Yongala is a small town located in the state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and is located along on the Clare-Peterborough Road (B79), 238 km (148 mi) from

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, the state capital.

Etymology

According to the Manning index, the name comes from an Aboriginal phrase ''yongla-cowie'' — "good water place", although he gives another reading as "brother". Suggestions that it could mean "broad water" may be discounted.

History

The Hundred of Yongala was proclaimed in the County of Dalhousie in 1871, one of the first of the twelve hundreds to be declared in that county, opening up the area for closer settlement and small-scale cultivation. The town was proclaimed on 23 May 1876. Within five years there was a population of 353 as developers anticipated the connection of a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. Instead, the railway was built through the nearby town of

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. The SS ''Yongala'' launched in 1903 and owned by the

Adelaide Steamship Company The Adelaide Steamship Company was an Australian shipping company, later a diversified industrial and logistics conglomerate. It was formed by a group of South Australian businessmen in 1875. Their aim was to control the transport of goods be ...

was named after the town. It sank in a storm in 1911 off the coast of

Townsville, Queensland The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

and its wreck site is protected by the Commonwealth '' Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976''.

Geography and climate

Yongala has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BSk''). It is situated on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

of and winter snowfalls can occur. The town holds several records for the lowest minimum temperature in South Australia: including its all-time record low of on 20 July 1976, in addition to the record low temperatures in South Australia for the months of May, June, August and September.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia