Established 1878 Time zone ACST (UTC+9:30) Postal code 5222 Lga Kangaroo Island Council | Postcode(s) 5222 Founded 1878 Federal division Division of Mayo | |
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Population 319 (shared with other localities in the “State Suburb of Island Beach”) (2011 census) Location 121 km (75 mi) south of Adelaide
16 km (10 mi) southwest of Penneshaw Region Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island |
Sapphiretown is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the north coast of Dudley Peninsula on Kangaroo Island overlooking Nepean Bay about 121 kilometres (75 mi) south of the state capital of Adelaide and about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south-west of Penneshaw.
Map of Sapphiretown SA 5222, Australia
The locality was originally declared as a government town in January 1878 by Sir William Jervois, the tenth governor of South Australia for a site surveyed in March 1877. The locality’s boundaries which were created in March 2002 include the former government town of Sapphiretown. The name is derived from HMS Sapphire, a sloop, which conveyed Jervois to South Australia in October 1877 to take up his appointment as Governor of South Australia.
As of 2014, Sapphiretown consisted of land at the western end of Dudley Peninsula and which concludes as a spit known as Strawbridge Point at its north-western extremity and which is bounded to the north by Eastern Cove in Nepean Bay and by the body of water known as American River to the west. The locality is zoned for residential use exclusively for “detached dwellings” and “tourist accommodation.”
Sapphiretown is located within the federal division of Mayo, the state electoral district of Finniss and the local government area of the Kangaroo Island Council.