Lameroo is a town in the

Murray Mallee The Murray Mallee is a cereal, grain-growing and sheep-farming area in the east of the Australian state of South Australia. The name is not formally designated but is widely used to refer to an area of approximately bounded by the Murray Rive ...

region 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 ...

. It is on the

Mallee Highway Mallee Highway is a highway connecting Tailem Bend, South Australia, Tailem Bend in south-eastern South Australia and Piangil, Victoria, Piangil in north-western Victoria, Australia, Victoria, running mostly across the Murray Mallee, Mallee plai ...

and Pinnaroo railway line about 40 km west of the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

border, or 210 km east 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 ...

. It is primarily a service town for the surrounding rural areas, growing

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

and

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 ...

. Lameroo now includes the former settlements of Kulkami, Mulpata, Wirha and Gurrai, which were on the Peebinga railway line, and Wilkawatt, which was between Parrakie and Lameroo on the Pinnaroo railway. The local school, the Lameroo Regional Community School is not only for Lameroo youth, but also those from the surrounding towns of

Geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, with the gre ...

, Parrakie and Parilla. The town is home to the Lameroo Hawks Football Club, coached by former

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

player Rodney Maynard.

History

Land in the Murray Mallee region was first taken up on

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

in the late 1850s. For the first twenty years there were several lessees; the area had limited grazing during this time. After a well was dug at Lameroo, then known as Wow Wow Plain, in 1884, settlement on Wow Wow Plain became permanent. The land was surveyed in 1894, and the initial survey of Wow Wow Plain gave each block some natural open land to start cultivating. The town reserve was proclaimed in 1894 and a Government well was excavated. The town was named Lameroo in 1904 at the suggestion of J.M. Johnston who had worked on the

Overland Telegraph Line The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was an electrical telegraph system for sending messages the between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872 (with a li ...

and heard the word in Darwin (as the name of the

Lameroo Beach Lameroo Beach is a small beach located off the esplanade in central Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It was the location of the town's historic baths between 1922 and 1974. The name for Lameroo Beach comes from a corrupted interpre ...

) and liked the sound of it. Much of the land that became the District Council of Lameroo (now the western part of the

Southern Mallee District Council The Southern Mallee District Council is a local government area in the Murray and Mallee region of South Australia. The council offices are in Pinnaroo and Lameroo. It was established on 23 January 1997 when the District Council of Lameroo an ...

) was released for pastoral ownership in about 1858. Lameroo celebrated its centenary in 2006, it being 100 years since the railway line was built through Lameroo. The historic former Bank Manager's Residence and the Irish Martyrs

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 ...

Church are 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'' ...

. The Pinnaroo railway line opened through Lameroo in 1906. It initially carried mixed goods, as well as passengers. In later years, only bulk grain was transported on the line, with trains emptying the silos at Lameroo. After mid-2015, the railway ceased to be used, and the 2015 harvest onwards would be transported away by road.

Media

Lameroo was the home of the ''Pinnaroo Country News'' (5 June 1908 – 31 March 1922), which was the first country newspaper established by newspaperman James Barclay, in partnership with William Macfarlane. After 1911, it suffered due to the arrival of the ''

Pinnaroo and Border Times Pinnaroo may refer to: Queensland *Pinnaroo Cemetery and Crematorium, Brisbane South Australia *Pinnaroo, South Australia Pinnaroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, near the border with Victoria, 243 km east of Ade ...

'' (1911–1941). Lameroo was also home to two short-lived publications: the ''Lameroo Weekly News'' (9 – 30 June 1922), printed by Chas. Laycock; and, the ''Lameroo Mail'' (11 – 18 February 1927), printed by G.W. Veale.

Attractions

Lameroo is sandwiched between the Billiatt Wilderness Protection Area to the north, and the

Ngarkat Conservation Park Ngarkat Conservation Park is a protected area located in South Australia's south-eastern corner about south east of the Adelaide city centre. The conservation park was proclaimed in 1979 "to conserve the mallee heath habitat of the 90 Mile ...

to the south. Both

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s are reserves for bushwalkers and nature enthusiasts. In spring, native Australian wildflowers abound in the Ngarkat, while the Billiatt offers native fauna such as kangaroos and mallee fowl.

Climate

Notes and references

External links

Town mapWalkabout – Lameroo
{{authority control Murray Mallee Towns in South Australia