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Fowlers Bay, formerly known as Yalata, is a bay, town and locality in the Australian state of
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 ...
located about north-west of the state capital,
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 ...
. The town is located on Port Eyre, at the western end of the larger Fowlers Bay. It was named Yalata after Yalata station, established in the 1860s and stretching from the Nullarbor Plain across to near
Streaky Bay Streaky the Supercat is a fictional superhero cat that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #261 (February 1960) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. He is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Su ...
on the
Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...
, whose
homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
was located on the hill nearby. The name
Yalata Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the ea ...
now belongs to a small
Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
community further west, which was also situated on station land. Situated on the Nullarbor Plain, Fowlers Bay was once an active port and a gateway to the western reaches of the continent, but fell into decline in the 1960s and 1970s. However a revitalised tourist industry started bringing more tourists to the town from the 1980s onwards. The
southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
s that frequent the Great Australian Bight were a target of whalers in the past, but now bring sightseers. Large sand dunes are prominent on the southern side of the town, and have been migrating to cover parts of the town over the past century. At the
2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...
, the localities of Fowlers Bay and Coorabie shared a population of 51.


History


Aboriginal connections

The town site of Fowlers Bay lies on the traditional lands of the
Wirangu people The Wirangu are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Western coastal region of South Australia. Name Daisy Bates stated that the Wirangu ethnonym was composed of two words: ''wira'' (cloud) and ''wonga'' (speech). Language Wirangu is usual ...
. The Mirning, Kokatha, and Maralinga Tjarutja people, some of whom lived at the Yalata Mission during the 1950s after being displaced, also have spiritual connections to the country. The Mirning people have dreaming stories connected with the whales, in which the people call the whales from the edges of the
bight The word is derived from Old English ''byht'' (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”). In modern English, bight may refer to: * Bight (geography), recess of a coast, bay, or other curved feature * Bight (knot), a curved section, slack part, or loo ...
. The word ''yalata'' is said to be from an Aboriginal language, meaning " oyster place" (or "
shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
").


European exploration

The coastline around Fowlers Bay was first mapped in 1627 by François Thijssen, a Dutch sea captain, on his ship t Gulden Zeepard'' (''Golden Seahorse''). The bay was named on 28 January 1802 by
Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...
after his first lieutenant,
Robert Fowler Robert Fowler may refer to: * Robert Fowler (archbishop of Dublin) (1724–1801), bishop in the Church of Ireland * Robert Fowler (artist) (1853–1926), English artist * Robert Fowler (athlete) (1882–1957), American marathoner * Robert Fowler (Au ...
, as he was reconfirming the Dutch mapping of the coast and naming features along the way, in the ''
Investigator Investigator may refer to: Occupations Government and law * Detective, a person who investigates crimes, can be a rank and job in a police department, state or federal employee, or a civilian called a private detective * Inspector, a police rank ...
''. He found a couple of islands charted by Thijssen and named the group Nuyts Archipelago. Edward John Eyre set up base camp here from November 1840 during his epic journeys across the Nullarbor Plain, receiving supplies at Eyre’s Landing. By this time the area was well known to American and French whaling ships; Eyre documents seeing whalers in the area. A government ship landed at the bay to bring him supplies.
Whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
s visited the port in the 1800s, and whales were brought onto the beach for processing.


Settlement and naming

In the 1860s, the first
pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...
s were established by William Swan and Robert Barr Smith, forming Yalata station (they called it Yatala run), a farming property whose boundaries extended from the Head of the Bight ( Nullarbor Plain) in the west to Point Brown near
Streaky Bay Streaky the Supercat is a fictional superhero cat that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #261 (February 1960) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. He is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Su ...
in the east. The station's first buildings were on the beach at Port Eyre. The sheep station's homestead, now a ruin, was built in 1880 on a high hill around inland from Fowlers Bay. The huge sheep station ran up to 120,000 sheep at times. An unofficial post office was opened in 1865, and the first three postmasters were also policemen. The town was first surveyed in 1867, and resurveyed in March 1890 and proclaimed as the "Town of Yalata" on 10 July 1890. The Nomenclature Committee recommended its renaming to "Tarombo", the name used by local Aboriginal people for a nearby well, to avoid confusion, but its name was changed to Fowler's Bay on 19 September 1940 to agree with the bay and to prevent dual naming. (
Yalata Yalata is an Aboriginal community located west of Ceduna and south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the ea ...
now refers to a nearby township.)


Telegraph line and expansion

From 1875 to 1877, three sections of the East-West Telegraph Line were built: from
Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
to Port Lincoln; from there to Fowlers Bay, and from Fowlers Bay to near the WA border at Eucla. The third section was undertaken by the Posts and Telegraph Department itself and supervised by
R. R. Knuckey Richard Randall Knuckey (26 September 1842 – 14 June 1914), often referred to as R.R. Knuckey and popularly known as Dick Knuckey, was a surveyor on the Overland Telegraph Line in central Australia from 1871 to 1872. He later became chief off ...
. A supply base was built at Fowlers Bay to provide equipment and provisions along the line, and the line between Adelaide and Perth became operational on 8 December 1877, spanning . Sometime in the late 19th century a kangaroo hunter named Tom Kent, son of Benjamin Archer Kent, after whom the Adelaide suburb of Kent Town is named, created a cluster of cottages which was informally named "Kent Town". The families of fellow hunters lived there, but there were only ruins left by 1892, and all of the houses were later covered by sand (see below). In 1910–1911 additional allotments were added, bringing the number from 42 to 62 and in 1990, a further ten allotments were created from reclaimed samphire swampland. In 1927 the telegraph line was closed, and in 1967 the post office was shut down, contributing to the decline of the town. Some houses were abandoned.


Renaming

Boundaries for the locality of Fowlers Bay which include the town were created on 8 February 2001.


Recent upgrades

The jetty (built in 1896 and extended in 1907, 1914 and 1948) was upgraded in 2002, with solar lighting added in 2003.


Location, governance and demographics

The town is located on Port Eyre, at the western end of the larger Fowlers Bay. It is located within 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 Flinders and the Pastoral Unincorporated Area of South Australia. In the absence of a local government authority, the community in Fowlers Bay receives municipal services from a state government agency, the Outback Communities Authority. At the
2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...
, the localities of Fowlers Bay and Coorabie shared a population of 51.


Facilities and attractions

Fowlers Bay does not receive reticulated power or water and there are few services; there are
solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s on every roof, residents use rainwater and water piped from a source in the adjacent sand dune, and manage the town's rubbish themselves. Visually the town is dominated by large
sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
s on its southern side, which have become higher in recent years. After a very quiet period in the 1960s and 70s, the town has become so popular that over 8,000 visitors stay at the caravan park each year, and numbers are boosted by around the same number of
day-tripper A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location that ...
s who often come to watch the southern right whales in the bay over winter. The old police station and courthouse, dating from 1883, has been converted into
holiday apartment A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term ''vacation rental'' is mainly used in the US. Other ...
s. The ruins of the homestead of the Yalata station can be found several kilometres from the town. There is a small cemetery on the outskirts of the town.


Heritage listings

Fowlers Bay contains one place listed on the South Australian Heritage Register, the Whale Bone Area and the Point Fowler Structure. There are also some other restored historic buildings, such as the courthouse, the Fowlers Bay Institute, and the harbour master's house.


Sand encroachment

The large
sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
s near Fowlers Bay have been moving closer to the town, and had already by the 1970s covered the Kent Town dwellings up to the last
chimney top A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are ...
. By the 21st century, both Kent Town and the High Street have been covered. The dunes have moved approximately towards the new main road into the town in the decade preceding 2021. It is feared that climate change might be exacerbating their movement owing to the added stress on the vegetation caused by aridity. The
CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
has estimated that rainfall will decline by around 30 per cent in the region by 2100, which will impact the plant life significantly and affect their ability to hold the dunes. For several years before and including 2021, residents of the town have been working to stabilise the dunes by planting new vegetation such as
boobialla ''Myoporum insulare'', commonly known as common boobialla, native juniper, is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Australia. It is a shrub or small tree which grows on dunes and c ...
trees and other native plants, and the South Australian Government approved funds to help pay for the revegetation of the ridge that causes the greatest risk to the town.


Climate

Fowlers Bay has a
cool 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 ''BSk''), with moderating influences from the Great Australian Bight. Summers are typically warm to very warm and almost rainless, although when hot northerly winds from the interior occur extreme heat may result. Winters are pleasant, although often windy, and damp though not wet. Three-fifths of the meagre annual rainfall of around typically occurs between May and August, but only three months have ever exceeded : June 1890 with , August 1915 with and May 1956 with .Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Monthly rainfall – Fowlers Bay
/ref> The wettest year has been 1890 with and the driest 1959 with . The highest recorded temperature was and the lowest .


See also

* Fowlers Bay Conservation Park


References


Notes


Citations


External links


Fowlers Bay
(Nullarbor Net) * {{authority control Coastal towns in South Australia Bays of South Australia Places in the unincorporated areas of South Australia Great Australian Bight