Meningie is a town on the south-east side of Lake Albert in

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 ...

. It is on the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

near

The Coorong Coorong National Park is a protected area located in South Australia about south-east of Adelaide, that predominantly covers a coastal lagoon ecosystem officially known as The Coorong and the Younghusband Peninsula on the Coorong's southern si ...

and was surveyed in 1866. At the , the locality of Meningie had a population of 1118 with a median age of 51 while its town centre had a population of 852.

History

The word ''Meningie'' is derived from "the Aboriginal word 'meningeng' meaning 'place of mud'". The town was surveyed between March and June 1866 by W. Farquhar without any proclamation. Land was offered for sale on 23 August 1866. The name also was used for an "adjoining private subdivision of sections 104, 106/9 and 111" in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Bonney. A school was opened in 1869. A jetty was erected in 1867, with paddle steamers operating between Meningie and other ports on Lake Albert and Lake Alexandrina until 1927/1928. The town ceased to operate as a port in December 1936. Boundaries for the locality were created for the "long established name" on 24 August 2000 and which include the Government Town of Meningie. Meningie was the first place in Australia to have

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ...

broadband installed without using a

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

DSLAM A digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM, often pronounced ''DEE-slam'') is a network device, often located in telephone exchanges, that connects multiple customer digital subscriber line (DSL) interfaces to a high-speed digital co ...

. Agile Communications installed their own DSLAM in Meningie in October 2003, following on from having established a microwave network connecting to Adelaide in May 2001. Agile's associated

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

, Internode Systems offered services through this DSLAM.

Climate

Meningie experiences a

warm-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

, bordering on a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Csb/BSk''), Trewartha: ''Csbl/BSbl''); with warm, dry summers; mild, relatively dry springs and autumns; and mild winters with moderate precipitation.

Tourism

Meningie has attractions and amenities for travellers and is the closest township to the Coorong National Park. The Lake provides visitors with many scenic locations and places to fish, swim, kayak, jet ski and water ski / wake-board. Bird watchers also enjoy coming to see the range of rare and vulnerable wildlife that the Lake and wetlands support. There are local 4WD tracks, bush walking trails, and indigenous cultural journeys at Camp Coorong. The Meningie Cheese Factory Museum Inc. is wholly owned and operated by volunteers, and is both educational and a tourist attraction for the town. It is alongside the Cheese Factory Restaurant and the

Lake Albert Caravan Park A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

which is directly opposite. In May 2013, a statue of an ostrich wearing a saddle was unveiled to commemorate the story of a local Irish bushranger,

John Francis Peggotty John Francis Peggotty (1864–1899), also known as the Birdman of the Coorong, was an Irish bushranger in the colony of South Australia. He reputedly rode an ostrich and wore large amounts of gold jewellery while committing his crimes, although ...

, also known as "Birdman of the Coorong".

Media

Meningie is home to ''The Lakelander'', a regional community newspaper whose geographical coverage includes Tailem Bend, Salt Creek, Narrung, Coonalpyn and Tintinara. The newspaper, first issued on 25 June 1976, is published in a magazine format.

Sports

Meningie has a strong sporting culture, and has a well maintained oval, a fully watered, par 72, 18-hole golf course, bike tracks/ motocross jumps, sailing club, and also an airstrip for gliders, light aircraft and balloons. Meningie has a local

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

club, founded around 1890, known as the Meningie Bears. On 12 December 2007, Meningie player Brodie Martin was rookie listed to

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) club

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 ...

, becoming the first player from Meningie to be play for an AFL club. the league coach is Alex Scott. Other sporting clubs in Meningie include the Meningie Motorcycle Club, Lake Albert Golf Club, Meningie Sailing Club, Meningie Bowling Club, Meningie Pony Club, Meningie Netball Club, Meningie Aero Club and Lake Albert Gun Club. There is also a Meningie Garden Club, Meningie & Districts Lions Club, and several church groups that meet regularly.

Governance

Meningie is located within the federal division of Barker, the state electoral district of MacKillop, and the local government area of the

Coorong District Council Coorong District Council is a local government area in South Australia located between the River Murray and the Limestone Coast region. The district cover mostly rural areas with small townships, as well as part of the Coorong National Park. ...

References

External links

Meningie Cheese Factory Museum IncMeningie History
{{authority control Towns in South Australia