Ooldea is a tiny settlement in South Australia. It is on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, west of

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

on the Trans-Australian Railway. Ooldea is from the bitumen Eyre Highway. Being near a permanent waterhole, Ooldea Soak, the area was frequented by Aboriginal peoples, and was the site of a camp for railway construction workers in the early 20th century, and the Ooldea Mission from 1933 to 1952.

History

Ooldea was an important camp during construction of the Trans-Australian Railway, as it is near a permanent clay pan waterhole surrounded by sand dunes, first discovered by Europeans when

Ernest Giles William Ernest Powell Giles (20 July 1835 – 13 November 1897), best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led five major expeditions to parts of South Australia and Western Australia. Early life Ernest Giles was born in Bris ...

used it in 1875. On 17 October 1917, the final link of the railway was completed at Ooldea, linking the western section from

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

to the eastern section to

. It was around this time that a severe drought led many desert people to migrate closer to the waterhole, increasing pressure on the limited water resources now largely reserved for use by trains. A centenary celebration was held at the siding in 2017. It was the site of a mission established by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) in 1933, which later included a children's dormitory housing around 60 children. In 1938 an Aboriginal reserve was created covering the land around the mission. The mission was visited twice by Norman Tindale and was home for many years to Daisy Bates, both concerned with understanding and protecting Aboriginal culture. A cairn commemorating Bates was designed by

F. Millward Grey Frederick Millward Grey (5 August 1899 – 1957), generally called "Millward Grey", was an English painter, etcher and art teacher who had a substantial career in South Australia. History Grey studied under Gerald Spencer Pryse, at the Central ...

and erected in 1953. In the 1950s, areas around Maralinga and Emu were used for nuclear testing by the British Government. Around this time the Australian Government resumed much Anangu land to be used for the

Woomera Rocket testing Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a di ...

. Aboriginal people in the area, who were

Pila Nguru The Pila Nguru, often referred to in English as the Spinifex people, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia, whose lands extend to the border with South Australia and to the north of the Nullarbor Plain. The centre of their h ...

(Spinifex people, of the Great Victoria Desert) were moved to the Ooldea Mission, which closed in 1952 due to internal divisions in the church. The people did not want to move from there, as they were used to ranging the desert, and had used the Ooldea Soak as a water source for many generations. The people were forcibly moved to a reserve established by the South Australian Government on a former sheep station at Yalata, where Yalata Mission was established by the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It counts 540 congregations and 30,026 members according to official statistics. It was created from a merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Ch ...

. This was an environment quite alien to them, being desert people. The town was dependent on the

Tea and Sugar Train The Tea and Sugar was the nickname for one of two dedicated Commonwealth Railways trains that were the sole source of provisions for the isolated settlements of the Trans-Australian Railway between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie ...

for the delivery of supplies until 1996 when the train was withdrawn. The longest dead straight section of railway line in the world starts west of Ooldea before

Watson Watson may refer to: Companies * Actavis, a pharmaceutical company formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals * A.S. Watson Group, retail division of Hutchison Whampoa * Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM research center * Watson Systems, make ...

at the 797 km post and continues to a point between Loongana and Nurina, a distance of . The historic

Ooldea Soak and Former United Aborigines Mission Site Ooldea is a tiny settlement in South Australia. It is on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, west of Port Augusta on the Trans-Australian Railway. Ooldea is from the bitumen Eyre Highway. Being near a permanent waterhole, Ooldea Soak, ...

and

Daisy Bates' Campsite Daisy, Daisies or DAISY may refer to: Plants * '' Bellis perennis'', the common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy, a European species Other plants known as daisy * Asteraceae, daisy family ** ''Euryops chrysanthemoides'', African bush daisy ** ' ...

are both listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in South Australia Nullarbor Plain Trans-Australian Railway

History

References

Further reading

External links