Oodla Wirra (formerly Penn) is a small town in the upper Mid North of South Australia. It is on the Barrier Highway approximately halfway from Adelaide to Broken Hill.
| 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°E[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 5 (SAL 2021)[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Established | 1889 | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation | 505 m (1,657 ft)[3] | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 259 km (161 mi) N of Adelaide | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | District Council of Peterborough | ||||||||||||||
| Region | Yorke and Mid North[1] | ||||||||||||||
| County | Herbert[1] | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Stuart | ||||||||||||||
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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.[4][5]
Railway
editOodla 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 employee was killed in a shunting accident in the Oodla Wirra railyards in 1909.[6]
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.[7]
The town later boasted a flour mill, school and hotel named Halfway way hotel as it was halfway between Adelaide and Broken Hill.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Search result for 'Oodla Wirra, LOCB' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and Localities', 'Counties', "Hundreds', 'SA Government Regions', 'Local Government Areas', 'Government Towns' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian government. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Oodla Wirra (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ "Search result for 'Oodla Wirra Railway Station' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and Localities' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian government. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ "Placename Details: Penn". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. 12 May 2011. SA0054343. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. 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). Vol. LXXIV, no. 19, 434. South Australia. 25 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "A New Local Industry". Petersburg Times. Vol. II, no. 102. South Australia. 19 July 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Oodla Wirra". Make Tracks to Peterborough. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
