Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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 ...

about by road from 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 ...

. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the gulf's head, comprising the city's centre and surrounding suburbs, Stirling North, and seaside homes at Commissariat Point, Blanche Harbor and Miranda. The suburb of Port Augusta West is on the western side of the gulf on the Eyre Peninsula. Together, these localities had a population of 13,515 people in the . Formerly a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

, the city supports regional agriculture and services many mines in the South Australian interior to its north. A significant industry was electricity generation until 2019, when its coal-burning power stations were shut down. A solar farm opened in 2020.

History

Port Augusta is part of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

Nukunu Nukunu are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia, living around the Spencer Gulf area. In the years after British colonisation of South Australia, the area was developed to contain the cities of Port Pirie, South Australia, Port Piri ...

country, in which the local language is Barngarla. The last speaker of the language died in 1964, but successful efforts have been made to revive it based on a 3500-word dictionary compiled in the 1840s by German Lutheran pastor Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann. Its original Barngarla name is ''Goordnada''. It is a natural harbour, which was proclaimed on 24 May 1852 by Alexander Elder (brother of Thomas Elder) and John Grainger, having discovered it while aboard the Government schooner '' Yatala'', captained by Edward Dowsett. The port was named after Augusta Sophia, Lady Young, the wife of the Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Edward Fox Young. Lady Young was the daughter of Charles Marryat Snr., who had been a slaveholder in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

. Her brother was the Anglican minister Dean of Adelaide Charles Marryat.

Flora and fauna

Marine species include resident species and migrating visitors. Occasional sightings are made of whales, sunfish, swordfish and turtles.

Demographics

The city and its surrounds had a population of 13,515 people in the . It was therefore the fourth largest urban area outside of

after

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with a population of 25,591 as of the 2021 census. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about ...

, Whyalla and

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...

. 83.4% of residents were born in Australia and 20.8% were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The most prevalent employment was community and personal service workers (17.7%), professionals (14.9%), technicians and trades workers (14.0%), labourers (13.1%), clerical and administrative workers (11.1%), sales workers (9.3%), machinery operators and drivers (9.3%), and managers (8.3%). The unemployment rate was 6.5% (South Australia: 5.4%). The median weekly household income was A$1277 per week.

Transport

Port Augusta is at the head of Spencer Gulf, a natural barrier to land transport, leading to the city being considered to be the "crossroads of Australia", the junction of major road and rail links.

Road

Port Augusta is located at the eastern end of the Eyre Highway to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and at the northern end of the Augusta Highway to

. It is situated at the southern end of the

Stuart Highway Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; it has a distance of . Its northern and souther ...

to Darwin. Virtually all road traffic across southern Australia passes through Port Augusta across the top of Spencer Gulf. Twice-daily coach services operate between Port Augusta, other country centres and Adelaide.

Rail

In 1878, the town became the southern terminus of a proposed north–south transcontinental line headed for Darwin away. As part of its commitments undertaken at

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

took over this

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

in 1911 and named it the "

Central Australia Railway The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and dismantled in 1980, was a Narrow-gauge railway, 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta railway station, Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gau ...

" in 1926. In 1929, it was extended to its last terminus at

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

. Between 1913 and 1917, a long, east–west transcontinental railway, the Trans-Australian Railway, was built from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It was built to standard gauge as part of a long-term plan to harmonise gauges between the mainland states. The choice created a

break of gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and railroad car, rolling stock g ...

at Port Augusta until the standard gauge track was extended to

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...

in 1937. The last component of the all-through standard gauge line from Adelaide to Darwin was only completed in 2003.

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

is a stopping place of two long-distance "experiential" train services: the east-west '' Indian Pacific'' transcontinental service and '' The Ghan'' service between Adelaide and Darwin. The not-for-profit Pichi Richi Railway, established in the 1970s on the southernmost section of the Central Australia Railway (CAR) at Quorn, was not connected to Port Augusta after the CAR closed in 1980. An ambitious project to build a line from Stirling North to the centre of Port Augusta was completed in 2001 and now provides half-day and full-day heritage railway journeys on selected dates from March to November.

Aviation

Port Augusta Airport, from the city, handles about 16,000 " fly-in fly-out" passengers a year who work at many mines in the north of

. , no other flights were available at the airport.

Climate

Port Augusta has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

( Köppen: BWh), with hot summers, mild winters and minimal precipitation year-round. Some authors define it as

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

(BSh). Temperatures vary throughout the year, with average maxima ranging from in January to in July, while average minima fluctuate between in January and in July. Mean annual rainfall is very low: , spread between 72.2 precipitation days. There are 142.1 clear days and 92.4 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 3 August 2014 to on 24 January 2019. Port Augusta has

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

vegetation, although the city maintains with governmental aid with some plants adapted to

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

ity. Port Augusta is regarded as a desert environment by the local government.

Economy

Electricity generation

From the mid-1920s, the town was supplied with

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...

electricity, which changed to

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

in 1948. Electricity was generated at the Playford B (240 MW) and Northern power stations (520 MW) from

brown coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...

mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north. The only coal-fired electricity generating plants in South Australia, in 2009 they produced 33% of the state's electricity, but over 50% of the state's CO₂ emissions from electricity generation. Playford B has not been operational since 2012. In October 2015, Alinta Energy announced the permanent closure of both Northern and Playford B in early 2016. The Northern Power Station went offline in May 2016. In 2016, a local community group was lobbying for assistance to replace the coal-fired plants with a solar thermal power station. The

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 ...

, Jay Weatherill announced in August 2017 that construction would begin in 2018 and was expected to be completed in 2020. The Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project is expected to cost to build, including a loan from the Federal Government, and deliver 150MW of electricity. SolarReserve has a contract to supply all of the electricity required by the state government's offices from this power project.

Arid-zone horticulture

Separately, Sundrop Farms has a combined solar power tower,

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

and

desalination plant Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is soil desalination. This is important for agriculture. It is possible ...

which is used to produce tomatoes near the old power station site. It opened in October 2016 and produces 39MW of thermal energy from over 23,000 mirrors and a tower, used for heating, electricity, and desalination to irrigate tomatoes in greenhouses. Sundrop has a 10-year contract to supply Coles Supermarkets with at least 15,000 tonnes of truss tomatoes per year.

Tourism

Port Augusta has been able to capitalise on the growing eco-tourism industry due to its proximity to the Flinders Ranges. The Pichi Richi Railway is a major drawcard, connecting Port Augusta to Quorn via the Pichi Richi Pass. Within Port Augusta is the City of Port Augusta's Wadlata Outback Centre, providing tourists with an introduction to life in the Australian outback. The centre recorded over 500,000 visitors in 2006. North of the town, on the Stuart Highway, is the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, a unique and award-winning garden, opened in 1996, which "showcases a diverse collection of arid zone habitats in a picturesque setting of more than 250 hectares". The gardens have a cafe/restaurant with views across the saltbush plains to the escarpment of the Flinders Ranges. The PACC annual report shows more than 100,000 people visited the gardens in 2006. Southwest of town is the El-Alamein army base.

Proposed multi-commodity port

In February 2019, the site of the former Playford power stations was sold by Alinta Energy to Cu-River Mining as a prospective port development site. The company intended to construct a transshipment facility suitable for the export of iron ore, wheat and other commodities.

Media

Radio stations that broadcast to Port Augusta are: * ABC North and West SA on 639 AM (Regional) * ABC NewsRadio on 102.7 FM (National) *

Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

on 106.7 FM (National) * ABC Classic on 104.3 FM (National) * 5AU on 97.9 FM (Community) *Umeewarra Radio on 89.1 FM (Aboriginal-owned community radio) Television coverage in the city is provided by the ABC, SBS, Southern Cross (7, 9 and 10) and Austar. The major publication of the town is '' The Transcontinental'', a weekly newspaper that was first issued in October 1914 and continues to be located on Commercial Road. In 1971, a brief experiment, known as the ''Northern Observer'' (7 July 1971 – 30 August 1971), occurred when ''The Transcontinental'' and ''The Recorder'' from Port Pirie were published under a combined title in Port Pirie. Historically, the town published the ''Dispatch'' (1877–1916), which, as was common at the time, evolved through a series of name changes: ''Port Augusta Dispatch'' (18 August 1877 – 6 August 1880); ''Port Augusta Dispatch and Flinders' Advertiser'' (13 August 1880 – 17 October 1884); ''Port Augusta Dispatch'' (20 October 1884 – 16 March 1885); and, ''Port Augusta Dispatch, Newcastle and Flinders Chronicle'' (18 March 1885 – 21 April 1916). For a short period, due to the short-lived discovery of gold at Teetulpa, a sister publication ''Teetulpa News and Golden Age'' (1886–1887) was printed by the ''Dispatch''. Another publication, the ''Port Augusta and Stirling Illustrated News'' (1901), was printed briefly in the town by James Taylor, but was curtailed so he could focus on his printing business.

Politics

State and federal

Since the 2020 redistribution, Port Augusta was split between the state

electoral district of Stuart Stuart is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, 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 Territo ...

and

electoral district of Giles Giles is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Named after explorer Ernest Giles, it is the largest electorate in the state by area, covering of South Australian outback. Its main population centre is ...

. In federal politics, the city is part of the

division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 ...

, and has been represented by Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey since 2007. Grey is held with a margin of 8.86% and is considered safe-liberal. The results shown are from the largest polling station in Port Augusta – which is located at Port Augusta TAFE college.

Local

Port Augusta is in the City of Port Augusta

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. The City of Port Augusta is believed to have had the longest serving

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

in Australia, Joy Baluch, who died after 30 years of service on 14 May 2013. The council is based at the Port Augusta Civic Centre; prior to 1983, it operated out of the now-disused Port Augusta Town Hall.

Heritage listings

Port Augusta has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Beauchamp Lane: Port Augusta Waterworks * Beauchamp Lane: Beatton Memorial Drinking Fountain * Beauchamp Lane: Gladstone Square Bandstand * 9 Church Street: St Augustine's Anglican Church, Port Augusta * Commercial Road: Old Port Augusta railway station * 52 Commercial Road: Port Augusta Institute * 54 Commercial Road: Port Augusta Town Hall * 34 Flinders Terrace: Port Augusta School of the Air * 1 Jervois Street: Port Augusta Courthouse * Stirling Street: Port Augusta railway station * off Tassie Street: Port Augusta Wharf * 12 Tassie Street: Bank of South Australia, Port Augusta

References

External links

Big Stories, Small Towns – Online documentary featuring video, photos, digital stories and archival film from Port Augusta
{{Authority control 1852 establishments in Australia Coastal cities in Australia Coastal towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula Far North (South Australia) Populated places established in 1852 Port cities in South Australia Spencer Gulf Trans-Australian Railway