| Kingston SE South Australia | |||||||||||||||
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 Lobster sculpture located at the entrance to the town | |||||||||||||||
  Kingston SE | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 36°49′S139°51′E / 36.817°S 139.850°E /-36.817; 139.850[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 1,637 (UCL2021)[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Established | 1861 (town) 3 December 1998 (locality)[1][3] | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5275[4] | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | ACST (UTC+9:30) | ||||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | ACDT (UTC+10:30) | ||||||||||||||
| Location |
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| LGA(s) | Kingston District Council[1] | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | MacKillop[5] | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Barker[6] | ||||||||||||||
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| Footnotes | Locations[4] Adjoining Localities[1] | ||||||||||||||
Kingston SE (Kingston South East to distinguish it fromKingston on Murray), formerlyKingston, is a town in the Australian state ofSouth Australia located in the state's south-east coastline on the shores ofLacepede Bay. It is located about 240 kilometres (150 miles) southeast of the state capital ofAdelaide and 138 kilometres (86 miles) north-west of the centre of the city ofMount Gambier.
At the2021 census, Kingston SE had a population of 1,637.
Aboriginal Australian people lived in the area for tens of thousands of years before thecolonisation of South Australia. The place, known to theTanganekald andMeintangk peoples asTangalun, was at the border of the traditional lands of these two peoples.[8]
Kingston, South Australia was established in the 1800s by Archibald Cooke, his brother James Cooke,[a] and James' wife Mary Macpherson Cooke,[9] and named Kingston in 1851.[8]
Much later aSir George Strickland Kingston, a South Australian politician, surveyor and architect was chosen, for the coincidence of his name, to open the Kingston Post Office on 9 February 1869.[9] The extension on its name is to distinguish Kingston in the South East (of South Australia) from another "Kingston" in the state which is now officially named "Kingston on Murray". The extension was added in July 1940.[10]
The present-day town of Kingston SE includes the original Kingston, as well as the towns ofPort Caroline andMaria Creek.[11] The latter was so named after theMaria, which wrecked near Kingston in 1840. The 26 survivors were massacred by local Aboriginal people, after which a punitive expedition underMajor O'Halloran hanged two Aboriginal people, and an unknown number of others were also killed, according to Aboriginaloral history.[8]
The town was connected toNaracoorte by a 1,070 mm railway known as theKingston-Naracoorte railway in 1876, providing a port for the grain and wool grown away from the coast. The rails were converted tobroad gauge 1,600 mm with a new station built on the edge of town in 1959. The railway closed on 28 November 1987 then was dismantled on 15 September 1991.[12]
The region was formerly serviced by two newspapers: theKingston Weekly, the newspaper of The Kingston Traders' Association, was issued between 22 March 1946 and 30 March 1951. Later, theSouth-East Kingston Leader was started in Kingston, and was published from 1962 until 21 November 2001 when it was renamedCoastal Leader. It is now[when?] owned byAustralian Community Media.[citation needed]
At the2021 census, Kingston SE had a population of 1,637.[13]
The main industries are fishing, wine-making, sheep and cattle farming and recreation, the district having a large influx of tourists during holiday periods throughout the year.
The northern entrance to the town is dominated by theBig Lobster, named "Larry" by people in Kingston.[14]
The town has anAustralian rules football team competing in theKowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara Football League.[15]
Kingston SE is home to theCape Jaffa Lighthouse, which was moved to its current location from its former location onMargaret Brock Reef, and now operates as a museum. The museum also houses a lifeboat fromMS Oliva which washed ashore after two years adrift.
Kingston SE has awarm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb), with warm, dry summers and mild, drizzly winters. Average maxima vary from 24.8 °C (76.6 °F) in January to 14.1 °C (57.4 °F) in July and average minima fluctuate between 13.8 °C (56.8 °F) in January and 7.7 °C (45.9 °F) in July. Mean average annualprecipitation is somewhat low: 494.1 mm (19.45 in), spread between 156.1 precipitation days. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 41.8 °C (107.2 °F) on 24 January 2021 to −0.7 °C (30.7 °F) on 15 June 2011.[16] Climate data was taken from the nearest weather station atCape Jaffa.
| Climate data for Kingston SE (36º58'12"S, 139º43'12"E, 17 m AMSL) (1991-2020 normals and extremes) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 41.8 (107.2) | 40.8 (105.4) | 38.4 (101.1) | 33.1 (91.6) | 27.2 (81.0) | 22.4 (72.3) | 19.5 (67.1) | 23.3 (73.9) | 27.6 (81.7) | 34.0 (93.2) | 38.4 (101.1) | 40.3 (104.5) | 41.8 (107.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 24.8 (76.6) | 24.4 (75.9) | 22.7 (72.9) | 20.0 (68.0) | 16.9 (62.4) | 14.8 (58.6) | 14.1 (57.4) | 14.6 (58.3) | 16.2 (61.2) | 18.7 (65.7) | 21.3 (70.3) | 22.9 (73.2) | 19.3 (66.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 13.8 (56.8) | 13.6 (56.5) | 12.6 (54.7) | 10.8 (51.4) | 9.4 (48.9) | 8.0 (46.4) | 7.7 (45.9) | 7.9 (46.2) | 8.6 (47.5) | 9.3 (48.7) | 10.7 (51.3) | 12.3 (54.1) | 10.4 (50.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 6.5 (43.7) | 6.3 (43.3) | 5.2 (41.4) | 1.3 (34.3) | 0.0 (32.0) | −0.7 (30.7) | 0.1 (32.2) | 0.2 (32.4) | 1.0 (33.8) | 2.6 (36.7) | 3.4 (38.1) | 4.7 (40.5) | −0.7 (30.7) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 17.8 (0.70) | 16.8 (0.66) | 20.2 (0.80) | 31.8 (1.25) | 54.3 (2.14) | 69.8 (2.75) | 79.9 (3.15) | 70.1 (2.76) | 48.8 (1.92) | 32.4 (1.28) | 26.7 (1.05) | 22.6 (0.89) | 494.1 (19.45) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.2 mm) | 5.5 | 4.6 | 8.5 | 12.8 | 17.5 | 19.0 | 20.6 | 21.1 | 16.7 | 12.8 | 8.9 | 8.1 | 156.1 |
| Average afternoonrelative humidity (%) | 55 | 57 | 58 | 62 | 71 | 76 | 77 | 74 | 72 | 63 | 58 | 55 | 65 |
| Averagedew point °C (°F) | 11.7 (53.1) | 12.2 (54.0) | 11.3 (52.3) | 10.3 (50.5) | 10.2 (50.4) | 9.2 (48.6) | 9.0 (48.2) | 8.6 (47.5) | 9.4 (48.9) | 9.1 (48.4) | 10.1 (50.2) | 10.5 (50.9) | 10.1 (50.2) |
| Source:Bureau of Meteorology (1991-2024 normals and extremes)[7] | |||||||||||||
My Aboriginal identity belongs to Tangalun, a place known to the Tanganekald and Meintangk Peoples as the end place of the Tangane language. It's at the southern end of the Coorong, and it is where Tanganekald country meets Meintangk people's lands and territories. It was renamed Kingston by colonial settlers in 1851.