Cummins is a town on

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 ...

, 67 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, ...

and 60 m above sea level. Cummins was named after William Patrick Cummins, a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

from 1896 to 1907. The town of Cummins was developed in 1910 a few years after the first settlers in the area arrived. The railway to Port Lincoln arrived in 1907. The bounded locality of Cummins includes the former railway sidings of Pillana (south of the town) and Wildeloo (north of it). The major industries are

sheep farming Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin ...

and

cereal grain A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...

growing. There was a junction of the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

Eyre Peninsula Railway The Eyre Peninsula Railway is a track gauge, gauge railway on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Radiating out from the ports at Port Lincoln and Thevenard, South Australia, Thevenard, it is isolated from the rest of the Rail transport in ...

within the town. The railway facilitated transfer of grain to the deep-water port at Port Lincoln, primarily for export till operation of the railway was discontinued on 21 May 2019. The

Tod Highway Tod Highway is an important 177 kilometre highway serving South Australia's Eyre Peninsula's wheatbelt, and is designated route B90. It is named after Robert Tod who explored the area in 1839. Route Tod Highway begins from Eyre Highway at Kyanc ...

and Bratten Way intersect at Cummins. A large grain storage and transshipment facility lies on the southern outskirts of town. Cummins is the headquarters of the District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula. It is in the state

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 ...

. The town has a bowls club with 3 greens which competes in the Southern Eyre Peninsula Men's Bowling Association. Cummins is the birthplace of former Australian

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 ...

player John Fitzgerald who in a career spanning 1980-1997 won seven

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

Doubles titles at all four major events (

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

(1982),

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

(1986, 1991),

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

(1989, 1991), and the

US Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

(1984, 1991). The Traditional custodians of the district were the Nawu people.

Climate

Cummins has a

hot-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

( Köppen: Csa), with very warm, dry summers and mild, wetter winters. Temperatures vary between seasons, with average maxima ranging between in January and in July, and average minima fluctuating between in January and in August. Annual precipitation is low, averaging , between 121.4 precipitation days- primarily concentrated in winter. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 24 January 2019 to on 4 June 2017. Climate data is available for the Airport only since 2007.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula