Cross Roads is a locality at the northern end of the

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 ...

and a satellite village to the town of Moonta on its east. It is located in the

Copper Coast Council The Copper Coast Council is a local government area in the Australian state of South Australia located at the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula. It was established in 1997 and its seat is in Kadina. Description The Copper Coast Council is lo ...

Description

The modern locality was established when the name and boundaries were selected in January 1999. Land use within Cross Roads is divided between cultural heritage conservation and

primary production In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through ...

. The southern half of the locality is part of a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

known as the Moonta Mines State Heritage Area where any use and associated built development must meet statutory planning objectives ensuring the promotion, conservation, enhancement and maintenance of the state heritage area's 'historic character and cultural significance'. The eastern half of the locality is zoned for "agricultural production and the

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

of stock on relatively large holdings."

History

The village originally grew around the intersection of the Wallaroo and Kadina roads. The Wheal Hughes copper mine lies north of the Cross Roads township on the Wallaroo-Moonta Road. The mine was a significant underground operation in the 1860s, was briefly worked as an open cut mine in the 1990s, and later operated as a tourist attraction. Cross Roads railway station was situated on the Balaklava-Moonta railway line, and the Wallaroo-Moonta section of the line closed on 23 July 1984. Cross Roads School operated from 1871 to 1878. It had 97 pupils in 1872. An 1870s cottage at Cross Roads built by local miner Richard Whitford, father of politician Stanley Whitford, was listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

. Cross Roads originally had three Methodist churches: a Primitive Methodist (1872), a Bible Christian (1873) and a Wesleyan (1875). The congregations combined in 1900, with the Bible Christian building continuing as the church; however, following a tornado in 1973 which destroyed the Bible Christian church and damaged the Primitive Methodist church, the congregation relocated to the former Wesleyan church. The Wesleyan church now continues as the Cross Roads Uniting Church, while the Primitive Methodist church has been sold. The Wesleyan church had also previously been used as the Cross Roads branch of the Moonta Mines Institute for a period from 1902.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia