Laura. The former Police Station in the Main Street. Built in 1878. Closed as a Police Station in 1968.
Laura.
The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.
Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.
After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was added in 1883 to the design of Port Pirie architect William Mallyon.
The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.
Laura. The former Police Station in the Main Street. Built in 1878. Closed as a Police Station in 1968.
Laura.
The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.
Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.
After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was added in 1883 to the design of Port Pirie architect William Mallyon.
The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.