Owen (postcode 5460) is a rural community in the heart of the

Adelaide Plains The Adelaide Plains (Kaurna name Tarndanya) is a plain in South Australia lying between the coast ( Gulf St Vincent) on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east. The southernmost tip of the plain is in the southern seaside suburbs of A ...

. Owen is above sea-level and receives a reliable of rain annually. First settled in about 1865, it is about north 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 ...

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 ...

and is approximately 40 minutes by road to the nearest main regional centre of

Gawler Gawler, established in 1839, is the oldest country town in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the st ...

. It is in the

Wakefield Regional Council Wakefield Regional Council is a local government area in the Yorke and Mid North region of South Australia. The council seat is at Balaklava. Geography The Wakefield Regional Council includes the towns and localities of Avon, Balaklava, Ba ...

Establishment

Owen was gazetted as a town on 1 May 1879 in conjunction with the construction of the

Balaklava railway line Balaklava ( Ukrainian and , , ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklavsky District that used to be part of the Crimean Oblast before it was transferred to Sevasto ...

between

Hamley Bridge Hamley Bridge is a community in South Australia located at the junction of the Gilbert and Light rivers, as well as the site of a former railway junction. Named by the government of the day, in honour of the Acting Governor of South Australia L ...

and

Balaklava Balaklava ( Ukrainian and , , ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklavsky District that used to be part of the Crimean Oblast before it was transferred to Sevast ...

. There was a second railway siding about northwest of the Government Town of Owen named Woods. The small village by this station is now considered to be part of Owen. At the 2016 census, Owen had a population of 261 in the town and 511 including the surrounding farmland. The railway station at Stockyard Creek was originally larger than the one at Owen, as Stockyard Creek station was closer to the older town of

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

. However the railway did not go through Alma, and gradually the commercial centre in the area moved from Alma to Owen.

Overview

Owen has a community Church, post office, bowling club,

Country Fire Service The South Australian Country Fire Service (SACFS, commonly abbreviated as CFS) is a volunteer based fire service in the Australian state of South Australia. The CFS has responsibility as the Control Agency for firefighting, rescues and Hazar ...

(CFS) station, primary school, public swimming pool, hotel, children's playground and a golf course. In its heyday in the 1950s, Owen also had a bank, police station, drapery and a butcher. The countryside surrounding Owen was once largely given over to sheep and cattle grazing. However, since the early 1990s the area has become better known for cropping (wheat, barley, canola, beans and, more recently, olives). The Adelaide-Balaklava

broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

railway line passed through Owen and the railway yard is marked by concrete grain silos typical of this region. The town's other main feature is a typical 1940s large concrete water tower of in height. The Adelaide-Balaklava

railway line was closed in the 2000s. The drift to country living and the expanding Adelaide city environs has seen a number of young families moving into the town. New homes are being established at the rate of 1–2 per year – a veritable building boom given the almost 40 years in which only a handful of homes were built in the town. In 1997, the primary school had only 35 pupils. By 2005, this number had risen to over 50, a sure sign of a stable future. Owen's hosts annual small-horse carriage driving championships which are held on the town's oval around Easter time.

Media

Owen's local newspaper is the ''

Plains Producer The ''Plains Producer'' is a weekly newspaper published Wednesdays by Papers and Publications Pty. Ltd. in Balaklava, South Australia, Balaklava, South Australia. It was founded in 1903 and was printed until 1941, when it was stopped by the Second ...

'', founded in 1903 and published in

. Owen was also home to the short-lived ''Owen's Weekly and Dalkey District Courier'' (3 October – 21 November 1908), which was printed in parallel with the ''

Express'' (3-31 October 1908) by T.W. Broadway. Each was printed in their respective town, and with different mastheads but the same content.

Gallery

File:Institute hall, Owen.JPG, Owen Institute File:War Memorial, Owen.JPG, War memorial File:Lions Park, Owen.JPG , Lions Park File:OwenCommunityChurch.JPG, Church File:OwenChurch1.JPG, Community Church File:OwenMethodistChurch.JPG , Methodist Church File:OwenSeniorCitizensHall.JPG , senior citizen Hall File:OwenHarvestMural.JPG , Silos File:OwenSA-Wetlands.jpg , Owen Wetlands

Notable people

Steele Hall Raymond Steele Hall (30 November 1928 – 10 June 2024) was an Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1 ...

, a former

premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...

and then federal politician came from Owen. *

Pru Goward Prudence Jane Goward (born 2 September 1952) is an Australian former politician and Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 to 2019, representing the seat of Goulburn. She was the New South Wales Minister for Fa ...

, long-serving Australian Federal Government Commissioner for Sex Discrimination, came from Owen.

Notes and references

{{authority control Towns in South Australia