X-Nico

100 unusual facts about South Australia


1939 Australian Grand Prix

The track utilised was three country roads which in a triangle formation took in the nearby village of Charleston.

1973 Australian Touring Car Championship

The night before Round 6 of the series at the Adelaide International Raceway, Moffat's GTHO Falcon was stolen from Stillwell Ford in the northern Adelaide suburb of Medindie.

2007 FFSA Super League

The 2007 South Australian Super League was the second season of the South Australian Super League, the top level domestic association football competition in South Australia.

2010 FFSA Premier League

The 2010 FFSA Premier League was the fifth edition of the FFSA Premier League as the second level domestic association football competition in South Australia.

Adelaide Plains

The dark dotted areas in the background are the northern suburbs of Adelaide, corresponding to the City of Playford centred around Elizabeth and the mid-area of the Adelaide Plains are further in the background.

Alfred Rutter Clarke

He was a dog judge for the RAHS and lived at Aldgate.

Alick J Murray

Around 1919 Mount Crawford Estate was compulsorily acquired by the Government for the creation of the Warren Reservoir, and Murray retired from pastoral pursuits to his home "The Avenues" at Medindie.

Allan McFarlane

Their home until around 1860 was "Glensloy", near Mount Barker Junction (midway between Balhannah and Littlehampton).

Amphibolis griffithii

Found along the western coast of Australia, south of Geraldton, and along the southern coastlines to Victor Harbor, South Australia.

Ash Wednesday bushfires

Of the 26 people who died in South Australia, 12 were in metropolitan areas, including four in the Adelaide suburb of Greenhill.

Australian Girls Choir

Chapters of the Australian Girls Choir were opened in South Australia in June 1984 and in New South Wales in February 1986.

Australian heritage law

Australian heritage laws exist at the national (Commonwealth) level, and at each of Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia state levels.

Bevan Spencer von Einem

Police also searched his home in the northern Adelaide suburb of Paradise, and seized a bottle of Mandrax.

Bill McCann

In 1956 he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and died of coronary disease at Tusmore the following year.

Brian Doe

He worked as a blacksmith and a railway porter at Port Broughton from 1888 until 1899.

Bungandidj people

The Buandig people (Boandik, Booandik, Bunganditj) are Indigenous Australians from the Mount Gambier region in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.

Charles James Melrose

Melrose Park in New South Wales and Melrose Park in South Australia are both suburbs named after him, as well as James Melrose Road, which travels along the southern boundary of Adelaide Airport.

Charles Thomas McGlew

McGlew was a pioneer in the salt industry in South Australia, having established in 1903 the Standard Salt Company which from 1912 operated a busy refinery at Edithburgh, exporting to Russia among other places.

Cheltenham Park Racecourse

On Saturday 21 February 2009 the last race meeting was held at the course before its official closure following the sale, with the area now being developed as part of the new suburb of St Clair.

Cigar Lake Mine

Other deposits, such as Olympic Dam in Australia, contain more uranium, but not at the significant grades of the Saskatchewan deposits.

Commonwealth Railways NC class

Whilst assisting with the recovery of W901, which had derailed in Eurelia Yard in early 1988, the "rear drive assembly" seized, and required major work.

Coonalpyn, South Australia

Coonalpyn also has a tennis club which belongs to the Border-Downs Tennis Association including towns such as Malinong, Culburra, Yumali, Coomandook, Tintinara & Ki Ki

Daisy Bates at Ooldea

Daisy Bates at Ooldea is a painting by Australian artist Sidney Nolan, completed in Sydney in 1950 after Nolan, his wife Cynthia and stepdaughter Jinx visited the small South Australian settlement of Ooldea during their travels in Central Australia.

Damian Squire

Squire was a Port Adelaide Magpies supporter when he was growing up in the inner-northern Adelaide suburb of Broadview but due to where he lived and played his junior football with the Broadview Tigers and Greenacres Dragons in the heart of North Adelaide's metropolitan zone (only 10 minutes from North's home Prospect Oval), he ended up playing for the Roosters in the SANFL.

David Fawcett

He was posted to Royal Australian Air Force Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) at Edinburgh, South Australia as an Army helicopter test pilot.

Dene Davies

Born in Hindmarsh, Adelaide, Davies competed in sidecar racing with his brother in Australia, and then in scrambling, in which became a close friend of John Boulger, who later encouraged him to travel to England to try to establish himself as a speedway rider.

Division of Makin

It includes the suburbs of Tea Tree Gully, Modbury, Salisbury Heights, Salisbury East and Para Hills.

Division of Mayo

The Division of Mayo is an Australian electoral division located in the hills east of Adelaide, South Australia and currently includes the towns of Victor Harbor, Lobethal, Mount Barker, Strathalbyn, Woodside and Kingscote.

Easter

(St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Adelaide).

Edward J. Pitts

Edward John Pitts (1 October 1832 – 30 December 1885) was an artist and pastoralist in the early days of South Australia, noted for founding The Levels as a sheep breeding establishment.

Edward William Andrews

He had a close personal and business relationship with James Frew (for whom Frewville is named) of Frew & Co.

Frederick George Waterhouse

In 1897 he moved to Jamestown to live with his son, Edward George Waterhouse (ca.1860 – 25 January 1947).

George Crennan

Crennan was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia in 1900, one of the large family of children born to Frederick William Crennan, and Elizabeth Sutton.

Go Records

Bands awarded contracts included The Cherokees, The Deakins, MPD Ltd, Tony & The Shantels (from Shepparton, Victoria), The Chosen Few (South Australia), and The Clique (Perth).

Gould Creek, South Australia

Gould Creek is located in the City of Tea Tree Gully and City of Playford local government areas, and is adjacent to Greenwith, Salisbury Heights and Hillbank, as well as the rural districts of Yatala Vale and Upper Hermitage and the town of One Tree Hill.

Great Eastern Steeplechase

The Great Eastern Steeplechase is an Australian Thoroughbred steeplechase horse race held annually at Oakbank, South Australia on Easter Saturday and Monday at the Oakbank Racecourse as part of the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival.

Greenwith, South Australia

It is adjacent to Golden Grove and Salisbury Heights.

Hartley Jackson

Hartley made his official debut on October 4, 1999 against Bruce ‘Havok’ Mills at the Octagon Theatre in Elizabeth, South Australia.

Hemsley Fraser

Hemsley Fraser is a learning and development company, with offices in the UK (London and Plymouth), the USA (Washington DC) and Australia (Brighton).

Hendrick Waye

Taffy Waye was known to ride 25 miles on horseback from Willunga to Unley to train and play for Sturt in 1903, regularly filling in for Willunga between league games at Sturt.

Henry Young

Due to the difficulty of navigating the Murray Mouth, Young supported building the railway from the river port of Goolwa to the new sea port at Port Elliot (named after his friend, Charles Elliot).

History of the Lutheran Church of Australia

On 23 and 24 May 1839, Kavel convened a meeting of the elders of the three Prussian settlements at Klemzig, Hahndorf, and Glen Osmond.

Holden Astra

The Pulsar for Australia was assembled in Clayton, Victoria; however, for the Astra the body panels were pressed at Holden's Elizabeth, South Australia facility.

Holden Torana

During this period it toured motor museums around the country, including the National Motor Museum at Birdwood in South Australia.

I-bot

The Microbric I-Bot is a small robot that was distributed as a build-it-yourself kit by the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper in South Australia, in November-December 2005.

Indulkana

Without in any way approving such a policy, Lois acknowledges that she had a happy childhood there, and later at the Colebrook home at Eden Hills.

Jake Andrewartha

Jake Andrewartha (born 24 December 1989 in Clare, Australia) is an Australian judoka.

James George Russell

On 5 January 1918 Russell died of cancer at his Eastwood, South Australia home; he was survived by his wife, four daughters and three sons.

James Milner Phillips

In early 1962 Phillips made a reconnaissance trip to Lake Eyre, South Australia and had been warned by a local sheep station owner that heavy rains were expected the following year following the twenty years of drought that had made the playa so suitable as a driving surface.

Jefferson Stow

Jefferson Pickman Stow (4 September 1830 – 4 May 1908), was a newspaper editor and magistrate in South Australia.

Kartan industry

Kartan industry is the archaeological production, probably more than 10,000 years ago, of a large quantity of exceptionally large stone tools that were found on Ramindjeri Karta also known since 1802 as Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

Kevin Scarce

Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1952, Scarce spent his early childhood in Woomera and attended Elizabeth East Primary School and Elizabeth High School.

Klemzig

Klemzig, South Australia, is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, named after the town in Prussia

Lameroo, South Australia

Situated in the town is Lameroo Regional Community School, which is the school not only for Lameroo youth but also surrounding towns as Geranium, Parrakie, Parilla and Wilkawatt.

Linda Agostini

Tony Agostini had recently returned to Sydney after being held in internment camps at Orange, Hay and Loveday from 1940 to 1944.

Lower Light protest statues

The statues were made by local resident and farmer, Stephen Jones, as a protest against the establishment of a dump in the late 1990's by the Olsen government, as part of a plan to replace the Wingfield Waste & Recycling Centre.

Luke Prokopec

Kenneth Luke Prokopec (born February 23, 1978 in Blackwood, South Australia) is an Australian-born, right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

Malcolm Barclay-Harvey

The Vice-Regal couple spent as much time as they could at the Vice Regal Summer Residence at Marble Hill, where they restored the gardens.

Mark Coleridge

The third of five siblings born to Bernard and Marjorie (née Harvey) Coleridge, Mark Coleridge was educated at Saint Joseph's School, Tranmere, South Australia, Rostrevor College, Adelaide, and at St Kevin's College, Toorak.

Mosquito Fleet

The term "Mosquito Fleet" also refers the the fleet of small ketches and schooners operating in the shallow coastal and gulf waters of South Australia, from the colony's establishment in 1836 until 1982.

Mount Davies Road

As a result of British atomic tests at Emu Field in 1953, a weather station was needed to the far north-west of the test sites, to determine when suitable weather conditions existed for future tests.

Murray River Flag

The Murray River Flag is flown from paddle steamers and other vessels in the Australian States of Victoria and South Australia that ply the waters of the Murray-Darling river system.

Muttaburra

Henry Radford stole cattle from Bowen Downs Station and drove them 1300 km through the mostly unexplored Central Australia region to the Blanche Water station in northern South Australia.

Myk Aussie

Kym Andrew Harrison (born in Gawler, South Australia) known as "Myk Aussie" is an Australian Sports, Comedy, Media personality.

No Fixed Address

In 1979, the band played its first large concert at the National Aboriginal Day held at Taperoo, South Australia.

North Terrace – Glenelg railway line

From approximately where Henley Beach Road currently is, the railway then followed an almost direct route to the seaside suburb of Glenelg.

North West Wind Ensemble

Over the 2011 Easter weekend the band travelled to Adelaide, South Australia for the National Band Championships to perform in the Open A Grade competition.

Northfield railway line

The line went east from the Gawler line and served three stations: Cavan, Pooraka, and Northfield.

Nothomyrmecia

A further colony was found at Penong, 180 km (110 mi) to the west of Poochera, but the fate of the colony discovered in 1931 is not known.

Nurlutta railway station

Nurlutta railway station is a railway station on the Gawler Central railway line which is located in the northern Adelaide suburbs of Salisbury and Salisbury North.

Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival

When the branch to Mount Pleasant opened in 1918, a special platform was constructed adjacent to the course, permitting special race trains to run direct to the course the following Easter.

Onkaparinga Valley Road

Onkaparinga Valley Road is a South Australian secondary road, connecting the towns of Birdwood, Woodside, Balhannah and Hahndorf with Meadows and Willunga on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Parliamentary records

South Australia introduced female suffrage in 1861 and the Territory of Wyoming allowed women the vote in 1869, with the Isle of Man following in 1881.

Penfield railway line

This was necessary because Salisbury was still a semi-rural community at the time and most of the workforce had to be brought in from other districts.

Plymouth Belvedere

The first model, based on the 1953 US Plymouth, featured a high level of Australian content, with body panels pressed in Chrysler Australia's Keswick facility in South Australia and matched with a 217.8 cubic inch (4107cc) side-valve six-cylinder engine, imported from Chrysler UK.

Quentin Angus

Quentin Bryan Angus was born in Mount Pleasant, South Australia on 17 August 1987.

Ralph Tate

Tate gave special attention to the Recent and Tertiary mollusca of Australia, and discovered evidence of Permian glaciation of southern Australia at Hallett Cove.

Raymond Leane

Raymond Lionel Leane was born on 12 July 1878 in Prospect, South Australia, the son of a shoemaker, Thomas Leane, and his wife Alice.

Rico Tomaso

He was at his best illustrating tales of high adventure, including the Albert Richard Wetjen stories about the Mounted Police of South Australia, or mysteries, such as Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novel The League of Frightened Men.

Robert Zadow

After retirement from state cricket he went on to play for many years for his Adelaide grade club, Tea Tree Gully Cricket Club, where he became the highest run-scorer in South Australian grade cricket history with 9318, second only now to Wayne Bradbrook - Northern Districts CC with 9619 runs.

Rock Parrot

Rocky islands and coastal dune areas are the preferred habitats for this species, which is found from Robe, South Australia westwards across coastal South and Western Australia to Shark Bay.

Rory Schlein

Schlein, who when home in Australia lives in the southern Adelaide suburb of Hallett Cove and calls the Gillman Speedway his home track, won the Australian Under-21 Speedway Championship in 2003 and 2004 and finished 2nd to Chris Holder in 2005.

Ryan Sullivan

His parents bought him a junior speedway bike and he had his first ride at the Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura in 1985, although his home track was the Sidewinders Speedway in the Adelaide suburb of Wingfield, a 112m long track run by the Sidewinders Junior Speedway Club solely aimed at junior Motorcycle speedway development.

Semaphore railway line

Semaphore railway line was a railway in the north-west of Adelaide servicing the suburb of Semaphore and Exeter.

In 1917 when the Semaphore to Rosewater and Albert Park tram line was opened there was an unresolved dispute over the tramline crossing the railway line near Exeter station.

Sinkhole

Some of the most spectacular are the Zacatón cenote in Mexico (the world's deepest water-filled sinkhole), the Boesmansgat sinkhole in South Africa, Sarisariñama tepuy in Venezuela, the Sótano del Barro in Mexico, and in the town of Mount Gambier, South Australia.

Snowtown, South Australia

Pupils are also able to study via distance education through the Open Access College at Marden (Adelaide) or via local delivery with neighbouring schools to increase their range of subject choices, particularly in Years 11 and 12.

South Australian Archaeology Society

The South Australian Archaeology Society is an avocational archaeology organisation operating in South Australia.

South Gawler Football Club

The South Gawler Football Club is a country Australian rules football club, founded by James Fitzgerald in the Gawler South area of the Barossa Valley town of Gawler, South Australia, in 1889.

Southern Cross Television

Southern Cross Television, or SCTV, is an Australian television network available in Tasmania, Darwin, Regional South Australia, Remote Central and Eastern Australia and Norfolk Island.

Tama Canning

Tamahau Karangatukituki Canning (born 7 April 1977 in Rose Park) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played four One Day Internationals but no Tests.

Tanunda, South Australia

Langmeil was the next settlement in 1843, which was settled by Prussian immigrants who relocated from Klemzig where they had originally settled in 1838, when they had arrived with Pastor August Kavel, Tanunda village was settled sometime later.

Tigerfish Aviation

Tigerfish Aviation is an aerospace research and development company based in Norwood, South Australia.

Tom Brice

Thomas Robert (Tom) Brice (born August 24, 1981) in Woodville, South Australia is an Australian baseballer.

Topcon

Topcon has an office in Technology Park Adelaide at Mawson Lakes, South Australia, and representatives in Sydney.

Vili Milisits

He left school aged 14 to work at Kazzy's Cake Shop in Burnside, run by fellow countryman Kazzy Ujvari.

Vincent Grey Flash

The Australian National Motor Museum of road transport history in Birdwood, South Australia has a 1950 Grey Flash.

William Jethro Brown

Brown was the son of James Brown, a farmer, and his wife Sophia Jane, née Torr, and was born at Mintaro, South Australia.

Willunga railway line

There is some evidence of railway track remaining on this trail, notably near the South Road crossing at Hackham, the top of the Seaford Hill and a small section of track in a paddock adjacent to Victor Harbor Road, McLaren Vale.

Woodside Barracks

Woodside Barracks is an Australian Army base located in South Australia near Inverbrackie and Woodside in South Australia.


Andrew Zesers

Andris Karlis Zesers (born 11 March 1967 in Medindie, South Australia) is a former Australian cricketer.

Australian Plague Locust Commission

With 19 staff members at its headquarters in Canberra and field offices in Narromine, Broken Hill and Longreach, the Commission is funded half by the Commonwealth government and half by the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

Australian Protective Service

Protection of sensitive defence establishments, including Defence Headquarters at Russell Offices in Canberra; the joint Australian/US communications facility at Pine Gap in the Northern Territory; the former atomic testing site at Maralinga in South Australia; the Australian Defence Signals facility at Geraldton and the naval communications station at Exmouth, both in Western Australia

Boinka, Victoria

Boinka is listed within the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 as being one of only two places where Pale Myoporum (Myoporum brevipes Benth.), a recumbent or erect shrub of up to 2 metres in height (widespread in South Australia), is known to grow indigenously outside of that location.

Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area

Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area is located on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

Chrysler Hemi-6 Engine

In a major coup for the company, Chrysler Australia's ad agency, the Young & Rubicam Advertising Agency in Adelaide, South Australia, secured the services of British racing driver Sterling Moss to promote the new Hemi-6 (245 cui) in 1969.

Claret Ash

The original seedling was discovered near a group of assorted ash trees in Sewell's nursery in the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia about 1910, and later grown at the nearby property Raywood (Former home of the Downer family).

Denis Hickey

Denis Jon Hickey (born 31 December 1964 in Mooroopna) is a former Australian first class cricketer who played for Victoria and South Australia in the Sheffield Shield.

Earl of Carysfort

Hugh Proby, third son of the third Earl, was the founder of Kanyaka Station in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

Gawler, South Australia

Gawler is the first country town in the state of South Australia, and is named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler.

Geoglyph

Other areas with geoglyphs include Megaliths in the Urals, South Australia (Marree Man, which is not ancient, rather a modern work of art, with mysterious origins), Western Australia and parts of the Great Basin Desert in the southwestern United States.

Harry Kneebone

In 1931 he was appointed to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for South Australia, filling the casual vacancy caused by the death of Country Party Senator John Chapman, but lost it in the election of later that year.

Inverbrackie, South Australia

It includes the Woodside Barracks (16th Air Land Regiment), South Australia, although there are also some other residents and businesses in Inverbrackie.

Kangarilla Football Club

Kangarilla left the Hills Football League and joined the Southern Football League Division 2 competition in 1981, gaining promotion to Division 1 in 1984.

Kapunda Football Club

Kapunda Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club, based in Kapunda, South Australia, that competes in the Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association.

Lace monitor

These common terrestrial and often arboreal monitors are found in eastern Australia and range from Cape Bedford on Cape York Peninsula to south-eastern South Australia.

Limnodynastes dumerilii

It is mostly associated with the slopes and ranges of New South Wales, northern Victoria and the Murray River into South Australia.

Lucasium damaeum

It is nocturnal, insectivorous, and is indigenous to the area around the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia - most particularly in arid climates such as found in Gawler Ranges National Park.

Mark Ricciuto

Also representing South Australia in interstate football and Australia in the International Rules Series, Ricciuto was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2011, and the South Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Mount Barker Waldorf School

Mount Barker Waldorf School is a private school located in the Adelaide Hills, roughly 40 km East of Adelaide, South Australia.

MS Oliva

In February 2013, a lifeboat from Oliva washed up on a beach in the Coorong National Park in south-east South Australia.

Mtutuzeli Hlomela

Mtutu had played soccer at junior level and at age 17, won a "football" scholarship through the South Australian and Western Cape sports ministries.

MV True North

Each year, she does one circumnavigation of Australia offering exclusive, luxury expeditions in Papua New Guinea, Cape York, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, South Australia and, from 2010, Solomon Islands.

Non Comprehendus

Non Comprehendus is the debut album from the South Australian rock band Testeagles.

Oakbank Racecourse

Located in South Australia's Adelaide Hills racing country, it's the home of steeplechasing and jumping in SA, which combines with flat racing over the festival, culminating in the famous Great Eastern Steeplechase.

Premiers of the Australian states

Currently South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory are the three states and territories that are run by Labor governments.

Princeland

The new colony was named after Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert and was to comprise the area west of Longitude 143°, part of the Wimmera and parts of South Australia near the Victorian border.

PS Murray Princess

The paddlewheeler, PS Murray Princess, is a tourist vessel operating from its homeport of Mannum, South Australia, on the Murray River.

Rex Townley

His claim to fame as a cricketer was dismissing Donald Bradman, caught and bowled for 369, in a first-class match against South Australia, the legendary batsman's second highest ever score at that level.

Riverton Bridge

The suburb of Riverton was in 1937 informally called Riverton Bridge to avoid confusion with the South Australian town of Riverton.

South Australia–Victoria border dispute

South Australian pastoralists had worked their way east from the coast and there were disputes when they met pastoralists from the Wimmera country pushing their way westwards with flocks of sheep.

In November 1846 the Colonial Secretary's Office directed surveyor Henry Wade to proceed from Sydney to the disputed territory to define a "Boundary for Police Purposes".

South Australian Railways

The Adelaide urban lines were transferred to the State Transport Authority, which was incorporated into TransAdelaide in 1994.

Thomas Boutflower Bennett

Thomas Boutflower Bennett (1808- 14 September 1894) was an early colonist of South Australia, remembered as a schoolmaster at J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution and at Saint Peter's College.

Thomas Playford II

Born in Bethnal Green, London in 1837, Playford moved to Adelaide in 1844 with his family and initially worked as a farmer prior to entering politics in April 1868 as the Member for Onkaparinga in the South Australian colonial parliament.

Thura-Yura languages

The Yura or Thura-Yura languages are a group of Australian Aboriginal languages surrounding Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, that comprise a genetic language family of the Pama–Nyungan family.

Yookamurra Sanctuary

Yookamurra Sanctuary is a 50 km2 nature reserve in the Murraylands region of South Australia, between the eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges and the Murray River, 24 km north-east of the town of Sedan.