Clinton (also known as Port Clinton) is a locality in the Australian 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 ...

located on the east coast of

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, 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 ...

overlooking the north west head of

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 ...

about west of the state capital 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 ...

and about north-east of the municipal seat of Maitland.

History

The Hundred of Clinton was proclaimed on 12 June 1862 over land with an area of . The town was surveyed during March 1862 by A Cooper and land offered for auction on 14 August 1862. The town was named by

Dominick Daly Sir Dominick Daly (11 August 1798 – 19 February 1868) was a British colonial public servant and administrator during the 19th century, who held positions in British North America, History_of_Tobago, Tobago and South Australia. Born in I ...

, 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 ...

after Henry Pelham F.P. Clinton, the Duke of Newcastle who served as "the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

from 1859 until his death in October 1864." The port was surveyed in 1862, with a jetty being erected in 1863. Surveys and closer settlement by farmers soon followed, along with land clearing of the mallee woodland. The first European occupiers were leaseholder pastoralists. In 1854 in the northern parts of the Hundred of Clinton, W. & A. Rogers leased at an annual rental of ten shillings per square mile. In 1860, near the centre of the Hundred, T. & W. Day leased . This was an important and busy port in the 1860s and 70s, being a transfer point for goods and passengers travelling between

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, 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 t ...

and the copper mines at

Wallaroo Wallaroo is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies, that are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug ''walaru'' wi ...

and Moonta. That was despite the shallowness of the beach, which closed the port to larger vessels during low tide. Clinton Beach

On 28 November 1878, the District Council of Clinton was established. Clinton began a gradual decline after 1878 when the railway between Wallaroo and Adelaide was completed. The jetty was dismantled in 1916. Boundaries for the locality were created on 27 May 1999 for the "long established name." The name ''Port Clinton'' was reported in 2013 as being a "variant" name and as being the "incorrect name for town."

Present day

Clinton, "the Gateway to the Eastern Yorke

Peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

", is a 1.5 hour drive from the capital of South Australia, Adelaide. Having a boat ramp, Clinton is popular for trailer boating. It has a beach for children, along with recreational fishing and crabbing areas. Raking for blue swimmer crabs is done on the extensive mud flats at low tide. As a result, since the 1950s the township has attracted the construction of beach and holiday houses. Accommodation in the town is varied and includes various holiday rentals. Shopping is available at the Local General Store and in the township of

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns#Scotland, Three Towns'. Ardrossan is loca ...

a 23 km down the road. The rural land surrounding Clinton is primarily used for dry grain farming of wheat and barley, with some sheep grazing.

Notable residents

George McLeay George McLeay (6 August 1892 – 14 September 1955) was an Australian politician and senior minister in the Menzies Liberal government. Early life McLeay was born in Port Clinton, South Australia and educated at Port Clinton Public School u ...

, Minister in the

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

government and member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

* Sir John McLeay, longest serving

speaker of the Australian House of Representatives The Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the Chairperson, presiding officer of the Australian House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The counterpart in the upper house is the President of th ...

and former

Lord Mayor of Adelaide This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of the City of Adelaide, a local government area of South Australia. The first local government in Australia was formed on 31 October 1840 with the election of nineteen councillors to the new Adel ...

References

External links

Yorke Peninsula website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, South Australia Coastal towns in South Australia Yorke Peninsula Gulf St Vincent

History

Present day

Notable residents

See also

References

External links