COONALPYN, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

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A small inland service town. Wheat, barley, canola, beans and peas are the main crops grown in the area, and also sheep and cattle. During the early 1950's, superphosphates and trace elements were introduced into the soil, creating the ability to use the land for cropping to its full potential.
Location: 163 km (101 miles) southeast of Adelaide on the Dukes Highway
Origin of name: of Aboriginal origin. It was originally known as part of the Ninety Mile Desert, until 1949 when the land was developed by the AMP Society and the town re-named.
Brief history: the town began as a staging post along the Tolmer Gold Escort Route of the 1850s between the Victorian Goldfields to the port of Robe. The route was planned by Alexander Tolmer, then police commissioner of South Australia, who devised the escort and led it on its first three trips. He established wells and signs here and at other localities along the way such as Serviceton (Vic) to assist travellers on their journey through what was then semi-arid scrubland. It was intended to reverse the currency drain from South Australia during the Victorian goldrushes by bringing some of the gold back to Adelaide, a town which had been virtually deserted by hopeful prospectors. In this it was a successful venture as around one million pounds worth of the precious metal passed through this spot during 18 excursions in the years 1852 and 1853.
In 1887 the Adelaide-Melbourne rail ink passed through and helped open up the area. During the same period the Coonalpyn Post Office was established, followed by the school in 1889. The town was declared a decade later.
A group of Lutheran Settlers moved to the Coonalpyn District in the early 1920s, the first congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Congregation, being formed on 9th March, 1930. A second congregation, Immanuel Lutheran Congregation, was formed on the 28th July, 1940.
Points of interest: Gold Escort Route Monuments; Kangaroo Flat Rocks; Tauragat Hill lookout.