The Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

The Yorke Peninsula is a finger of land in South Australia, located between the Spencer Gulf to the west and the Gulf St Vincent to the east. It is around forty kilometres wide at the northern end, narrowing to thirty kilometres wide at the southern end, before flaring to sixty kilometres at the southern base. From north to south the peninsula is around one hundred and ten kilometres long. It is similar in appearance to the boot of Italy, although on a much smaller scale.

The Yorke Peninsula lies to the west of Adelaide (the capital city of South Australia), sixty kilometres away across the waters of the Gulf St Vincent. By road it is about 80 kilometres from Adelaide to the top end. This proximity makes it a popular weekend holiday destination for the residents of Adelaide, and there are many coastal towns and communities on the Yorke Peninsula catering for this tourist trade.

The inland portion of the peninsula is given over to farming. The main crops are barley and wheat, and historically farming was the reason the Yorke Peninsula was settled by whites in the 1840s. Needing a way to get the grain into ships, many deep-water ports were established on the coast. The generally shallow waters of the gulfs on either side meant that long jetties were required to enable ships to dock, and many of these jetties are still in existence today, providing an interesting and unique feature to the coastal towns. The increasing use of trucks and road transportation means that the jetties are not used commercially today.

The major towns of the Yorke Peninsula are Kadina and Moonta in the north; Maitland and Ardrossan in the middle; and Minlaton and Yorketown in the south.

In the 1860s substantial copper deposits were discovered in the north, and a mining boom began. The region bounded by the towns of Kadina, Moonta and Wallaroo became known as the copper triangle, in recognition of the mining operations. The wider area, including the towns of Port Hughes and Paskeville, is also known as the Copper Coast.

Lacking the expertise required to mine copper at the time, the SA government appealed to England for those with the experience to emigrate to South Australia. The bulk of those who came were from Cornwall, which was itself a key mining area of the UK. As well as mining expertise the new immigrants brought their own foods and way of life as well. This influence led to the name "Little Cornwall" being applied to the northern regions of the Yorke Peninsula.

The mining boom came to an end on the early 1900s, and the region returned once again to farming as the main export. Recent investigations by geologists, however, have suggested that there may be huge, untapped reserves of both copper and gold on the peninsula. Thought to be around one hundred metres underground, this was beyond the reach of miners in the heyday of Yorke Peninsula's mining period. Using new, modern techniques such deposits are now recoverable.

There is serious debate about the desirability of new mines on the Yorke Peninsula. Today many of the inhabitants are reliant on tourism, and given the generally small size of the peninsula it is feared that renewed mining would have a detrimental effect on the tourist trade. It is also argued that the commercial benefit of mining would apply only to the lucky few who owned the land, and the external mining companies. As yet there are no concrete plans for new mines.

Alan Cameron lives in Adelaide, South Australia. As a boy he spent holidays on the Yorke Peninsula with his parents, the beginning of a life long attachment to the area. He has since travelled all over Australia, and around the world, but is happiest when back on the peninsula.

More information on the Yorke Peninsula, including where to stay and what to do, is available.

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