The City of Port Augusta is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

located at the northern end of

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...

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 ...

. It is centred on the town 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 ...

. The city was the site of South Australia's main power supplier, the Port Augusta powerhouse, located on the coast of the Spencer Gulf.

History

The Port Augusta region is a natural crossroads and aborigines have been trading in the area for 40 000 years.

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

settlement began in the 1840s and the town grew from a pastoral service centre to a railway town with the construction of the overland telegraph line, then the commencement of the railways towards

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

and

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 ...

. The municipality was created as the Corporate Town of Port Augusta on 3 November 1875. A number of smaller separate municipalities were subsequently proclaimed in the Port Augusta area, including the

Corporate Town of Davenport The Corporate Town of Davenport was a local government area in South Australia that existed from 1887 to 1932 on land now located within the suburb of Port Augusta. A proposal to create a new local government area consisting of suburbs "an ...

(25 August 1887), the

Corporate Town of Port Augusta West The Corporate Town of Port Augusta West was a local government area in South Australia centred on the suburb of Port Augusta West. It was gazetted on 6 October 1887. They met in council chambers in Loudon Road, which ceased to be used by its ...

(6 October 1887), and the

District Council of Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta ** District Council of Davenport, former local gover ...

(5 January 1888, later called Woolundunga). The municipalities in the area were amalgamated on 16 February 1933, with Port Augusta West, Davenport and part of Woolundunga being merged into a larger Port Augusta municipality. It became the City of Port Augusta with the granting of city status in late 1964. The

Port Augusta Town Hall The Port Augusta Town Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall at 54 Commercial Road, Port Augusta. It was Port Augusta's seat of local government from 1887 to 1983. History The town hall was built in 1886-87, to a design by Alfred Barham ...

was built to house the municipality in 1886–87. It was severely damaged by fire in 1944, rebuilt in 1946, but was vacated by the City in 1983 after the completion of the new Port Augusta Civic Centre. The former town hall subsequently fell into disuse, and was advertised for sale by the state government in June 2015 awaiting redevelopment. Another major industry was the production of

electric power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions o ...

, with three coal-fired

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

s burning coal mined at Leigh Creek, the first of which was completed in 1954. The last of these ( Northern Power Station) was shut down on 9 May 2016. Demolition and rehabilitation of the site was completed in May 2019.

Localities

The district also includes two closely neighbouring areas, one of which is a significant town. This means there are two towns in the district: *

Blanche Harbor Blanche Harbor is a natural harbour between Mono Island and Stirling Island of the Treasury Islands archipelago, located n the Western Province of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands a ...

* Commissariat Point *

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

* Miranda * Mundallio *

Port Augusta West Port Augusta West is a suburb of Port Augusta, South Australia, Port Augusta, South Australia. However, it has a separate early colonial history to Port Augusta, because it is on the Eyre Peninsula, while the rest of Port Augusta is on the east ...

* Port Paterson *

Saltia ''Saltia'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae, endemic to the high mountains of East Africa. Species Two species have been described, both collected by George Salt in 1948: *'' Saltia acrophylax'' Tams, 1952 (Kilimanjaro) *'' Saltia ...

(part) *

Stirling North Stirling North is a town located east of Port Augusta in the Australian state of South Australia. The now abandoned Marree railway line forms the official border line separating the two towns. Primarily, Stirling North is a satellite town to Po ...

Wami Kata Wami Kata is a suburb in the Far North region of South Australia, situated within the City of Port Augusta. It was named and its boundaries created in February 1994, named for the Aboriginal community. The name means "head of the snake" in Pi ...

* Winninowie * Woolundunga (part)

Council

The City of Port Augusta has a directly elected mayor.

Mayors of Port Augusta

References

External links