Oodla Wirra, South Australia
| Oodla Wirra South Australia | |||||||||||||
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_(20579884012).jpg) Halfway Hotel at Oodla Wirra | |||||||||||||
  Oodla Wirra | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 32°52′59″S 139°03′47″E / 32.883°S 139.063°ECoordinates: 32°52′59″S 139°03′47″E / 32.883°S 139.063°E | ||||||||||||
| Established | 1889 | ||||||||||||
| Elevation | 505 m (1,657 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Location | 259 km (161 mi) N of Adelaide | ||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | District Council of Peterborough | ||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Stuart | ||||||||||||
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Oodla Wirra (formerly Penn) is a small town in the upper Mid North of South Australia. It is on the Barrier Highway approximately half way from Adelaide to Broken Hill.
When the railway was built in 1880, a siding was provided, named Oodla Wirra. Soon after, a town was surveyed near the siding, but it was named Penn. This naming conflict continued until 1940, when the town was renamed Oodla Wirra, to match the railway station.[1][2]
Railway
Oodla Wirra is a former railway town, as it was on the narrow-gauge railway between Port Pirie and Cockburn (where it connected to the Silverton Tramway to Broken Hill). When the Commonwealth Government replaced the narrow gauge line with a standard gauge line, the revised route passed south and east of the town.
A railway guard was killed in a shunting accident in the Oodla Wirra railyards in 1909.[3]
In 1889, ironstone flux was mined from a failed silver mine a few miles away, and carted to Oodla Wirra to be transported by rail to the smelters at Port Pirie.[4]
References
- ↑ "Placename Details: Penn". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. 12 May 2011. SA0054343. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
- ↑ "NEW TOWN NAMES APPROVED". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 26 July 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 5 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "RAILWAY ACCIDENT.". The Register (Adelaide). LXXIV, (19,434). South Australia. 25 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "A New Local Industry.". Petersburg Times. II, (102). South Australia. 19 July 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.