Coward Springs, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Coward Springs is a former settlement and railway station in the desert in outback
South Australia
. It is situated on the Oodnadatta Track
adjacent to the Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park, 236 km from Coober Pedy
.
It was named in 1858 by Peter Warburton
after Corporal Thomas Coward, one of the members of the exploration party.
Coward Springs had a school from 1888 to 1890. The government bore
was 400 feet deep and the artesian water rose 15 feet into the air from the bore. The bore was completed on 16 July 1886.
Coward Springs currently provides pleasant camping facilities, an open-air spa, and historical features.
in 1853, riding on four successive gold escorts between Adelaide and Bendigo.
He was then posted as mounted constable to Port Augusta, Kapunda, and other country police stations, being promoted to corporal. In 1858 he was stationed at Mount Serle when he accompanied the party of Peter Warburton
on one of his explorations, during which they discovered and named Coward Springs. He then accompanied Richard Graves MacDonnell
on his Central Australian expedition.
After being dismissed from the SA Police in 1860 for gross ill-treatment of his horse, he joined the Snowy River gold escort service in New South Wales. Coward was then sent into Queensland as detective in the manhunt for the bushranger Frank Gardiner
. In 1864 he resigned his NSW post to take up the position of sub-inspector in the Queensland Native Police Corps
, serving at various country postings including Burketown. In 1867 he was appointed goldfields warden at the Palmer River
diggings, being involved in controversial actions regarding Chinese miners. He then resigned from policing and married at Brisbane in 1879 to Millicent Deagon.
In 1891 Coward returned with his family to Adelaide, where he became a publican, first of the Imperial Hotel, and then of the Prince Albert Hotel, where he died in 1905, aged 71. In 1893 he stood as candidate for the Northern Territory electorate in the SA House of Assembly election, but was defeated.
Outback
The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. It is situated on the Oodnadatta Track
Oodnadatta Track
The Oodnadatta Track , Australia is an unsealed 620 kilometre track between Marree and Marla via Oodnadatta in South Australia. It passes the southern lake of the Lake Eyre National Park....
adjacent to the Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park, 236 km from Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy, South Australia
Coober Pedy is a town in northern South Australia, 846 kilometres north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. According to the 2006 census, its population was 1,916 . The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there...
.
It was named in 1858 by Peter Warburton
Peter Warburton
Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton CMG was an English explorer who made one particularly daring expedition from Adelaide to cross the centre of Australia to the coast of Western Australia via Alice Springs in 1872.The younger brother of Rowland Egerton-Warburton, Warburton was educated at home and...
after Corporal Thomas Coward, one of the members of the exploration party.
Coward Springs had a school from 1888 to 1890. The government bore
Borehole
A borehole is the generalized term for any narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water or other liquid or gases , as part of a geotechnical investigation, environmental site...
was 400 feet deep and the artesian water rose 15 feet into the air from the bore. The bore was completed on 16 July 1886.
Coward Springs currently provides pleasant camping facilities, an open-air spa, and historical features.
Thomas Coward
Thomas (‘Tom’) Coward was born 1834 in England, third son of John and Sarah, and arrived in Adelaide with his parents and siblings on the Fairlie in 1840. He joined the goldrush to Victoria in 1851, and then returned to Adelaide where he joined the South Australia PoliceSouth Australia Police
The South Australia Police is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. It is an agency of the Government of South Australia within the South Australian Department of Justice.-History:...
in 1853, riding on four successive gold escorts between Adelaide and Bendigo.
He was then posted as mounted constable to Port Augusta, Kapunda, and other country police stations, being promoted to corporal. In 1858 he was stationed at Mount Serle when he accompanied the party of Peter Warburton
Peter Warburton
Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton CMG was an English explorer who made one particularly daring expedition from Adelaide to cross the centre of Australia to the coast of Western Australia via Alice Springs in 1872.The younger brother of Rowland Egerton-Warburton, Warburton was educated at home and...
on one of his explorations, during which they discovered and named Coward Springs. He then accompanied Richard Graves MacDonnell
Richard Graves MacDonnell
Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell KCMG CB was an Anglo-Irish lawyer, judge and colonial governor...
on his Central Australian expedition.
After being dismissed from the SA Police in 1860 for gross ill-treatment of his horse, he joined the Snowy River gold escort service in New South Wales. Coward was then sent into Queensland as detective in the manhunt for the bushranger Frank Gardiner
Frank Gardiner
Frank Gardiner was a noted Australian bushranger of the 19th century. He was born in Scotland about 1827 and migrated from to Australia as a child with his parents in 1834,. His real name was Francis Christie, though he often used one of several other aliases including Gardiner, Clarke or Christie...
. In 1864 he resigned his NSW post to take up the position of sub-inspector in the Queensland Native Police Corps
Native Police Corps
An Australian Native Police Corps was first established in 1842 in the Port Phillip District of the Australian colony of New South Wales...
, serving at various country postings including Burketown. In 1867 he was appointed goldfields warden at the Palmer River
Palmer River
The Palmer River is a river southwest of Cooktown in northeastern Australia. It was the site of a gold rush in the late 19th century which started in 1872. The Palmer River flows west across Cape York to the Gulf of Carpentaria, via the Mitchell River...
diggings, being involved in controversial actions regarding Chinese miners. He then resigned from policing and married at Brisbane in 1879 to Millicent Deagon.
In 1891 Coward returned with his family to Adelaide, where he became a publican, first of the Imperial Hotel, and then of the Prince Albert Hotel, where he died in 1905, aged 71. In 1893 he stood as candidate for the Northern Territory electorate in the SA House of Assembly election, but was defeated.