Coonawarra, South Australia
Town in South Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coonawarra is a small town north of Penola in South Australia. It is best known for the Coonawarra wine region named after it.
Coonawarra | |||||||||||||
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Coonawarra railway station, looking south | |||||||||||||
  Coonawarra | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates: 37°17′31″S 140°49′59″E[1] | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | South Australia | ||||||||||||
| Region | Limestone Coast[1] | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location |
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| Established | 13 December 2001 (locality)[2] | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Elevation | 57 m (187 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 135 (SAL 2021)[6] | ||||||||||||
| Time zone | UTC+9:30 (ACST) | ||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+10:30 (ACST) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 5263[7] | ||||||||||||
| County | Robe[1] | ||||||||||||
| Mean max temp | 20.5 °C (68.9 °F)[5] | ||||||||||||
| Mean min temp | 8.1 °C (46.6 °F)[5] | ||||||||||||
| Annual rainfall | 568.7 mm (22.39 in)[5] | ||||||||||||
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| Locations[7] Adjoining localities[1] | |||||||||||||
The Aboriginal Australians living in the area when Europeans arrived were the Bindjali people,[8][9] The word coonawarra is reported to have been their word for honeysuckle,[10] although this meaning has also been ascribed to Penola by the same source.[9] An alternative origin to the name is still rooted in the local indigenous language: “The name of John Riddock’s fruit colony, started by him in 1895. “Coon” being the aboriginal word for “big lip”, and “warra,” for “house,” and was applied by natives to a house in the locality in which a man with a remarkably big lip lived”[11]
Coonawarra was a station on the Mount Gambier railway line, which opened in 1887 and operated until it closed to freight on 12 April 1995. The Limestone Coast Railway tourist trains stopped at the station from Mount Gambier until 20 March 1999.[citation needed]
The township of Coonawarra is a few hundred metres west of the Riddoch Highway which passes along the ridge in the middle of the Coonawarra wine region. The historic Wynn's Coonawarra Winery in Memorial Drive is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.[12]
Climate
| Climate data for Coonawarra, elevation 57 m (187 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1985–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 45.2 (113.4) |
43.6 (110.5) |
40.8 (105.4) |
36.2 (97.2) |
29.9 (85.8) |
23.2 (73.8) |
23.2 (73.8) |
25.5 (77.9) |
31.2 (88.2) |
35.8 (96.4) |
37.9 (100.2) |
45.8 (114.4) |
45.8 (114.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27.7 (81.9) |
27.6 (81.7) |
24.9 (76.8) |
21.0 (69.8) |
17.1 (62.8) |
14.5 (58.1) |
13.9 (57.0) |
14.9 (58.8) |
16.9 (62.4) |
19.8 (67.6) |
22.8 (73.0) |
25.3 (77.5) |
20.5 (68.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.8 (53.2) |
12.0 (53.6) |
10.2 (50.4) |
7.6 (45.7) |
6.8 (44.2) |
5.3 (41.5) |
5.2 (41.4) |
5.3 (41.5) |
6.4 (43.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
8.9 (48.0) |
10.2 (50.4) |
8.1 (46.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 0.2 (32.4) |
0.8 (33.4) |
0.0 (32.0) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
−3.8 (25.2) |
−3.4 (25.9) |
−3.6 (25.5) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
0.2 (32.4) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 28.7 (1.13) |
19.2 (0.76) |
26.3 (1.04) |
36.4 (1.43) |
55.6 (2.19) |
72.4 (2.85) |
76.8 (3.02) |
80.7 (3.18) |
64.9 (2.56) |
41.8 (1.65) |
37.6 (1.48) |
34.0 (1.34) |
575.1 (22.64) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 6.9 | 6.1 | 8.5 | 11.8 | 17.0 | 18.6 | 20.6 | 20.6 | 19.1 | 14.2 | 11.2 | 10.4 | 165.0 |
| Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 38 | 38 | 41 | 49 | 62 | 69 | 69 | 63 | 60 | 53 | 48 | 43 | 53 |
| Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology (humidity 1991–2010)[13] | |||||||||||||
