Paruna is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in eastern

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 ...

on the Browns Well Highway, where it crosses the former

Barmera railway line The Barmera railway line was the second railway built to develop the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, in 1913. It followed the success of the Pinnaroo railway line in 1906. Both lines branched east from Tailem Bend to the north of the ...

, east of the state capital,

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 ...

. In the , Paruna and the surrounding area had a population of 36, one-third lower than at the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th Census in Australia, national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was count ...

. Purana is an Aboriginal word meaning "stopping place". The government town of Paruna was proclaimed on 23 July 1914 on land in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Kekwick to the immediate north of the Paruna railway station. The locality's boundaries were created on 28 September 2000 with the site of the government town of Paruna being located in its approximate centre. The

from

was opened to Paruna on 1 May 1913 and a further 11 km to

Meribah Massah () and Meribah (, also spelled "Mirabah") are place names found in the Hebrew Bible. The Israelites are said to have travelled through Massah and Meribah during the Exodus, although the continuous list of visited stations in Numbers 33 ...

within the week. It was later extended north to Paringa then across the

Paringa Bridge The Paringa Bridge carries the Sturt Highway across the Murray River in Paringa, South Australia. Until 1982, it also carried the Barmera railway line. The bridge consists of a vertical-lift span long which can rise in one and a half minu ...

to Renmark and

Barmera Barmera ( ) is a town in the Riverland region of South Australia. It is on the Sturt Highway A20, 220 kilometres north-east of Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia. It is primarily an agricultural and viticultural town and is ...

, but has now been closed and removed. Paruna School operated between 1917 and 1965, and Paruna North School between 1925 and 1941. Brown's Well District Area School closed in 2007. The effects of prolonged drought and the movement of population to larger centres led to the closure of other facilities over recent years, including the general store and the golf club. Paruna was the seat of the

District Council of Brown's Well The District Council of Brown's Well was a Local government areas of South Australia, local government area in South Australia from 1916 to 1997. The name stemmed from the Brown's Well pastoral station, which was located near the council seat of P ...

until a merger that created the

District Council of Loxton Waikerie The District Council of Loxton Waikerie is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. The council seat lies at Loxton, South Australia, Loxton, while it maintains a branch office at Wai ...

in 1997. Paruna is located within the federal

division of Barker The Division of Barker is an Australian electoral division in the south-east of South Australia. The division was established on 2 October 1903, when South Australia's original single multi-member division was split into seven single-member d ...

, the state

electoral district of Chaffey Chaffey, created in 1936, is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It covers the Riverland region of South Australia including the towns of Renmark, South Australia ...

and the local government area of the

Gallery

File:ParunaCouncilChambers.JPG, Former Brown's Well District Council chambers, Railway Terrace, Paruna File:ParunaBrownsWellDistrictAreaSchool.JPG, Former Brown's Well District area school File:ParunaGeneralStore.JPG, Paruna general store File:ParunaChurch2.JPG, Closed church in High Street, Paruna

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in South Australia