Cleve is a small agriculturally based town on Central

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. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

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 ...

. It is 226 km southwest of

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

and 143 km north of

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...

. At the 2006 census, Cleve had a population of 738. The town has its origins in the 1850s, with the town established some twenty years later. Cleve is a hub for farmers and suppliers on the Eyre Peninsula and hosts a

field day Field day may refer to: * For the armed forces use and its derivatives, see wiktionary:field day * Field day (agriculture), a trade show * Field Day (amateur radio), an annual amateur radio exercise * Field Day (band), a Canadian pop-punk band fro ...

held each second year to offer the newest in farming equipment and stock.

History

The first European settlers in the area were the three McKechnie brothers; James, Peter and Donald who arrived in 1853. The first European woman arrived in 1862; a wife of one of the brothers. They established a

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

run 43 km from the current day site of Cleve and continued living there until 1869, when Peter and Donald died, leaving James to return to his homeland of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The run was sold to George Melrose in 1873, and he had great initial success, shearing 30 000 sheep in his first year. This was not to last though, as dingos decimated his flock in the following years. Melrose was also the first to report

rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

on the

, an indicator of the troubles they would cause in the future. In 1878, the current site of the town was inspected and surveyed, in anticipation of creating a new town to serve the growing wool and crop industries which were rapidly expanding. During this period, Arno Bay became the port for the products grown in Cleve and also underwent expansion. The town was officially

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 6 March 1879 in a square grid design meant to imitate the city of

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 main street and 1st to 5th street were neatly enclosed by North, East, South and West

Terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

s, and outside of this lay parklands, a school reserve and a golf course. The new town was named after Cleve House, the county seat in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England of the Snow family, cousins of Sir

William Jervois Lieutenant General Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois (10 September 1821 – 17 August 1897) was a British military engineer and diplomat. After joining the British Army in 1839, he saw service, as a second captain, in South Africa. In 18 ...

who was the

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Aust ...

at the time. The Cleve school was opened seven years later in 1886, and would go on to become a recognised instructor in

dryland farming Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water. Drylands are zones where precipitation is balanced by evaporation from surfaces and by transpiration by plants (evapotranspiration). The United Nations Environment Program defines drylands as tropical ...

. Cleve has maintained its position as a leading producer of both grain and wool since the establishment, with other ventures such as

copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...

in the area having little success.

Heritage listings

Cleve has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Cleve-Cowell Road: Sims Farm Homstead * off Cleve Road: Yeldulknie Cottage * off Cleve Road: Yeldulknie Weir

Geography

Cleve is located in the central east

, a large triangular body of land in South Australia. Many of the areas geological and geographical features are responsible for the use of the land and types of natural vegetation present. The landscape has been heavily modified since European settlement and now is predominantly farming land, with patches of native scrub in places. The Cleve Hills are a major

topographical Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

feature of the region and have areas of preserved vegetation in their bounds.

Geology and Pedology

The town of Cleve lies on an ancient bedrock that has undergone high grade

metamorphism Metamorphism is the transformation of existing Rock (geology), rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or Texture (geology), texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of , and often also at elevated ...

, with the area characterised by

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

es and

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

s in a formation known as the Hutchison Group. These strata were laid down in the

Proterozoic The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozo ...

, some 600-2300 million years ago. The area underwent deformation during the

orogeny Orogeny () is a mountain-mountain formation, building process that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is tectonic uplift, u ...

events that shaped

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 ...

. Just south of Cleve marks an

unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

with recent

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

and colluvial

sediments Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

of the Piedmont Group which were deposited less than 1 million years ago. The soils around Cleve are heavily tied to the geology of the area, with Cleve having a clay overlain by

sandy loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

soils in the hills and on most slopes in the area. This soil is often referred to as 'Cleve soil' or 'Nobby's Hill's soil'. The soils are highly productive when they are deep enough to hold enough moisture, but are particularly susceptible to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

, especially in steeper inclines. There is also a strong

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

component to much of the areas soils, especially away from the slopes.

Climate

Cleve has a hot mediterranean climate ( Köppen: Csa/Csb); with very warm, dry summers and mild, somewhat wetter winters. Temperatures vary throughout the year: with average maxima between in January to in July; and average minima between in February to in July. Annual precipitation is somewhat low: averaging , between 108.4 precipitation days- primarily concentrated in winter. The rainfall is generally not enough to cause any flooding, and certainly not within the bounds of the town. The Cleve hills, however are the

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

s for Salt Creek, and localised flooding in the valleys has been reported. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on the 24th of January 2019 to on 13 June 1972.

Flora and Fauna

The most common

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

association in the area is classified as ''Open Scrub ( Mallee/ Broombush)'', which is typical of most of the mid eastern

, consisting of '' Eucalyptus socialis'' (summer red mallee), ''

Eucalyptus incrassata ''Eucalyptus incrassata'', commonly known as the lerp mallee, yellow mallee, ridge fruited mallee or rib fruited mallee, is a species of Mallee (habit), mallee that is Endemism, endemic to southern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with ...

'' (ridge fruited mallee) and '' Eucalyptus leptophylla'' (narrow-leafed mallee), with a '' Melaleuca uncinata'' (broombush) understorey. The southern Cleve

hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as mountains. Hills fall und ...

show a greater variety of vegetation, with ''Open Scrub (Mallee/

Saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

)'', typically containing '' Eucalyptus porosa'' (mallee box), ''

Eucalyptus gracilis ''Eucalyptus gracilis'', commonly known as yorrell, snap and rattle, red mallee, white mallee or kong mallee, is a species of Mallee (habit), mallee or small tree Endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is found in south-western New South Wales, ...

'' and '' Eucalyptus oleosa'' with an understorey of ''

Atriplex vesicaria ''Atriplex vesicaria'', commonly known as bladder saltbush, is a species of flowering plant of the family ''Amaranthaceae'' and is endemic to arid and semi-arid inland regions of Australia. It is an upright or sprawling shrub with scaly leaves ...

'' (bladder saltbush). Low Open Forest associations of sheoaks (''

Allocasuarina verticillata ''Allocasuarina verticillata'', commonly known as drooping sheoak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a small dioecious tree that has drooping branchlets up to long, the l ...

'') with a varied understorey of

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

species, native

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

es and

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

species are also found in the hills, as are the Blue gum

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s which occur predominantly in the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s of the Cleve Hills and along creeklines on the adjacent plains. The native

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

associated with the region consisted of

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

and

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, i ...

s which were commonplace until land clearing and the introduction of pest species such as

and

foxes Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

Economy

The economy of Cleve is heavily tied to agriculture, and therefore rainfall. The most common products of the areas farms are grain of a number of cereal crops and wool from sheep. Due to Cleve having such a low rainfall,

techniques have been applied with success, and the town school integrates the techniques in agriculture courses. The town has a number of retail outlets including supermarket, clothing, shoes, art & craft supplies, banking facilities, professional &

medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

services,

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

, service industries, post office, rural supplies, hotel, mechanical & RAA services,

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

, garden centre and a pharmacy.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

plays a very minor part in Cleve, with a number of events including the 'Eyre Peninsula Field Days' and a variety of other annual events attracting mainly farming minded tourists. A number of attractions within the town including murals, parks and Ticklebelly Hill which overlooks Cleve.

Community

Cleve has a number of community based facilities and groups established, relating to health, education, sport and culture. In health, Cleve has a modern 20 bed accredited Australia Council & Health Care Standards hospital servicing Cleve District with residential

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

s &

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

with a number of visiting specialists. The ''Eyre Peninsula Field Days'' are a three-day-long field day held in Cleve every second week of August in even numbered years. Other annual events include the agricultural show and Christmas pageant

Media

The area's regional newspaper, the '' Eyre Peninsula Tribune'', has its headquarters on Main Street in Cleve. It has been published weekly since March 1911, and services the surrounding region.

Education

The town is well served in education, with childcare, an

area school In New Zealand and Australia, an area school is a school that takes children from kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part o ...

and

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

campus (a tiny room on main street). ''Cleve Area School'' is a major agricultural school in South Australia, specialising in dry land agriculture. In 2005, some students scored 20/20 in agricultural subjects. The school won the South Australian Westpac Landcare Education Award in 2005 for its exemplary integration of good land management practices into its Agriculture curriculum. Cleve Area School was an Australian finalist in the Westpac Landcare Education Awards for 2006.

Sport

Cleve has a wide array of sporting facilities and clubs with

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, football,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

- scrapes,

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

, pistol, pony & hunt club, softball, swimming pool and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

all provided for as well as a dartboard in the drop in centre. A number of these sports compete in local leagues as well.

Demographics

In the 2006

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, there were 738 persons usually resident in Cleve: 49.6% of which were males and 50.4% were females. Of the total population in Cleve 0.4% were

Indigenous persons There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. It was found that 19.3% of the population usually resident in the town were

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

aged between 0–14 years, and 33.1% were persons aged 55 years and over. The median age of persons in Cleve was 41 years, compared with 37 years for persons in Australia In the , 93.5% of people were Australian citizens, 3.6% were born overseas. 90.8% of people stated they were born in Australia. Other common responses within Cleve were:

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

1.9%,

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

0.5%,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

0.5% and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

0.4% (3 people). Update: The 3 Ethiopians have since moved to Cowell. Further Update: The 3 Ethiopians have now moved back. The most common responses for

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

affiliation were

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost a ...

26.0%, No Religion 15.9%,

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

15.1%,

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

13.1% and

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

9.6%.

Government

Cleve is today the base of the District Council of Cleve under the mayorship of Roger Nield. It is in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

electoral district of Flinders Flinders is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after explorer Matthew Flinders, who was responsible for charting most of the state's coastline. It is a 58,901 km² coastal rural elector ...

and the federal

Division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, 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 ...

Transport

Cleve does not lie on either of Eyre Peninsula's main two highways, but lies on the intersection of the aptly named Arno Bay-Cleve and Cowell roads. Both are sealed, although alternate ways may be taken on unsealed dirt roads. As for getting to Cleve, automobile is the most common option, although a regular

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

(Stateliner) service operates between Cleve and a number of other Eyre Peninsula towns including

. Cleve can be accessed from Adelaide using these services as well. The option of catching the SeaSA- SeaSA Ferry Website
/ref> Ferry across to Lucky Bay from Wallaroo is running again cutting travel times.

References

External links

Eyre Peninsula Field DaysEyre Peninsula TribuneCleve Area School
{{authority control Towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula