Postcode(s) 5433 Yarrah Kanyaka
Willochra Postal code 5433 Lga Flinders Ranges Council | State electorate(s) Giles Footnotes Coordinates Federal division Division of Grey | |
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Location 17 km (11 mi) north-west of Quorn | ||
Yarrah is a rural locality in the Far North region of South Australia. The eastern section of Yarrah lies within the Flinders Ranges Council, while the western section lies in the Pastoral Unincorporated Area.
Contents
Map of Yarrah SA 5433, Australia
History
The traditional owners of the area are the Banggarla peoples.
The Hundred of Yarrah was proclaimed on 16 December 1880 by Governor William Jervois, after an Aboriginal word reported to mean "river red gum" or "applied to many types of trees". A township at Yarrah, located along the railway line, was surveyed in April 1863 but was largely unsuccessful. Yarrah Post Office opened on 1 October 1887 and closed around 1909. Yarrah Primary School opened in 1893, and in 1919 was reported as having reopened that year after being closed for small attendance the year before, but has since closed permanently. Wilkatana railway station was located in the west of the Hundred, named after the nearby Wilkatana Station. The Depot Creek railway station, further to the south within Yarrah, existed for many years; however, Pacific National advised in 2013 that the station had been closed, although the line continues to be in use.
The modern locality of Yarrah was created in November 1999, when boundaries were formalised for the long established local name. It roughly equates to the cadastral Hundred of Yarrah and approximately half of the adjacent Hundred of Wyacca. In April 2013, an additional portion of formerly unincorporated land was added to the municipality. In 2013, Australia Post altered the local postcode from 5713 to 5433 as part of a review of outback postcodes.
The historic Depot Creek Weir is located at Yarrah, and is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. The weir dates from 1912 to 1917, when it was built as part of the supply infrastructure for the Port Augusta-Kalgoorlie section of the Trans-Australian Railway; the underlying springs had earlier been used by explorer Edward John Eyre.
Much of the 1950 film Bitter Springs, starring Chips Rafferty, was filmed on location at Yarrah.