Tarcoola, South Australia
Encyclopedia
Tarcoola is a town in the Far North
of South Australia
416 km north-northwest of Port Augusta
.
Tarcoola is taken from a non-local aboriginal language from an area around Tarcoola Station in NSW; it means river bend.
horse race, the year gold
was discovered in the area. The horse Tarcoola had been raised on Tarcoola Station on the Darling River
.
There were 2000 people living on the gold fields by 1900 and there was even a town plan surveyed just north of the junction in 1915. In the present, only the hotel and a few houses remain in use.
. Tarcoola is now best known as the junction of the Sydney-Perth and Adelaide-Darwin railway
s.
The town is served by trains run by Great Southern Railway
, The Ghan, running between Adelaide
, Alice Springs and Darwin
and the Indian Pacific, running between Sydney
and Perth
. Both trains run once a week all year, and twice a week at various times . The mail for Tarcoola arrives by train.
electoral district of Giles
and the Australian House of Representatives
Division of Grey
.
with hot, dry summers and mild winters and sparse rainfall throughout the year.
Far North, South Australia
The Far North is the region of South Australia that is close to the border with the Northern Territory. Colloquial usage in South Australia tends to use the term "Far North" as referring to that part of South Australia north of a line roughly from Ceduna through Port Augusta to Broken Hill.It is...
of 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...
416 km north-northwest of Port Augusta
Port Augusta, South Australia
-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...
.
Tarcoola is taken from a non-local aboriginal language from an area around Tarcoola Station in NSW; it means river bend.
History
Tarcoola Post Office opened on 18 August 1900 and the town was proclaimed on 21 February 1901. The name was taken from the nearby Tarcoola Goldfields, which in turn had been named after Tarcoola the winner of the 1893 Melbourne CupMelbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
horse race, the year gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
was discovered in the area. The horse Tarcoola had been raised on Tarcoola Station on the Darling River
Darling River
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is long, making it the longest river system in Australia.The...
.
There were 2000 people living on the gold fields by 1900 and there was even a town plan surveyed just north of the junction in 1915. In the present, only the hotel and a few houses remain in use.
Transport
The original Tarcoola goldfields are long closed, however there is now new exploration for minerals in the wider area, including the Challenger MineChallenger Mine
The Challenger Mine is a gold mine in the Far North of South Australia, 165 km west of the Stuart Highway and 740 km north-west of Adelaide. It is operated by Dominion Mining.-History:The ore body was first discovered in 1995...
. Tarcoola is now best known as the junction of the Sydney-Perth and Adelaide-Darwin railway
Adelaide-Darwin railway
The Adelaide–Darwin railway is a north-south transcontinental railway in Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, South Australia and Darwin, Northern Territory...
s.
The town is served by trains run by Great Southern Railway
Great Southern Railway (Australia)
Great Southern Railway , owned by Serco Asia Pacific, is a tourism business and rail transport operator in Australia.GSR operates interstate passenger trains aimed at the tourist market:* The Indian Pacific...
, The Ghan, running between Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Alice Springs and Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
and the Indian Pacific, running between Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. Both trains run once a week all year, and twice a week at various times . The mail for Tarcoola arrives by train.
Politics
Tarcoola is in the South Australian House of AssemblySouth Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
electoral district of Giles
Electoral district of Giles
Giles is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. The electorate, named after explorer Ernest Giles, is the largest in South Australia, covering a 500,738.0km² swathe of outback South Australia...
and the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
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 ....
.
Climate
Tarcoola has a desert climateDesert climate
A desert climate , also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty scrub.An area that features this climate usually experiences less than...
with hot, dry summers and mild winters and sparse rainfall throughout the year.