Wolseley (formerly Tatiara) is a small

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 ...

n town near the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

border. It is five kilometres south of the

Dukes Highway Dukes Highway is a 190 kilometre highway corridor in South Australia, which is part of the link between the Australian cities of Adelaide and Melbourne. It is part of the National Highway system spanning Australia, and is signed as route A8. R ...

and 13 kilometres east of Bordertown. It was first proclaimed a town in 1884. 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 ...

which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Wolseley had a population of 180 people.

History

The town was surveyed in 1884, and initially named Tatiara, which was described as an "Aboriginal word from the Jackegilbrab Tribe which HC Talbot states is divided into six clans (Kooinkill, Wirriga, Chala, Camiaguigara, Niall & Nunkoora)". The railway station was named after Lord Wolseley, who was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. The name of the town was changed to match the name of the station on 20 February 1941. Wolseley fuel tanks

Early in World War II, RAAF No. 12 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot was established at Wolseley, with an initial capacity of in three tanks camouflaged to look like farm buildings. The depot started operations in 1942 and three additional tanks were added later. It was disbanded on 14 June 1944. It 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. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

as the Wolseley Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot.

Railway

The Adelaide–Wolseley railway was opened from

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 ...

east to Wolseley railway station in the early 1880s built to broad gauge. The

Serviceton railway line The Ararat railway line (formerly known as the Serviceton and Western lines) is a railway line in Victoria, Australia. It links the state capital of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne to the cities of Ballarat and Ararat, Victoria, Ararat via the ...

from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

reached Serviceton in Victoria in 1886, and the three miles from Wolseley to Serviceton was completed by the

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the organisation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian Natio ...

in 1887, completing a broad gauge rail link between Adelaide and Melbourne. Around the same time, the Mount Gambier railway line

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 Minimum railw ...

extended to Wolseley station from the south, creating 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 rolling stock generally canno ...

rail junction. By May 1883, rail construction had not yet been completed, but trains were able to operate regularly from Bordertown on the Adelaide line and from Custon on the Mount Gambier line, continuing through Naracoorte to Kingston SE. In 1881, the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

authorised the construction of a railway from "University Block No. 3" near the southern border of the Hundred of Tatiara to

Border Town A border town is a town or city close to the boundary between two countries, states, or regions. Usually the term implies that the nearness to the border is one of the things the place is most famous for. With close proximities to a different coun ...

. It had previously authorised the construction from Naracoorte to that point in 1879. In the 1950s the break-of-gauge was abolished by the conversion of the Mount Gambier line to broad gauge. The line to Mount Gambier has been out of use since the conversion of the Adelaide – Melbourne line to on 12 April 1995, pending possible conversion to standard gauge. If it is converted, it will become the first railway line in Australia to have ever been converted to all 3 gauges.

Railway containers

In 1936, to help overcome some of the inconveniences of the

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 ...

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

were introduced to allow though shipment of goods without the need for

transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...

Governance

Wolseley is located in 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 MacKillop MacKillop is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It was named in 1991 after Sister Mary MacKillop who served the local area, and later became the first Australia ...

and the local government area of Tatiara District Council.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia Limestone Coast

History

Railway

Railway containers

Governance

See also

References