Strathalbyn, South Australia
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Strathalbyn | |||||||||||||
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 River Angas in Strathalbyn | |||||||||||||
  Strathalbyn | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates: 35°16′0″S 138°54′0″E / 35.26667°S 138.90000°E | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | South Australia | ||||||||||||
| Region | Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island[1] | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location |
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| Established | 1839 | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 7,871 (2021 census)[2] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 5255 | ||||||||||||
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Strathalbyn is a town in South Australia, in the Alexandrina Council. In 2016, the town had a population of approximately 7,800.[2]
Strathalbyn is 60 km southeast of Adelaide on the banks of the River Angas, at the southeastern edge of the Adelaide Hills and beginning of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
History
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Aboriginal Australian people are indigenous to the area in which Strathalbyn is now located. Among them were tribes which are now commonly described as the Ngarrindjeri people, a generic ethnonym popularised by English missionary George Taplin for the various, distinct groups of people who occupied much of the Fleurieu Peninsula, lower Murray River and Coorong regions prior to and after colonisation.[3]
The town was founded in 1839, the first landholders being Dr. Rankine, followed by Donald McLean.
In 1846, the cadastral division, the Hundred of Strathalbyn, was proclaimed including the township of Strathalbyn at the south-western corner of the division.
Strathalbyn was once a major stop on the route from Adelaide to Melbourne.
The streets were laid out in a broad and liberal manner, with a large area reserved on either side of the River Angas for recreation purposes, plus a site for a Presbyterian Church and cemetery.[4] The community was soon the centre for a large pastoral and farming population, many of Scottish origin. Mining later became important in the area.
The District Council of Strathalbyn was established in 1854. In 1868 a municipal council, the Corporation of Strathalbyn, was formed by the secession of section 2600 of the Hundred of Strathalbyn from the district council. The town and district councils re-amalgamated in 1976.
Strathalbyn was connected by broad gauge horse tram to Goolwa and Victor Harbor from 1869. The Victor Harbor railway line was extended to Mount Barker and Adelaide and was upgraded for steam engines from 1884. It was isolated again in 1995 when the Adelaide-Melbourne railway line was converted to standard gauge. The SteamRanger historic tourist train runs on the isolated broad gauge line, including stops at Strathalbyn.
Geography
Climate
Strathalbyn has a warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb).
| Climate data for Strathalbyn, elevation 58 m (190 ft), (1996–2025 normals and extremes) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 46.7 (116.1) |
44.3 (111.7) |
41.6 (106.9) |
37.5 (99.5) |
30.5 (86.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
23.9 (75.0) |
29.1 (84.4) |
31.4 (88.5) |
37.6 (99.7) |
43.1 (109.6) |
45.9 (114.6) |
46.7 (116.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.0 (82.4) |
27.4 (81.3) |
25.4 (77.7) |
22.4 (72.3) |
18.5 (65.3) |
15.8 (60.4) |
15.1 (59.2) |
16.2 (61.2) |
18.7 (65.7) |
21.6 (70.9) |
24.4 (75.9) |
26.2 (79.2) |
21.6 (70.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.8 (58.6) |
14.5 (58.1) |
12.9 (55.2) |
10.6 (51.1) |
9.1 (48.4) |
7.4 (45.3) |
6.6 (43.9) |
6.7 (44.1) |
7.6 (45.7) |
8.9 (48.0) |
11.4 (52.5) |
13.0 (55.4) |
10.3 (50.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) |
5.3 (41.5) |
5.1 (41.2) |
0.7 (33.3) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
−1.5 (29.3) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
1.2 (34.2) |
1.7 (35.1) |
5.8 (42.4) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 18.8 (0.74) |
19.9 (0.78) |
16.8 (0.66) |
27.0 (1.06) |
44.4 (1.75) |
53.9 (2.12) |
54.4 (2.14) |
51.7 (2.04) |
45.6 (1.80) |
34.0 (1.34) |
28.9 (1.14) |
23.3 (0.92) |
419.4 (16.51) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 5.3 | 5.2 | 6.7 | 9.5 | 14.3 | 15.7 | 17.3 | 16.1 | 13.7 | 10.7 | 8.3 | 7.8 | 130.6 |
| Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 41 | 43 | 44 | 47 | 57 | 63 | 64 | 58 | 57 | 48 | 42 | 41 | 50 |
| Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology (humidity 1996–2010)[5] | |||||||||||||
