playground, swimming pool and a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

course, with some sports teams competing in local leagues.

Governance

Darke Peak is located in the local government area of District Council of Cleve, the State

Electoral district of Flinders Flinders is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after explorer Matthew Flinders, who was responsible for charting most of the state's coastline. It is a 58,901 km² coastal rural elector ...

and the Federal Division of Grey.

References

External links

Eyre Peninsula TourismCouncil Site
{{authority control Towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula