Mannahill (gazetted as Manna Hill) is a town and locality in the Australian state 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 ...

. Mannahill is in the Northeast Pastoral district and is one of the easternmost settlements in South Australia. At the 2016 census, Mannahill had no people living within its boundaries.

History

Mannahill was located on the

stock route A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquially ...

that passed from the Barrier Ranges in New South Wales to the then rail head at Terowie. The village also supported early gold mining activity at Mannahill and at Wadnaminga to the south. Mannahill was surveyed in the mid-1880s as a water-supply and maintenance point on the

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

to Cockburn railway line which was completed in 1887. The railway station had been previously constructed in 1886. In September 1886 a deputation, consisting of

William Dening Glyde William Dening Glyde (c. 1826 – 4 January 1901) was a wheat merchant and politician in the colony of South Australia. Glyde was born the son of Elijah Glyde, a gentleman farmer of Waylord, Somerset and his wife Sarah, née Dening or Denning. ...

, M.L.C., Messrs. William Copley, William Henry Beaglehole, and

David Bews David Bews (April 1850 – 24 February 1891) was a newspaper editor, politician in colonial South Australia and Minister of Education. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1885 until his death in 1891, representing the ...

, M.P.s, H. Nackin, and A. Champion, met the Commissioner of Crown Lands (Hon. J. Horn) seeking £600 to encourage further gold mining at the Mannahill Goldfields. Shortly afterwards this article appeared in the Melbourne Argus on 22 October 1886 in the context of the goldrush to the Mannahill goldfields:

The journey is principally across saltbush plains and low undulating hills, lightly timbered with mulga and ti-tree. Water and food on the road are both scarce and of inferior quality. The distance from Adelaide to Petersburg (now Peterborough) is 150 miles. The first train leaves Adelaide about 8 o'clock in the morning, and reaches Petersburg at 3pm. A second train leaves Adelaide shortly before 5 in the evening, but only goes as far as Terowie 10 miles from Petersburg, reaching Terowie at midnight. There is one train a day from Petersburg to Mannahill. This journey covers a distance of between 80 and 90 miles, over flat uninteresting country. Provision has to be made by travellers for their own refreshments until Mannahill is reached. Here there is a large hotel, capable of accommodating about 50 people. In shearing time the proprietor does a fair trade, shearers and teamsters from the surrounding stations being the principal customers. The country around here possesses a very dreary outlook.

The village still has the Mannahill Hotel which was built in 1889. Mannahill Police Station is situated in Railway Terrace, Mannahill. Local weather records have been kept at Mannahill for 109 years.

Heritage listings

Mannahill has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Barrier Highway: Mannahill railway station * Antro Woolshed and Shearers Kitchen Mannahill entry sign

Governance

Manna Hill is located within the federal

division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who wa ...

, the state

electoral district of Stuart Stuart is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. At 323,131 km², it is a vast country district extending from the Spencer Gulf as far as the Northern Territory border in the north and the Queenslan ...

and the

Pastoral Unincorporated Area A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

of South Australia. As of 2016, the community within Manna Hill received

municipal services Municipal services or city services refer to basic services that residents of a city expect to the city government to provide in exchange for the taxes which citizens pay. Basic city services may include sanitation (both sewer and refuse), wate ...

from a South Australian government agency, the

Outback Communities Authority The Outback Communities Authority (OCA) is a statutory authority in South Australia (SA) created under the ''Outback Communities (Administration and Management) Act 2009''. It has been established to "manage the provision of public services and ...

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Far North (South Australia) Places in the unincorporated areas of South Australia