Mount Bryan is a town in north east 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...

. The town is situated on the Barrier Highway

Barrier Highway

The Barrier Highway is a highway in New South Wales and South Australia signposted as in South Australia and in New South Wales, Australia.The Barrier Highway starts at Nyngan where it joins the Mitchell Highway. It heads west past Hermidale and Boppy Mountain to Cobar, a mining town. It then...

, 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) north of Burra

Burra, South Australia

Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships ...

, in the Regional Council of Goyder

Regional Council of Goyder

The Regional Council of Goyder is a local government area located in the Mid North region of South Australia. The district is reliant on agriculture as a mainstay of its economy, with manufacturing and tourism also becoming prominent.-History:...

. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Mount Bryan had a population of 137.

The town was named after a nearby peak, Mount Bryan, which was discovered in December 1839 by Governor George Gawler

George Gawler

-External links: – Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK...

 and who named it in honour of Henry Bryan, a young man who became lost and perished of thirst during Gawler's expedition. Among those accompanying Gawler were Charles Sturt

Charles Sturt

Captain Charles Napier Sturt was an English explorer of Australia, and part of the European Exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from both Sydney and later from Adelaide. His expeditions traced several of the westward-flowing rivers,...

 and Henry Inman

Henry Inman (police commander)

Henry Inman , cavalry officer, Pioneer of South Australia, founder and first commander of the South Australia Police, overlander, Anglican clergyman.-Origins:...

.

Once the heart of a thriving farming community, including some of Australia's best known Merino sheep studs, the town today is largely represented by the Mount Bryan Hotel—an old pub.

At the northern end of the Mount Lofty Ranges

Mount Lofty Ranges

The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...

, the views of and from the surrounding hills are scenic. An popular route is north east to Sir Hubert Wilkins

Hubert Wilkins

Sir Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer.-Early life:...

 cottage, birthplace of perhaps the last modern explorer.

Modern technology has found Mount Bryan with windfarm

WindFarm

WindFarm is wind energy software used to analyse, design, optimise and visualise wind farms. It calculates and optimises the energy yield subject to natural, planning and engineering constraints. WindFarm has the wind modelling software MS-Micro integrated. MS-Micro is based on the same...

s generating clean energy from some of the ridge-tops.