Salt Creek, South Australia

Salt Creek is a small settlement in South Australia, located along the Coorong, and is also the location of the Coorong National Park Information Centre.

Salt Creek South Australia
Oil drill monument
Salt Creek
Coordinates	36°07′39″S 139°38′53″E[1]
Population	29 (2016 census)[2]
Established	24 August 2000[3]
Postcode(s)	5264[4]
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACST (UTC+10:30)
Location	164 km (102 mi) SE of Adelaide 86 km (53 mi) north-west of Kingston SE 58 km (36 mi) south-east of Meningie
LGA(s)	The Coorong District Council [1]
Region	Murray and Mallee [1]
County	Cardwell[1]
State electorate(s)	MacKillop[5]
Federal Division(s)	Barker[6]
Mean max temp[7] Mean min temp[7] Annual rainfall[7] 20.8 °C 69 °F 10.3 °C 51 °F 469.2 mm 18.5 in
Localities around Salt Creek: Coorong Coorong Colebatch Coorong Salt Creek Deepwater Coorong Tilley Swamp Tilley Swamp
Footnotes	Adjoining localities[1]

History

The following brief history of Salt Creek was compiled by the South Australian historian Geoffrey Manning:[8]

... There is another Salt Creek, 61 km South-East of Meningie and, ‘early in 1866, Mr John Hodgkiss and others formed a small company with a capital of £500 to test the value of a supposed discovery of petroleum made near the notorious Malacha Martin’s house on the Salt Creek, by Mr W.H. Hamilton’: Four men were sent out with 500 feet of boring rods and the oily substance which he had described as scum upon the surface of the water was traceable in various parts of the creek. Extensive claims were taken out and a company was formed to work a substance known as mineral caoutchouc and Mr Eustace R. Mitford was dispatched there.

Boundaries for the locality were created on 24 August 2000 for the " long established name" which is ultimately derived from a stream that flows through the locality on its way to the Coorong.[1]

Oil rig monument

In 1892, a group of entrepreneurs, who believed there was oil located in the Coorong, drilled Australia's first oil well. They were unsuccessful, as it was later discovered that the 'oil' was in fact a flammable, compacted vegetable substance (known as 'coorongite'). A replica of the oil rig has been built as a monument to this enterprise.

References in literature

The novel Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar is set in the Coorong at Salt Creek in the 1850s and 1860s. It includes references to the Travellers' Rest Inn, to William and Catherine Robinson, the proprietors, and to Malachi Martin, and the real life murders committed by Martin.

Governance

Salt Creek is located within the federal division of Barker, the state electoral district of MacKillop and the local government area of the Coorong District Council.[6][1][5]

References

1. "Search results for 'Salt Creek, LOCB' with the following datasets being selected - 'Suburbs and Localities', 'Counties', 'Local Government Areas', 'SA Government Regions' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. Government of South Australia. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Salt Creek". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
3. "GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES ACT 1991, Notice to Assign Boundaries and Names to Places" (PDF), The South Australian Government Gazette: 596, 24 August 2000, retrieved 5 January 2018
4. "Postcode for Salt Creek, South Australia". Postcodes Australia. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
5. "District of MacKillop Background Profile". Electoral Commission SA. Archived from the original on 29 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
6. "Federal electoral division of Barker" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
7. "Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics Summary statistics MENINGIE (nearest weather station)". Commonwealth of Australia , Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
8. Manning, Geoffrey. "South Australian Names - S" (PDF). Manning Index of South Australian History. State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 20 December 2017.