Thackaringa is a rural locality, civil parish, railway stop and cattle station in Far Western New South Wales.

Location

Thackaringa is located at 141.0623°, −32.0245°, 489.263 km from Sydney and between Cockburn, South Australia on the border with South Australia and by Silverton in the north-east. Thackaringa is at an altitude of approximately 204m.

Geography

Thackaringa is arid and sparsely settled with the economy derived mainly from broad acre agriculture, though some mining occurs. Thackaringa is on the Silverton Tramway and Thackaringa railway station operated from 2 January 1889 until 12-Jan-1970. The nearest town is Cockburn, South Australia.

Geology

''The northern part of the district is cut by a large retrograde shear zone containing large garnets and refractory minerals.... There are many other small mineral deposits found in the Thackaringa district where quartz veins and/or granitic rocks have crystallised including the Thackaringa davidite belt and pods of large rutile crystals.''

Climate

Thackaringa has a Köppen climate classification of BWh and

BWk The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

History

The Parish is part of the traditional lands of the

Wiljali The Wilyakali or Wiljaali are an Australian aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional lands centred on the towns of Broken Hill and Silverton and surrounding country. Today the ...

people. The area was opened by Europeans due to the discovery of minerals in the 19th century. There was a grazing property, known as Thackaringa Station, and the first discovery of silver ore in the area was made there in 1875, by Julius Nickel who was digging a well. In 1888, the population of Thackaringa was between 200 and 300 people. Silver, lead, feldspar and beryl are still extracted in the area today.Plimer, I.R. and Blucher, I.D. (1979) Wolfeite and barbosalite from Thackaringa, Australia. Mineralogical Magazine 43, 505–507.

References

{{coord missing, New South Wales Populated places in New South Wales Parishes of New South Wales Mining towns in New South Wales Ghost towns in New South Wales