Terowie. A former railway town now almost a ghost town. Town established just outside of Goyders Line in 1874. Welcome train model built by retired railway men.
Terowie.Terowie was surveyed at a time when Aboriginal names were popular for townships and hundreds, rather than English ones hence- Yarcowie, Wonna etc. The Hundred of Terowie was declared in 1871. John Aver Mitchell is considered the founder of the town as he erected the first building- the hotel in 1874. This was a private town. The government meanwhile tried to establish a government town called Shebbear in 1877 just to the east of Mitchell’s town. Terowie (with an average of 12 inches of rain) is outside Goyder’s rainfall and vegetation line. Rainfall was excellent in the 1870s but drought struck in the early 1880s and rainfall was down to 8 inches in 1882 (220 mm.) 1889 and 1890 were good rainfall years and then further drought in the 1890s continued disproving once and for all that “rain follows the plough.” Total wheat production in South Australia fell from 14.1 million bushels in 1879 to 7.3 million bushels by 1882. This was also the period when the Willochra Plains and areas in the Southern Flinders Ranges as far as Hawker were being settled and abandoned. The bountiful harvests of 1873 and 1874 had led to a panic for new northern lands to farm. But added to the drought of the early 1880s was the rabbit plague, followed by wheat rust, and then locusts. 150,000 acres of land outside of Goyder’s Line was surveyed and sold in 1878. More was to follow. By 1883, 600,000 acres of land beyond Goyder’s Line had been forfeited as farmers walked off their properties unable to pay their mortgages. The ruins of the houses and those who lived in them for a short time can still to be seen in marginal lands today.
The Terowie School opened in 1877 with more than 40 children. Besides the state school the Sisters of St Joseph opened a Catholic School in 1911 which also took in borders after 1917. This school closed in 1966. A newspaper flourished in Terowie from 1881-1891 indicating the prosperity of the town. A flour mill was erected in 1881 and operated until 1920. The first meeting of Terowie District Council was held in 1888. Issues for the Council in its early days were rabbit control; footpaths; grass hopper plagues; controlling the cemetery; and drought assistance. The broad gauge rail line from Burra was extended to Hallett in 1878 and on to Terowie in 1880. The government had made a decision to terminate the broad gauge railway at Terowie, and built a narrow gauge connection across to Peterborough and on to Quorn and down to Port Augusta. A break of rail gage always caused a lot of work and created employment opportunities. Terowie was selected as a terminus as it supposedly had good supplies of underground water for the railway steam engines. Its importance grew more once the silver, lead and zinc deposits at Broken Hill were discovered. The town reached a great size in 1911 with around 1,000 inhabitants but during WW2 it had around 5,000 people with the adjacent armed forces camp. All rail traffic to the north of the state was handled in Terowie, and after 1917, all trains and freight to Perth was handled in Terowie. The railway was its life line. And although the country to the east of the town proved unsuitable for farming, it was good pastoral country; the country to the west of Terowie towards Yongala Run was within Goyder’s Line and was successfully farmed.
Terowie thrived during World War Two with all the freight and personnel handling at the break of gauge and General Macarthur even visited. From 1941 it became the point where all the brown coal mined at Leigh Creek was transhipped to Adelaide from the narrow northern line which passed through Quorn. This stopped in 1957 with the opening of a standard gauge line from Leigh Creek to Port Augusta and the establishment of a power station at Port Augusta. The final death knoll for Terowie as a rail centre was the extension of the broad gauge rail line to Peterborough in 1969 and the standardisation of the line from Crystal Brook to Peterborough in 1970 which meant no freight handled in Terowie. The line was closed in 1986 and ripped up in 1990!
Terowie. A former railway town now almost a ghost town. Town established just outside of Goyders Line in 1874. Welcome train model built by retired railway men.
Terowie.Terowie was surveyed at a time when Aboriginal names were popular for townships and hundreds, rather than English ones hence- Yarcowie, Wonna etc. The Hundred of Terowie was declared in 1871. John Aver Mitchell is considered the founder of the town as he erected the first building- the hotel in 1874. This was a private town. The government meanwhile tried to establish a government town called Shebbear in 1877 just to the east of Mitchell’s town. Terowie (with an average of 12 inches of rain) is outside Goyder’s rainfall and vegetation line. Rainfall was excellent in the 1870s but drought struck in the early 1880s and rainfall was down to 8 inches in 1882 (220 mm.) 1889 and 1890 were good rainfall years and then further drought in the 1890s continued disproving once and for all that “rain follows the plough.” Total wheat production in South Australia fell from 14.1 million bushels in 1879 to 7.3 million bushels by 1882. This was also the period when the Willochra Plains and areas in the Southern Flinders Ranges as far as Hawker were being settled and abandoned. The bountiful harvests of 1873 and 1874 had led to a panic for new northern lands to farm. But added to the drought of the early 1880s was the rabbit plague, followed by wheat rust, and then locusts. 150,000 acres of land outside of Goyder’s Line was surveyed and sold in 1878. More was to follow. By 1883, 600,000 acres of land beyond Goyder’s Line had been forfeited as farmers walked off their properties unable to pay their mortgages. The ruins of the houses and those who lived in them for a short time can still to be seen in marginal lands today.
The Terowie School opened in 1877 with more than 40 children. Besides the state school the Sisters of St Joseph opened a Catholic School in 1911 which also took in borders after 1917. This school closed in 1966. A newspaper flourished in Terowie from 1881-1891 indicating the prosperity of the town. A flour mill was erected in 1881 and operated until 1920. The first meeting of Terowie District Council was held in 1888. Issues for the Council in its early days were rabbit control; footpaths; grass hopper plagues; controlling the cemetery; and drought assistance. The broad gauge rail line from Burra was extended to Hallett in 1878 and on to Terowie in 1880. The government had made a decision to terminate the broad gauge railway at Terowie, and built a narrow gauge connection across to Peterborough and on to Quorn and down to Port Augusta. A break of rail gage always caused a lot of work and created employment opportunities. Terowie was selected as a terminus as it supposedly had good supplies of underground water for the railway steam engines. Its importance grew more once the silver, lead and zinc deposits at Broken Hill were discovered. The town reached a great size in 1911 with around 1,000 inhabitants but during WW2 it had around 5,000 people with the adjacent armed forces camp. All rail traffic to the north of the state was handled in Terowie, and after 1917, all trains and freight to Perth was handled in Terowie. The railway was its life line. And although the country to the east of the town proved unsuitable for farming, it was good pastoral country; the country to the west of Terowie towards Yongala Run was within Goyder’s Line and was successfully farmed.
Terowie thrived during World War Two with all the freight and personnel handling at the break of gauge and General Macarthur even visited. From 1941 it became the point where all the brown coal mined at Leigh Creek was transhipped to Adelaide from the narrow northern line which passed through Quorn. This stopped in 1957 with the opening of a standard gauge line from Leigh Creek to Port Augusta and the establishment of a power station at Port Augusta. The final death knoll for Terowie as a rail centre was the extension of the broad gauge rail line to Peterborough in 1969 and the standardisation of the line from Crystal Brook to Peterborough in 1970 which meant no freight handled in Terowie. The line was closed in 1986 and ripped up in 1990!