Oodla Wirra, South Australia
When the railway was built in 1880, a siding was provided, named Oodla Wirra. Soon after, a town was surveyed near the siding, but it was named Penn. This naming conflict continued until 1940, when the town was renamed Oodla Wirra, to match the railway station.
Railway
Oodla Wirra is a former railway town, as it was on the narrow-gauge railway between Port Pirie and Cockburn (where it connected to the Silverton Tramway to Broken Hill). When the Commonwealth Government replaced the narrow gauge line with a standard gauge line, the revised route passed south and east of the town.
A railway employee was killed in a shunting accident in the Oodla Wirra railyards in 1909.
In 1889, ironstone flux was mined from a failed silver mine a few miles away, and carted to Oodla Wirra to be transported by rail to the smelters at Port Pirie.
The town later boasted a flour mill, school and hotel named Halfway way hotel as it was halfway between Adelaide and Broken Hill.
References
- ^ "Search result for 'Oodla Wirra, LOCB' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and Localities', 'Counties', "Hundreds', 'SA Government Regions', 'Local Government Areas', 'Government Towns' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian government. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Oodla Wirra (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ "Search result for 'Oodla Wirra Railway Station' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and Localities' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian government. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ "Placename Details: Penn". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. 12 May 2011. SA0054343. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
- ^ "NEW TOWN NAMES APPROVED". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 26 July 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 5 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "RAILWAY ACCIDENT". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXIV, no. 19, 434. South Australia. 25 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "A New Local Industry". Petersburg Times. Vol. II, no. 102. South Australia. 19 July 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 23 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Oodla Wirra". Make Tracks to Peterborough. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
