Swan Reach is a river port in

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 ...

127 km north-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 ...

on the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

between Blanchetown and

Mannum Mannum is a historic town on the west bank of the Murray River in South Australia, east of Adelaide. Mannum is the seat of the Mid Murray Council, and is situated in the state electoral district of Hammond and the federal Division of Barker. ...

. It is on the

left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

of the river. The Swan Reach Ferry is a

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

crossing operated by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

as part of the state's road network. Swan Reach, with all parts below Lock #1, is also one of the lowest parts of the river. In 2009–2010 the river was about 1.5 metres below its normal level. In late 2022 and early 2023 the town experienced a flood with river levels not seen since the devastating flood of 1956. Homes and businesses on Victoria street were inundated, along with most of the holiday homes at Marks Landing. Widespread damage was caused. At the , Swan Reach had a population of 283.

History

Swan Reach was first settled in the 1850s and was originally the largest of five sheep and cattle stations in the area. It soon became one of the first riverboat ports in South Australia and was a loading port for grain and wool. Swan Reach Mission was established by the

United Aborigines Mission The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) (also known as UAM Ministries, United Aborigines' Mission (Australia), and United Aborigines' Mission of Australia) was one of the largest missions in Australia, having dozens of missionary, missionaries and st ...

(UAM) in 1926 to provide a Christian education to Aboriginal children. It was closed in 1946 due to frequent flooding of the area, and the UAM opened the Gerard Mission near Loxton. Some residents were transferred to the new

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

, but some, including the parents of singer-songwriter

Ruby Hunter Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (31 October 195517 February 2010), also known as Aunty Ruby, was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the life and musical partner of Archie Roach. Early life Ruby Hunter was born on 31 ...

, moved elsewhere for work. Children of the mission became part of the

Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

, later provided with some compensation through the National Redress Scheme.

Around the town

Swan Reach has an area school, hotel and bottle shop, general store and post office, an op shop that opens Mondays to Fridays and Saturday mornings, and a fast food take-away shop near the ferry. The tourist boat ''Proud Mary'' and paddle-wheeler PS ''Murray Princess'' stop at the town once a week. There is a Lutheran church, with regular services, and a Lutheran pastor in residence. Anglican and Roman Catholic services are held monthly. Tourism, agriculture and irrigated horticulture are the main industries, and there is a large almond processing plant 1.5 km from town on the

Stott Highway Stott Highway is a state-controlled highway in South Australia, linking Angaston in the Barossa Valley, through Sedan and Swan Reach, to Pyap in the Riverland region. It was named after Tom Stott, a member of the South Australian state pa ...

River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve

The Swan Reach Conservation Park lies in a area which was named the nation's first, and the world's 15th International Dark sky reserve in October 2019, by the

International Dark-Sky Association DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), is a United States–based nonprofit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician and amateu ...

. The "dark sky" title refers to areas where the night sky has a high darkness rating and there are policy controls to ensure

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...

is kept to a minimum, with reserve status only given when both public and private residential land is included. A multi-million-dollar joint project between

Silentium Defence Silentium is a Finland, Finnish gothic metal band. The band was formed in 1995 and it originates from Jämsänkoski, Finland. Keyboardist Sami Boman and original vocalist Matti Aikio created Silentium by adding violin player Jani Laaksonen, guita ...

and the

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus public research university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university in its current form was founde ...

to build a

space domain awareness Space domain awareness is the study and monitoring of satellites orbiting the Earth. It involves the detection, tracking, cataloging and identification of artificial objects, i.e. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or Space debris, ...

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

to monitor

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s and other objects orbiting the Earth was announced in June 2020. 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 ...

location and terrain of the land was considered ideal for the purpose. The Oculus

passive radar Passive radar (also referred to as parasitic radar, passive coherent location, passive surveillance, and passive covert radar) is a class of radar systems that detect and track objects by processing reflections from non-cooperative sources of illu ...

observatory opened in December 2021. The reserve's official name is the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve.

Notes and references

External links

Township of Swan Reach South Australia - swanreach.sa.au

Swan Reach Area School

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Tourist attractions in South Australia Populated places on the Murray River International Dark Sky Reserves

History

Around the town

River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve

See also

Notes and references

External links