Port Augusta, South Australia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Electricity generation

Electricity is generated at the Playford B (240 MW) and Northern power stations (520 MW) from brown coal

Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

mined at Leigh Creek

Leigh Creek, South Australia

Leigh Creek is a coal-mining town in the north of South Australia. At the 2006 census, Leigh Creek had a population of 549....

, 250 km to the north. The only coal-fired electricity generating plants in South Australia, in 2009 they produced 33% of the state's electricity, but over 50% of the state's CO₂ emissions from electricity generation.

Tourism

Port Augusta has been able to capitalise on the growing eco-tourism industry due to its proximity to the Flinders Ranges

Flinders Ranges

Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts approximately north west of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna...

. The Pichi Richi Railway

Pichi Richi Railway

The Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society is a non-profit railway preservation society and operating museum formed in 1973. The society, managed and staffed by volunteers, operates heritage steam and diesel trains on the restored 39 km section of track between Quorn and Port Augusta in...

is a major drawcard, connecting Port Augusta to the town of Quorn

Quorn, South Australia

Quorn is a township and railhead in the Flinders Ranges in the north of South Australia, 39 km northeast of Port Augusta. At the 2006 census, Quorn had a population of 1068.Quorn is the home of the Flinders Ranges Council local government area...

through Pichi Richi Pass.

Within Port Augusta is the City of Port Augusta's

City of Port Augusta

The City of Port Augusta is a local government area located at the northern end of Spencer Gulf in South Australia. It is centred on the town of Port Augusta...

Wadlata Outback Centre, providing tourists with an introduction to life in the Australian outback. The centre recorded over 500,000 visitors in 2006.
North of town, on the Stuart Highway, are the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden. The gardens have a cafe/restaurant with views across the saltbush plains to the escarpment of the Flinders Ranges. The PACC annula report shows more than 100,000 people visited the gardens in 2006.

South-west of town, on the El-Alamein army base, is the Baxter Immigration Detention Centre

Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre

Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Baxter Detention Centre, was an Australian immigration detention facility near the town of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was the focus of much of the controversy concerning the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia...

Shopping

Commercial Road is the main shopping street. Some of the stores situated in or near Commercial Road include:

Supermarkets and chain stores: Big-W, Woolworths, Coles, Foodland, Target
Banks: ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB, BankSA, CPS
Clothing: Just Jeans, Uptown Girl, Target, Saltbush Surf and Leisure
Food and drink: The Hannahville, Wendys, French Hot Bread Shop, Tassie Tavern, Caffe Primo, Thirsty Camel, The Flinders Pub
Leisure: Sanity Music, Sportscene, Saltbush Surf and Leisure, JT Shoez
Consumer goods: Telstra dealer, Radio Rentals, Home Hardware,
Other: Chemmart, Australia Post, Oasis Apartments, KD's Hair Flair, Ben Jenkin CPA, Acacia Art Florist

Education

There are six public primary schools:

There is one secondary school, Port Augusta Secondary School, which has two campuses:

Seaview Campus (previously known as Augusta Park High School) now caters for year 8 to 9 students, and
Stirling Campus (previously known as Port Augusta High School) now has year 10 and higher students.

There is one private school for reception to year 12 students called Caritas College.

Port Augusta also has:

Port Augusta Special School,
Port Augusta School of the Air and
TAFE (tertiary technical college), Port Augusta Campus.

State & Federal

2006 State Election
	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	62.3%
	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	30.7%
	Family First Family First Party The Family First Party is a socially conservative minor political party in Australia. It has two members in the South Australian Legislative Council...	3.0%
	Greens Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...	2.3%
	Democrats Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...	1.3%
	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	0.3%

2007 Federal Election
	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	53.99%
	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	31.4%
	Family First Family First Party The Family First Party is a socially conservative minor political party in Australia. It has two members in the South Australian Legislative Council...	4.47%
	Greens Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...	3.86%
	National	3.32%
	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1.69%
	Democrats Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...	1.27%

Port Augusta is part of the state electoral district of Stuart

Electoral district of Stuart

Stuart is an electorate for the South Australian House of Assembly. It covers the northeast part of the state extending from just north of the Barossa Valley all the way to the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales borders, and extending west to include Port Augusta...

which has been held since 1997 by Liberal MP Graham Gunn

Graham Gunn

Graham McDonald Gunn, AM , Australian politician, was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly. He represented the electoral district of Stuart and was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia...

. The seat is held by a margin of 1%. In federal politics, the city is part of the division of Grey

Division of Grey

The Division of Grey is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia.The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who was Governor of South Australia 1841-45 ....

, and has been represented by Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey

Rowan Ramsey

Rowan Eric Ramsey is the Liberal Party of Australia representative for the electoral division of Grey, which covers the vast geographical majority of South Australia, succeeding prior Liberal MP Barry Wakelin as of the 2007 federal election.-External links:**...

since 2007. Grey is held with a margin of 8.86% and is considered safe-liberal. The results shown are from the largest polling station in Port Augusta — which is located at Port Augusta TAFE college.

Local

Port Augusta is in the City of Port Augusta

City of Port Augusta

The City of Port Augusta is a local government area located at the northern end of Spencer Gulf in South Australia. It is centred on the town of Port Augusta...

local government area (along with some of the sparsely inhabited areas around it).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.