Wool Bay (formerly Pickering) is a locality and a former government town in the

Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...

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 ...

on the east coast of southern

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strai ...

. It is located between Stansbury and

Coobowie __NOTOC__ Coobowie is a town in the Australian state of South Australia near the south-eastern tip of Yorke Peninsula. Coobowie was proclaimed in 1875. Coobowie comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "wild fowl water". At the 2011 census, Coobowi ...

, approximately 220 kilometres from Adelaide by road, but only just over 60 km due west across

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

Description

The beach of Wool Bay features a permanently moored pontoon which is maintained by the local progress association, several sun shelters and a concrete boat ramp. A number of marine animals inhabit the waters of Wool Bay; dolphins and sting rays can frequently be seen close to shore, and fur seals often feed off the rocky outcrop between the second and third coves past the main bay in the early evening.

History

The town was originally called Pickering when it was established on 24 August 1876. It is on cliffs overlooking a protected bay. In 1882 a jetty was built, initially to roll wool bales out to the ships. The locals named the jetty as Wool Bay jetty and by 1940, the name of the town had also changed to Wool Bay. For many years, the town functioned as a wool, grain and lime exporting port.

History of lime burning at Wool Bay

Between 1900 and 1910, six lime kilns were built on the cliffs overlooking the bay. Lime was burnt to create

quicklime Calcium oxide (CaO), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term "''lime''" connotes calcium-containing inorganic ma ...

, an ingredient in mortar and brick-making. The kilns were one of the largest and most modern facilities in the state when they were established by David Miller & Sons, and opened in 1910. The Wool Bay lime kilns closed in the 1960s and most of the kilns and associated infrastructure were demolished in the 1970s. One kiln remains and was listed along with the jetty under the name of

Wool Bay Lime Kiln & Jetty Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

on 28 November 1985. Limestone is still mined at

Klein Point Klein Point is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located about south of Stansbury in the locality of Wool Bay on Yorke Peninsula. It is the site of a port facility established to handle shipments of limestone for Adelaide ...

north of the township of Wool Bay, and shipped from a separate jetty to the

Adelaide Brighton Cement Adbri, formerly Adelaide Brighton Cement, is an Australian manufacturer of cement, lime and dry blended products. Adbri operates manufacturing and distribution facilities in South Australia, the Northern Territory, and New South Wales. Associat ...

facility near

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

Wool Bay jetty

Community lobbying for a jetty commenced in 1879: the people believed that deep water in the bay would provide safer anchorage than other nearby locations. Eventually in 1882 construction of a jetty was undertaken by Frank George. Originally 155 metres long, it provided a depth of 2.1 metres at low tide. When lime burning became an established industry at Wool Bay the jetty was extended by a further 18 metres in anticipation of increased use. During this time, a steamship service dropped off and picked up provisions three times a week. When bulk-handling of grain was introduced at Port Giles in 1970, Wool Bay's importance as a port dwindled. Today, the jetty at Wool Bay is popular with anglers. It is known for producing good catches of squid and

tommy ruff The Australian herring (''Arripis georgianus''), also known as the ruff, tommy ruff, or Australian ruff, is one of four Australasian fish species within the genus ''Arripis''. It closely resembles its sister species, the Australian salmon, althou ...

throughout the year while

Garfish The garfish (''Belone belone''), also known as the garpike or sea needle, is a pelagic, oceanodromous needlefish found in brackish and marine waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Black, and Baltic Seas. Description Th ...

, mullet and

snook Snook, Snooks, or Snoek may refer to: Fishes * Family Centropomidae (snooks) ** Common snook * Family Esocidae (pikes) ** '' Haplochromis insidiae'' ** Northern pike * Family Gempylidae (snake mackerels) ** Blacksail snake mackerel or black ...

and other species can be caught in season. The jetty is also used by recreational scuba divers, drawn by the population of

leafy seadragon The leafy seadragon (''Phycodurus eques'') or Glauert's seadragon, is the only member of the genus ''Phycodurus'' and is a marine fish in the family Syngnathidae, which includes seadragons, pipefish, and seahorses. It is found along the sou ...

s that inhabit the waters beneath the jetty.

Governance

Wool Bay is located in the federal

Division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who wa ...

, the state

electoral district of Narungga Narungga is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It was created by the redistribution of 2016, and was contested for the first time at the 2018 South Australian sta ...

and the local government area of

Yorke Peninsula Council The Yorke Peninsula Council is a local government area in South Australia. Its boundaries include most of the Yorke Peninsula. The council seat is at Maitland; the council also maintains branch offices at Minlaton and Yorketown. History It ca ...

References