Peterborough is a town in the mid north 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 ...

, in

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

country, just off the

Barrier Highway Barrier Highway is a highway in South Australia and New South Wales, and is designated part of route A32. The name of the highway is derived from the Barrier Ranges, an area of moderately high ground in the far west of New South Wales, through w ...

. At the , Peterborough had a population of 1,419. It was originally named Petersburg after the landowner, Peter Doecke, who sold land to create the town. It was one of 69 places in South Australia renamed in 1917 due to anti-German sentiments during World War I.

History

The first settlers in the area purchased land from the government in 1875. The first building in the town was constructed four years later. Settler Peter Doecke transferred his land to J H Koch in 1876, who found out in 1880 that the land would be the site of a railway junction. He subdivided it and sold for £1700, after failing to get £500 per acre for it in 1879. By 1880 a hotel and post office had been erected, followed by a school in 1883, and a town hall in 1884. At the prompting of mayor W. Thredgold, a newspaper, the ''Petersburg Times'' was founded in 1887 by Robert M. Osborne, became ''The Times and Northern Advertiser'' in 1919, under the longterm proprietorship of W. H. Bennett and survived as a family business until 1970.

Heritage listings

Peterborough has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 14 Bourke Street: Koch House * 2 Callary Street: Bishop's Palace and Convent, Peterborough * 2 Jervois Street: Peterborough Police Station, Cells and Courthouse * 77-79 Kitchener Street: Peterborough Power Station * Main Street: Peterborough Rotunda * 105-107 Main Street: General Store, Peterborough * 106 Main Street Peterborough YMCA Hostel * 108 Main Street:

Peterborough Town Hall Peterborough Town Hall is a municipal building in Bridge Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. It is a locally listed building. History The current structure was commissioned to replace the 17th century guildhall in Cathedral Square. ...

* 193-195 Main Street: Peterborough Hotel * 227-231 Main Street: Capitol Theatre, Peterborough * Railway Terrace: Peterborough Roundhouse and Turntable * Tripney Avenue: Peterborough Gold Battery and Office

Government

Peterborough is the seat of the District Council of Peterborough. It is the largest town in the council area. Peterborough is in the state electorate of Stuart and federal Division of Grey. Peterborough at one point in time had its own town council ( Corporation of the Town of Peterborough) surrounded by the district council.

Railways

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 ...

sat on the intersection of the East-West railway linking

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South A ...

and Broken Hill, and the North–South railway linking

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

eventually to Alice Springs via

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as b ...

, both

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 ...

() lines between 1917 (when the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the east ...

opened across the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

) and 1937 (when a more direct south–north route bypassed the

Peterborough–Quorn railway line The Peterborough–Quorn railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Located in the upper Mid North of South Australia, it opened from Peterborough to Orroroo on 23 November 1881, being extended to Quorn on 22 ...

by connecting Port Pirie to Port Augusta). The

Peterborough railway station Peterborough railway station serves the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. It is down the East Coast Main Line from . The station is a major interchange serving both the north–south ECML, as well as long-distance and local e ...

is still in operation and was formerly a stop for the weekly ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, like ...

'' train. The line from Port Pirie and Jamestown arrived in 1881, followed shortly after by the line from Terowie in the south and north to

. The line to Broken Hill was completed in 1887. Peterborough was the home town for

Bob the Railway Dog Bob the Railway Dog (also known as "Terowie, South Australia, Terowie Bob") is part of South Australian Railways folklore. He travelled the South Australian Railways system in the latter part of the 19th century, and was known widely to railwa ...

who is remembered by a bronze statue located in the ''Main Street''. In 1970, the east–west line was converted to standard gauge (), and the line south of Peterborough to Terowie to broad gauge (). Thus Peterborough became one of three, triple-gauge railway junctions in Australia. The others being Gladstone and

, all on the same railway corridor. The broad-gauge connection to Adelaide, via Burra, was severed in the late 1980s. The narrow-gauge line north to Quorn last carried freight in 1980, and was removed, between Eurelia and

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

in the mid-1980s. Grain trains ran as far as Orroroo into the mid-1980s. In its later years it was used by tourist trains from Steamtown as far as Eurelia. Steamtown ceased operations in 2002, however the roundhouse is still used to display its coaches and locomotives. The District Council, with funding from the three tiers of government and recovery of the Eurelia line, have subsequently established the

Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre The Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre ("Centre") is a static railway museum based in the former railway workshops located in Peterborough, South Australia. Peterborough was the administrative and service centre for the Peterborough Division of ...

, with SA's first Sound & Light Show.

Nova Systems Space Precinct

In early 2022, the Nova Systems Space Precinct was officially established on a site located just outside of Peterborough. Australian defence engineering and technology group Nova Systems originally purchased the site in 2019, when it contained one ground station terminal belonging to the site's previous owner, Tyvak. The site now hosts several ground stations on behalf of

Tyvak Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems was an American company designing and building satellites. It started as a designer, builder and provider of nanosatellite and CubeSat space vehicle products and services for government and commercial customers. ...

(US), RBC Signals (US), and Leaf Space (Italy). Up to 75 more satellite dishes are planned, each with 16 antennae.

Media

The town was home to the ''Petersburg Times'', subtitled: ''Orroroo Chronicle and Northern Advertiser'', (12 August 1887 – May 1919). The ''Times subtitle later evolved to ''Terowie, Yongala, and Northern Advertiser,'' and finally ''Northern Advertiser.'' In 1919, the overall name was changed to '' The Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia,'' in response to the government's wish to remove Germanic placenames. Peterborough was also home to the short-lived newspaper, ''Petersburg Enterprise and Northern Advocate'' (20 January – 2 August 1912), which was printed by William John Myers and Walter A. Wade. Another short-lived publication was ''Frith's Bulletin'' (15 April 1913), a monthly magazine published by F.H. Frith, but discontinued after only one issue. A third one at this time was the ''Sporting Telegraph'' (3 May – 26 July 1913), which was printed by W.H. Bennett for Pritchard Morgan Hall. More recently, it was also home to the ''Peterborough Times'' (2003-2006), which later became part of the ''Mid North Broadcaster'', a publication released from 2006 to 2013 in Burra. The ''Broadcaster'' was formed by the merger of struggling local newspapers, the ''Peterborough Times'', the '' Burra Broadcaster'' (1991-2006), and the ''Eudunda Observer''. It was owned by the Taylor group, with editorial control via the ''

Murray Pioneer The ''Murray Pioneer'' is a weekly newspaper published since 1892 in Renmark, South Australia. It is now owned by the Taylor Group of Newspapers. History The forerunner of the newspaper was the ''Renmark Pioneer'' (9 April 1892 – 4 July 191 ...

''. Its distribution included the towns of Burra, Eudunda, Jamestown and Peterborough. In mid-2021, a Temporary Community Broadcasting Licence (TCBL) was issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to Peterborough Community Broadcasting Incorporated. In early 2022, 5PBS commenced broadcasting on 91.1 MHz, servicing Peterborough and surrounding towns including Oodla Wirra, Terowie and Yongala.

Education

Peterborough High School was opened in 1927 and caters for students from years 8 to 12.Peterborough High School
Retrieved 2010-05-05 Peterborough Primary School was opened in 1883 and caters for students from years reception to 7. St Joseph's School is a reception to Year 7 Catholic primary school which was founded by Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph.

Gallery

File:Winter Sunrise in Peterborough.jpg, Winter Sunrise in Peterborough

References

External links

SteamtownDistrict Council of PeterboroughDistrict Council of Peterborough TourismPeterborough Art & Cultural Festival
{{authority control Towns in South Australia Mid North (South Australia)