A tiny settlement, once much larger than it is today, that served the local farming community, made up predominantly of sheep stations. The ruins of abandoned farm houses are scattered across the countryside.

Where is it?: 32 km south of Peterborough; 8 km south of Terowie; 56 km north of Burra on the Barrier Highway.

Built features: village of Mt. Bryan; Sheoak Hills homestead.

Heritage features: Bird's Yarcowie Hotel; ruins and abandoned buildings of the villages of Canowie Belt, Belalie North and Yongala.

About Whyte Yarcowie

Origin of name: originally called Yarcowie after Yarcowie Pastoral Station. The name 'Whyte', being that of the Hundred in which it is situated, was added in 1929 to avoid confusion with similar sounding names across Australia. The prefix 'Whyte' alludes to John Whyte (c.1825-1902), pastoralist and a member of the grocery firm, Whyte, Counsell & Co., while yarcowie is Aboriginal for 'flood' or 'great waters'.

Brief history: the township came into being to cater for the local farming community, railwaymen and travellers on a stock route north which passes through the area. The town grew up around a railway station. Sheoak Hills homestead was the centre of a soldier settlement scheme in the 1920s. The boost to the local population by the scheme was short-lived, as the blocks were too small to support intense farming.