Halbury is a former

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...

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 ...

, west of the

Clare Valley The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...

, halfway between

Balaklava Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Cri ...

and Auburn. 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 ...

, Halbury had a population of 363.

Etymology

Halbury is situated in the

Hundred of Hall The Hundred of Hall is the cadastral unit of hundred on the northern Adelaide Plains centred on the town of Halbury. It is one of the 16 hundreds of the County of Stanley. It was named in 1860 after parliamentarian George Hall (1851-1867). T ...

, named after politician George Hall.

Railway

Halbury was a stop on the Port Wakefield railway line, an isolated narrow gauge horse-drawn railway connecting to the port at Port Wakefield from

and Hoyleton. Halbury was where this railway crossed the Gulf Road from Auburn and Burra to the port. The

Gladstone railway line William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

ran from

Hamley Bridge Hamley Bridge is a community in South Australia located at the junction of the Gilbert River (South Australia), Gilbert and Light River (South Australia), Light rivers, as well as the site of a former railway junction. Named by the government of ...

through

to Blyth and further on into the

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 ...

of the state. The line was originally

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

, but was converted to broad gauge in 1927. Due to various reasons, this particular line became obsolete and the tracks were dismantled in the late 1980s. After Halbury, the railway line veered to the north-east, travelling on to the towns of Hoyleton, Kybunga and further north to Blyth. The railway siding at Halbury was opened in 1870 and closed to all goods and parcels traffic in 1981. Station brand: "HY". Station code number 1274. Railway distance from Adelaide: 74 miles, 1 chain.

Shamus Liptrot Cycling Trail

The former Halbury to Balaklava railway line was re-opened as a 12 km low-gradient cycling trail in 2016, named after elite junior local cyclist Shamus Liptrot who died in 2011, several years after suffering serious injuries in a cycling accident. The trail extends from Balaklava to Halbury, Shamus's home town. The trail is the central link of the 26 km Copper Trail, which extends from Leasingham in the Clare Valley, to Port Wakefield at the head of the Gulf St Vincent.

Railway Signboard Project

In 2022, to commemorate the railway history of the area, a group of Christian railway enthusiasts reinstalled an exact replica of the original Halbury railway station sign. The text on the plaque affixed to the sign reads: ''"This is the site of the Halbury railway siding, 74 Miles, 1 Chain. 1870 – 1981. Sign made and reinstalled Easter 2022 by J. Leigh and E. Green, Railway Infrastructure Services. This sign would not be here if not for Lorraine Zaharuiko, 1984-2021. John 3:16-21."''Halbury Railway sign plaque 18Apr2022.jpg

Government

The township of Halbury in the west of the locality is in the

Wakefield Regional Council Wakefield Regional Council is a local government area in the Yorke and Mid North region of South Australia. The council seat is at Balaklava. Geography The Wakefield Regional Council includes the towns and localities of Avon, Balaklava, Bar ...

local government area. The hillier east of the locality is part of the

District Council of Clare and Gilbert Valleys The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council is a local government area located in the Yorke and Mid North region of South Australia. The council was founded on 1 July 1997 with the amalgamation of the District Council of Clare, the District Council of ...

Gallery

File:Former railway yard, Halbury.JPG, Former railway yard site File:Halbury War Memorial gate, Halbury.JPG, War Memorial gate File:Hellfire Creek ford, Halbury.JPG, Ford at Hellfire Creek File:Company well memorial, near Halbury.JPG, Copper Trail monument, east of Halbury File:Halbury Railway 01 18April2022.jpg, The new Halbury railway station sign, as installed File:Halbury Railway sign plaque 18Apr2022.jpg, The plaque affixed to the new railway station sign

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in South Australia