Mannanarie is a rural locality in the Mid North 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 ...

, situated in the Northern Areas Council. It was established in April 2001, when boundaries were formalised for the "long established local name". It comprises most of the cadastral Hundred of Mannanarie, apart from a northern section which lies in

Tarcowie Tarcowie (postcode 5431) is a town in South Australia. ''Tarcowie'' is an aboriginal word meaning "torrential waters". It was named by Governor Musgrave on 20 May 1875. At the , Tarcowie had a population of 205, 10 fewer than the 2006 census. T ...

and

Yatina Yatina is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the RM Williams Way about north of the state capital of Adelaide and about and respectively from the municipal seats of Jamestown and Orroroo. Yatina was pr ...

. The name stems from an Aboriginal word, "manangari", meaning "good string or cord", stemming from a local native plant useful for string making. The area was originally the territory of the

Ngadjuri The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north. Name Their ethnon ...

people. It was taken up as a pastoral run (the Mannanarie Run) by European settlers in the 1850s, until it was subdivided when opened for selection in 1871. The Hundred of Mannanarie was gazetted on 20 July 1871. In 1872, the township site was described as being "innocent of houses", with one commentator stating "naturally at present the work of settlement is very incomplete and unfinished" although "signs of agricultural activity are multiplying all over the place". The dwellings at that stage were "for the most part only temporary, consisting of a few sheets of iron, a tarpaulin, a deserted hut, or some similar simple shelter". In the 1870s, much of the district focused on wheat production, shifting away from previous attempts at grazing. A post office opened at Mannanarie in March 1874, and a Primitive Methodist church opened later the same year, with a store and private school also opening by 1875. A township was surveyed as a private subdivision in 1877. The Mannanarie Hotel was granted a license in 1879. An Anglican church and a new Primitive Methodist church were built in 1880, and a blacksmith, more stores and a school in 1882, and a racing club in 1891. The Anglican church closed in 1896 and was demolished, but the Mannanarie Institute (later Mannanarie Public Hall) was built on the site in 1912. The hotel's license was not renewed in 1917. In 1918, the township consisted of a "hall, school, post-office, three residences, store ndblacksmith". It was severely affected by the

Black Sunday bushfires The Black Sunday bushfires were a series of bushfires that broke out across South Australia on 2 January 1955. Extreme morning temperatures coupled with strong north-westerly winds contributed to the breakout of numerous fires in Adelaide Hills, ...

in 1955. Regular Methodist services ceased at Mannanarie in 1966, with the church disposing of the building in 1983. The school closed in 1970. The 1970 realignment of the Crystal Brook-Broken Hill railway line saw the new line routed through Mannanarie. In 2012, Mannanarie was described as "one of those tiny old towns where there's little more left than an ageing hall, an empty stone church, a long closed school and a couple of houses." The Mannanarie Public Hall was renovated for its centenary in that year, having become "increasingly decrepit" in past decades. It was part of the

District Council of Yongala The District Council of Yongala was a local government area in South Australia from 1883 to 1935, seated at Yongala. History The council was established on 8 March 1883 as the first local government in the area. It initially covered only the H ...

from 1888 to 1935, the

District Council of Jamestown The District Council of Jamestown was a local government area in South Australia, centred on the region surrounding the town of Jamestown. The District Council came into existence on 21 March 1935 following the amalgamation of 95% of the District C ...

from 1935 to 1997, and has been part of the Northern Areas Council since 1997.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Mid North (South Australia)

See also

References