Pinnaroo, South Australia

A service town near the Victorian border in the heart of mallee scrub, wheat farming and sheep country.
Location: 243 km east of Adelaide.
Origin of name: of Aboriginal origin, believed to mean 'big men', 'great men' or 'old men' in a number of Aboriginal languages.
Brief history: for many years the area was considered too inhospitable for European habitation. The first settler arrived in 1869 but abandoned the run he established in 1889. With the arrival of the railway in 1906, the outlook changed and wheat crops began to be planted using hardy strains of the cereal.
Natural features: Pinnaroo Animal Park and Bird Aviary; Peebinger Conservation Park (42 km north); Karte Conservation Park (30 km north-west); Ngarkat Conservation Park (28 km south); Scorpion Springs Conservation Park.
Built features: grain loading facilities; Pinnaroo Letterpress Printing Museum; Farm Machinery Museum; Gum Family Collection.
Heritage features: Golden Grain Hotel (1906); History Museum; DA Wurfel Cereal Collection (Pinnaroo Institute, is recognised as one of the finest cereal collections in the world).