Olary, South Australia
Town in South Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olary is a town and locality on the Barrier Highway in South Australia.[1] It is situated near Olary Creek and is one of the easternmost settlements in the state. The name "Olary" was first given to a nearby well or waterhole by the pastoralists Duffield, Harrold, and Hurd.[10]
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Olary | |||||||||||||
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Olary Hotel, 2017 | |||||||||||||
  Olary | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates: 32°16′51″S 140°19′35″E[1] | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | South Australia | ||||||||||||
| Region | Far North[1] | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location |
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| Established | 1 December 1887 (town) 23 October 2003 (locality)[3][4] | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Elevation | 285 m (935 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 4 (SAL 2016)[7][8] | ||||||||||||
| Time zone | UTC+9:30 (ACST) | ||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+10:30 (ACST) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 5440[2] | ||||||||||||
| Mean max temp | 24.7 °C (76.5 °F)[9] | ||||||||||||
| Mean min temp | 9.5 °C (49.1 °F)[9] | ||||||||||||
| Annual rainfall | 202.5 mm (7.97 in)[9] | ||||||||||||
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| Adjoining localities[1] | |||||||||||||
History
A small settlement was established in the late 1880s to serve the highway and the railway which passed through there. O'Lary Post Office opened on 12 October 1886, was renamed Oolarie in around 1888, and Olary in around 1896.[11]
As motor vehicles began to be increasingly used to travel between Adelaide and Broken Hill, the population of the village declined.[12]
In 2010, the historic Bimbowrie Cobb and Co coach house near Olary became the scene of a traditional restoration operation, with almost 20 tradespeople attending a five-day training course in stonemasonry restoration. Low-security prisoners from the Port Augusta Prison were among those who assisted with the project.[13]
Geography
Governance
Olary is located within the federal division of Grey, the state electoral district of Stuart and the Pastoral Unincorporated Area of South Australia.[6][5][1]
As of 2019, the community within Olary received municipal services from the Outback Communities Authority, a South Australian government agency.[15]
Nearby places of interest
The nearby Mount Victoria Well & Whim Historic Site is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.[16]
Radium Hill, located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) east-south-east of Olary,[17] is the site of a uranium mine which operated from 1906 until 1961,[18] and was the first uranium mine in Australia.[19] In 1906, Sir Douglas Mawson discovered what he called davidite there. Named after Mawson's mentor, geologist Edgeworth David, davidite contains titanium and uranium.[20]
