Hoyleton, South Australia

Hoyleton
South Australia
Original goods shed, built in the 1870s
Hoyleton is located in South Australia
Hoyleton
Hoyleton
Coordinates34°01′25″S 138°33′43″E / 34.02361°S 138.56194°E / -34.02361; 138.56194
Population120 (SAL 2021)[1]
LGA(s)Wakefield Regional Council
RegionMid North
CountyStanley
State electorate(s)Goyder
Federal division(s)Grey
Localities around Hoyleton:
Bowillia Kybunga
Spring Gully
Watervale
Stow Hoyleton Leasingham
Watchman Halbury Auburn

Hoyleton (formerly Hoyle's Plains) is a former railway town in South Australia, west of the Clare Valley, halfway between Leasingham and Halbury.

Hoyle's Plains was the original terminus of the Port Wakefield railway line. This was constructed in 1869 as a horse-drawn tramway to assist farmers on the newly settled Hoyles Plains to get their grain to the port.[2]

The Gladstone railway line ran from Balaklava to Blyth and further on into the Mid North of the state.[3] Due to various reasons, this particular line had become obsolete and the tracks were dismantled in the late 1980s. The original historic stone railway shed remains standing alongside the grain silos which are still in use, but now serviced by road.

Sir Walter Watson Hughes, one of the founders of the University of Adelaide, originally owned a pastoral lease at Hoyleton in the 1850s. He later went on to own vast copper mining interests at Wallaroo, on the Yorke Peninsula.[4]

The Hoyleton Airbase to the west of the township is a base for firefighting aircraft to quickly respond to reports of fires in the Mid North region.

Government

Hoyleton is in the Wakefield Regional Council local government area, the State Electoral District of Goyder and the Federal Electorate of Grey.

References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Hoyleton (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ "THE PORT WAKEFIELD AND HOYLE'S PLAINS TRAMWAY, AND THE DISTRICT THROUGH WHICH IT PASSES". The Express and Telegraph. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 27 November 1869. p. 2 Edition: SECOND EDITION. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  3. ^ The Centenary of the Port Wakefield and Hoyleton Railway Wilson, John Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January, 1970 pp. 17–23
  4. ^ Cockburn, Rodney (1999). South Australia – What's in a Name?. Axiom Publishing. ISBN 0-9592519-1-X.