__NOTOC__ Mount Schank is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and south of the municipal seat of Mount Gambier in the south-east of the state. Messers Arthur's sheep station at Mount Schank by George Angas

Messers Arthur's sheep station at Mount Schank by George Angas

British colonisation of the area began in 1842 when brothers Edward and Fortescue Arthur (sons of

Sir George Arthur Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet (21 June 1784 – 19 September 1854) was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras from 1814 to 1822 and of Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) from 1823 to 1836. The campaign against Aboriginal Tasmani ...

) established the Mount Schank Station. The Arthur brothers were in continuous conflict with the local Bungandidj people from the time of their arrival. Many of their shepherds absconded, horses were speared and hundreds of their sheep were taken. The brothers had to do much of the shepherding work themselves and often engaged in close combat with "the Blacks". On one occasion Fortescue was slightly wounded after being speared. After capturing and chaining up a Bungandidj man, Edward forced him to reveal the location of their camp. An armed group of settlers was then organised by Edward and the Aboriginal camp was raided and destroyed, with six or eight Bungandidj being killed. The Arthur brothers could not sustain the effort of keeping the sheep station and with ruinous financial losses they sold out to Robert Leake of nearby Glencoe station in 1844. The Clarke family then owned Mount Schank station for around 140 years before it was bought in 2005 by former Chairman of the AFL, Ron Evans. In 2017 the property was valued at around fifty million dollars. Part of Mount Schank became a private sub-division of land within the cadastral unit of the

Hundred of MacDonnell 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

. Boundaries were created on 31 October 1996 for the “long established name.” Mount Schank consists of land adjoining both sides of the

Riddoch Highway Riddoch Highway is a rural highway in south-eastern South Australia, designated as route A66 between Keith and Mount Gambier, with the remainder between Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell designated as route B66. It is named after John Riddoch, t ...

between Mount Gambier to the north and

Port MacDonnell Port MacDonnell, originally known as ''Ngaranga''Christina Smith, The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language', Spiller, 1880 is the southernmost town in South Australia. The smal ...

to the south. The locality includes a number of geological features consisting of the dormant volcano, Mount Schank, which is located on the eastern side of the Riddoch Highway and a number of water-filled sinkholes such as the Little Blue Lake located on land to the west of the Riddoch Highway. The majority land use within the locality is agriculture with an area located between the Riddoch highway and the western side of the dormant volcano is zoned for industrial purposes. The following places within Mount Schank are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register - Mount Salt Limestone Track and Mount Schank state heritage area The

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...

which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Mount Schank had a population of 249 people. Mount Schank is located within the federal division of Barker, the state electoral district of Mount Gambier and the local government area of the District Council of Grant.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Limestone Coast