Riddoch Highway is a rural highway in south-eastern
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 ...
, 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
John Riddoch (27 October 1827 – 15 July 1901) was a pastoralist and politician in the State of South Australia, brother and business partner of George Riddoch.
History
Riddoch was born at Turriff, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and arrived in V ...
, the first white settler landholder and
vigneron
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by winery, wineries or :Wine companies, wine companies, where their work includes:
*Cooperating with viticulture, viticulturists
*Monitoring the maturity of grape ...
in
Coonawarra.
Route
Riddoch Highway branches from
Dukes Highway
Dukes Highway is a 190 kilometre highway corridor in South Australia which is part of the link between the Australian cities of Adelaide and Melbourne. It is part of the National Highway (Australia), National Highway system spanning Australia, a ...
at
Keith
Keith may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Keith (surname)
* Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949)
* Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...
and travels south through
Padthaway,
Naracoorte,
Penola,
Nangwarry,
Tarpeena, and
Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...
to
Port MacDonnell and nearby
Cape Northumberland
Cape Northumberland is a headland in the southeast of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the southernmost point of South Australia. It is located about from the town of Port MacDonnell, 28 kilometres south southwest from the munici ...
.
It passes through
grazing
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...
and
cereal
A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...
-growing land,
horticultural
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
and
vineyards
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...
(within the following wine regions -
Padthaway,
Wrattonbully
Wrattonbully is a wine region in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia's South East, between the Padthaway and Coonawarra regions, between the Riddoch Highway and the Victorian border.Longbottom et al., 2011, page 20
The Wrattonbul ...
,
Coonawarra and
Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...
), and
plantation timber
A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...
, predominantly
pinus radiata
''Pinus radiata'' ( syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California and Mexico (Guadalupe Island and Cedros island). It is an evergreen conifer in the fa ...
.
The
Royal Automobile Association of South Australia has rated the highway at 5/10.
Major intersections
See also
*
Highways in Australia
Highways in Australia are generally high capacity roads managed by state and territory government agencies, though Australia's federal government contributes funding for important links between capital cities and major regional centres. Prio ...
*
List of highways in South Australia
South Australia is distinctly divided into two main areas; the well watered and populated southeastern corner and the arid outback for the rest of the state. As a result, highways are concentrated mainly in the southeast. The Eyre Highway to ...
References
External links
Riddoch Highway webpage on Ozroads website
{{Road infrastructure in South Australia
Highways in South Australia
Roads in South Australia