Coonawarra is a small town north of Penola 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 best known for the

Coonawarra wine region The Coonawarra wine region is a wine region centred on the town of Coonawarra in the Limestone Coast zone of South Australia. It is known for the Cabernet Sauvignon wines produced on its "terra rossa" soil. The name has been said to have orig ...

named after it. The

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

living in the area when Europeans arrived were the

Bindjali people The Bodaruwitj, also rendered Bedaruwidj or Potaruwutj, and referred to in some early sources as the Tatiara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. David Horton believed they were the group his sources referred to a ...

, The word ''coonawarra'' is reported to have been their word for honeysuckle, although this meaning has also been ascribed to Penola by the same source. An alternative origin to the name is still rooted in the local indigenous language: “''The name of John Riddock’s fruit colony, started by him in 1895. “Coon” being the aboriginal word for “big lip”, and “warra,” for “house,” and was applied by natives to a house in the locality in which a man with a remarkably big lip lived”'' Coonawarra was a station on the

Mount Gambier railway line The Mount Gambier railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Opened in stages from 1881, it was built to narrow gauge and joined Mount Gambier railway station, which was at that time the eastern terminus of a line ...

, which opened in 1887 and operated until it closed to freight on 12 April 1995. The Limestone Coast Railway tourist trains stopped at the station from Mount Gambier until 20 March 1999. Wynns Coonawarra - Cellar Door

The township of Coonawarra is a few hundred metres west of the

Riddoch Highway Riddoch Highway is a rural highway in south-eastern South Australia, designated as route A66 between Keith and Mount Gambier, with the remainder between Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell designated as route B66. It is named after John Riddoch, t ...

which passes along the ridge in the middle of the Coonawarra wine region. The historic Wynn's Coonawarra Winery in Memorial Drive is listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993' ...

Population

In the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incr ...

, there were 137 people in Coonawarra. 84.9% of people were born in Australia and 89.9% of people spoke only English at home.

References

Towns in South Australia Limestone Coast {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub