Yorke Peninsula | |
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 The town ofArdrossan, located in Yorke Peninsula | |
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  Yorke Peninsula | |
| Coordinates:34°21′0″S137°37′0″E / 34.35000°S 137.61667°E /-34.35000; 137.61667 | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | South Australia |
| LGAs | |
| Established | 1840s |
| Government | |
| • State electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Area | |
• Total | 8,900 km2 (3,400 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 25,143 (2005)[4] |
| • Density | 2.825/km2 (7.32/sq mi) |
| Website | Yorke Peninsula |
TheYorke Peninsula, known asGuuranda by the original inhabitants, theNarungga people, is apeninsula located northwest and west ofAdelaide inSouth Australia, betweenSpencer Gulf on the west andGulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated fromKangaroo Island to the south byInvestigator Strait.
The most populous town in the region isKadina;Maitland is the most central town; and the south-western tip is occupied byDhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park.
Prior to European settlement of the area commencing around 1840, following theBritish colonisation of South Australia, Yorke Peninsula was the home to theNarungga people. ThisAboriginal Australian nation are thetraditional owners of the land, and comprised fourclans sharing the peninsula, known as Guuranda: Kurnara in the north, Dilpa in the south, Wari in the west, and Windarra in the east.[5][6] The Narungga people also had names for the locations of many towns on the peninsula, such as Maggiwarda forMaitland.[7][8] Today the descendants of these people still live on Yorke Peninsula, supported by the Narungga Aboriginal Progress Association inMaitland, and in the community atPoint Pearce.
It was named "Yorke's Peninsula"[9] by CaptainMatthew Flinders, afterCharles Philip Yorke (later Lord Hardwicke), narrowly beating French navigator CaptainNicolas Baudin, who preferred the name "Cambaceres Peninsula".[10]
The area is also known as theYorke Horst, which is distinctphysiographic section of the largerSouth Australian Shatter Belt province, which in turn is part of the largerWest Australian Shield, a physiographic division describing a geological feature known as ashield. Along with Cape Eyre the peninsula is also part of theEyre Yorke Blockbioregion.[citation needed]
Most of Yorke Peninsula is prime agricultural land, with mostly small rolling hills and flat plains. The southern end of theHummocks Range partially extends down the top of the Peninsula, flattening out nearClinton. The highest point[quantify] on the Peninsula is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-east ofMaitland, although there is some debate as to where the Peninsula borders the Mid-North, and part of the steep Hummocks terrain may be considered part of the Peninsula.[citation needed]
A series of shallow valleys line the interior of the Peninsula, with the main one called the Yorke Valley extending roughly from Sunnyvale, south ofPaskeville through to Ramsey, betweenMinlaton andStansbury. The predominant Yorke Valley area lies roughly in the area betweenArthurton, Maitland,Ardrossan andCurramulka.[citation needed]
The southern tip, sometimes termed the "foot", is surrounded on three sides by the ocean, and forms a 170,000-hectare (420,000-acre) isolated "mainland island", with large tracts of excellent native vegetation.[11]
Principal towns include theCopper Coast towns ofKadina,Moonta andWallaroo;farming centres ofMaitland,Minlaton andYorketown; and the port ofArdrossan. A number of smaller coastal towns are popular destinations for fishing and holidays, particularly for people fromAdelaide.
The south-western tip is occupied byDhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park.
Typical of the southern coastal areas of the state and influenced by the surrounding bodies of water, Yorke Peninsula has aMediterranean climate, (Koppen: borderline Csa/Csb), with some areas bordering asemi-arid climate, with hot, dry summer and cool, wet winter seasons. Maximum temperatures in summer average around 30°C and in winter average around 12–15°C.[citation needed]
Due to the surrounding bodies of water, winter temperatures are moderated and milder than most of the state, with overnight temperatures rarely falling below zero, makingfrost relatively uncommon in the region. Northerly winds from thedesert can bring temperatures above 40°C in summer and occasionally bring very warm winter days well into the 20s. Average precipitation is 4–600 mm, most of which falls from mid-April through to September, though total and seasonal rainfall can vary greatly from year to year. Along with most of southern Australia,monsoonal lows from the north occasionally bring heavy storm events during spring and summer; rainfall is otherwise light and unreliable due tohigh pressure systems dominating the area.[citation needed]
Yorke Peninsula is a major producer of grain, particularlybarley. Historically this has been sent out by sea because there are no rail services. Most coastal towns on the peninsula have substantial jetties. In the past these were used byketches,schooners, and latersteamships, to collect the grain in bags, and deliver fertiliser and other supplies. As roads in the region improved, and freight-handling techniques changed from bags to bulk, this became obsolete. A deep-water port was opened in 1970 near the south-eastern tip atPort Giles to export grain in bulk, and almost all the other ports ceased to be used for freight in the 1950s and 1960s. The only other ports with bulk-handling facilities are Wallaroo at the north-western side, and Ardrossan at the top ofGulf St Vincent, also used to shipdolomite from a nearby mine forOneSteel. Maitland has a grain-receiving depot operated byAWB, serviced only by road.[citation needed]
Wine production commenced on the Peninsula during the 1990s, taking advantage of the rich grey,limestone-based soil.[12]
Acknowledged as Australia's oldest Field Days, the Yorke Peninsula Field Days have been held since 1894. The Field Days site just outsidePaskeville is a hive of agricultural activity every 2 years, at the end of September.[13]
Access from Adelaide is by road, and a regular bus service operates from the capital to main towns on the peninsula and between some of the towns. It takes an estimated two and a half hours to drive from end to end, and about 30–40 minutes across the peninsula. There are notraffic lights on the peninsula.[14]
In December 2006, Sea SA operated the firstferry service across the Spencer Gulf, between Wallaroo andLucky Bay, nearCowell onEyre Peninsula, and this service continued until at least late 2015.[15] As of 2021[update] a daily ferry service is operated by Spencer Gulf Searoad.[16]
TheBalaklava-Moonta railway line ran across the upper Yorke Peninsula from 1878 until the 1980s.
A programme, "Baiting forbiodiversity", involving making discounted fox baits available to landowners, in order to reduce the threat of introduced foxes to native fauna, has been running across 170,000 hectares (420,000 acres) of the peninsula since 2014. The programme has been successful in helping to protect native species, such as thewestern pygmy possum,tammar wallaby includingthreatened species such as thehooded plover,mallee fowl andfairy tern.Bush stone-curlews had returned to the peninsula after not being seen there for 40 years.[17][18]
In 2003, theMonarto Zoo temporarily housed 85 mainland tammar wallaby from New Zealand, awaiting reintroduction to theDhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park,[19] after they had beenlocally extinct there for some time.[18] By 2012, four releases had been made, and the population increased to 100–120 animals.[20]
The following statutory reserves are located within the peninsula or immediately adjoin its coastline:
Yorke Peninsula also hosts twoImportant Bird Areas (IBA): theGulf St Vincent Important Bird Area and theSouthern Yorke Peninsula Important Bird Area. The Gulf St Vincent IBA covers a strip of intertidal land from Ardrossan to the head of Gulf St Vincent and onto the east coast of the gulf. The Southern Yorke Peninsula IBA covers most of the southern western tip of the Peninsula and overlaps Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park and Warrenben Conservation Park.[25][26]
Marna Banggara, formerly known as the Great Southern Ark,[27] is a grand project starting in 2019 to restore the landscape andecology of the southern Yorke Peninsula, by reintroducing around twentylocally extinct species. The 25-kilometre (16 mi) fence across the peninsula, isolating a 170,000-hectare (420,000-acre) "mainland island", will limit predation of both native species and livestock such as lambs byferal cats andred foxes. Some work on controlling foxes had been carried out around 2006, in preparation for the return oftammar wallabies to Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, but the fence will expand the area of control.[11][28][29]
The geography of the southern tip of the peninsula makes it an excellent location forspecies reintroduction, as it is surrounded by the ocean on three sides. The area already possesses good native vegetation, and the area is isolated. Marna Banggara is funded through the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board, the federal government’sNational Landcare Program, the South AustralianDepartment for Environment and Water,WWF-Australia and theFoundation for National Parks and Wildlife, and many organisations have been actively involved in developing the project.[11]
Twentywoylies, or brush-tailed bettongs, were the first species reintroduced in the area, translocated fromWedge Island in June 2021,[30][11][31] with another 80 to follow over time. The woylies will be the first of about 20locally extinct species which will be moved there by around 2040.[30] Other species to be reintroduced as part of the project includewestern quolls andsouthern brown bandicoots, as well as native predators including thebarn owl,red-tailed phascogale.[18]
The workGuuranda, directed byNarungga/Kaurna man Jacob Boehme, premiered atHer Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, as part of the 2024Adelaide Festival. The work, which comprises three sections, each relating to a local creation story, includes dance, puppetry, and songs.[32]
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Since the discovery of Copper on Yorke Peninsula over 150 years ago, the towns ofKadina,Moonta andWallaroo have been collectively known as the Copper Coast.
The world's largest Cornish Festival takes place every 2 years (in odd-numbered years) in the Copper Coast towns ofKadina,Moonta andWallaroo.
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