Wudinna ( ) is a town of about 500 people on the

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...

in the

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

-growing region of

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

History

Since time immemorial, Wudinna has been part of the country visited from the east coast of Eyre Peninsula, seasonally and for ceremonial and special purposes, by the

Barngarla people The Barngarla, (historically also spelled as Parnkalla or Pangkala), are an Indigenous people of South Australia and the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula. Their language, Barngarla is a Yura language and part of a revival effor ...

. The Barngarla name is "Woodina", meaning "granite hill". The area was first settled by Europeans in 1861, after Robert George Standley lodged a claim for of land surrounding what was then referred to as Weedna Hill. The town, which was proclaimed in 1916, serves as the seat of the

Wudinna District Council Wudinna District Council is a rural Local government in Australia, local government area on central Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Its seat is Wudinna, on the Eyre Highway, west of Adelaide. The district's economy is largely driven by agricul ...

. In 2023, it won the South Australian

Department of Primary Industries and Regions Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA), also known as Primary Industries and Regions South Australia, and the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA, is an agency of the South Australian Government whose focus is the economic develop ...

''Agricultural Town of the Year'' award. In 2024 the town held its inaugural ''Granite Rocks'' music festival.

Geography

The region is known as "granite country" for its deposits of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, accessible along a "granite trail". Quarrying began at the Desert Rose quarry, near Mount Wudinna, in the 1990s. Blocks up to , weighing are cut into smaller blocks for shipping around Australia or for export to Asian and European markets. An statue in the town, ''

Australian Farmer The Australian Farmer (also known as the Big Farmer) is a statue located in Wudinna, South Australia, Wudinna, South Australia. Regarded as one of Australia's Australia's big things, Big Things, the granite sculpture stands at in height, and w ...

'', commemorating the area's settlers, is made from local granite. Mount Wudinna, located north-east of the township, is listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

. It is the largest and most impressive of the granite outcrops on north-west Eyre Peninsula and is a good example of a stepped

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

. The

Gawler Ranges National Park Gawler Ranges National Park is a protected area lying north-west of Adelaide in the northern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is known for its spectacular rock formations. History The national park originated as the Paney Station pasto ...

is north of the town. A bike-and-walking trail runs from Wudinna to Polda Rock Recreation Reserve.

Climate

Wudinna has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

( Köppen: BSk/BSh), with hot, dry summers and mild, somewhat wetter winters. Temperatures vary throughout the year, with average maxima ranging from in January to in July, and average minima fluctuating between in January and in August. Annual precipitation is low, averaging between 97.7 precipitation days. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 19 December 2019 to on 7 August 2023.

Economy

Wudinna is a major rural service centre: about 44 per cent of its workforce was employed in the agriculture sector and 74 per cent of its exports were agricultural products. It is the base for a farmer-owned organisation, Agricultural Innovation and Research Eyre Peninsula, which conducts research, development and extension for dryland farming systems. Eyre Peninsula Cooperative Bulk Handling, which supports Eyre Peninsula farm business owners with grain transport, storage and handling, supply chain logistics and exporting, also has its headquarters in the town.

Notable people

* Harrison Petty, professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player *

Hannah Petty Hannah Petty (born 17 May 1997) is an Australian netball player in the Suncorp Super Netball league, playing for the Adelaide Thunderbirds. Petty began playing for the Thunderbirds in 2016 and has played for the South Australian-based team ever ...

, Australian

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player

References

External links

Wudinna tourism
{{authority control Towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula 1861 establishments in Australia