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Olary is a town and locality on the
Barrier Highway
Barrier Highway is a highway in South Australia and New South Wales, and is designated part of route A32. The name of the highway is derived from the Barrier Ranges, an area of moderately high ground in the far west of New South Wales, through w ...
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 situated near
Olary Creek and is one of the easternmost settlements in South Australia. The name "Olary" was first given to a nearby well or waterhole by pastoralists Duffield,
Harrold and Hurd.
Description and history
This small settlement was established in the late 1880s to service the highway and the railway which pass through here. ''O'Lary'' Post Office opened on 12 October 1886, was renamed ''Oolarie'' around 1888 and ''Olary'' around 1896.
After the modernisation of transport which travelled between Adelaide and Broken Hill the village population declined. However it still has a hotel and general store to cater for the transient road and railway workers and travellers.
The Flinders-Olary NatureLink includes the mountainous
Flinders
Flinders may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula
Australia New South Wales
* Flinders County, New South Wales
* Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour
* Flinders, New South Wa ...
and Olary Ranges together with the connecting plains country to cover 6% of the South Australian state.
In 2010 the historic Bimbowrie
Cobb and Co
Cobb & Co was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name Cobb & Co grew to great prominence in the late 19t ...
coach house near Olary became the scene of a traditional restoration operation with almost 20 tradespeople attending a five-day training course in stonemasonry restoration techniques. Low-security prisoners from the
Port Augusta Prison were among those who assisted with the project.
The nearby
Mount Victoria Well & Whim Historic Site 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
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. ...
.
Governance
Olary is located within the federal
division of Grey, the state
electoral district of Stuart
Stuart is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. At 323,131 km², it is a vast country district extending from the Spencer Gulf as far as the Northern Territory border in the north and the Queensl ...
and the
Pastoral Unincorporated Area
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music ( pastorale) that depic ...
of South Australia.
Outback Communities Authority
The Outback Communities Authority (OCA) is a statutory authority in South Australia (SA) created under the ''Outback Communities (Administration and Management) Act 2009''. It has been established to "manage the provision of public services and ...
.
See also
* List of cities and towns in South Australia
References
External links
{{authority control
Towns in South Australia
Far North (South Australia)
Places in the unincorporated areas of South Australia