Cockburn, South Australia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids CockburnSouth Australia |
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The former Border Gate Hotel, on the Barrier Highway only metres over the border in New South Wales, had a distinct trading advantage when South Australian hotels closed at 6 pm but NSW hotels closed four hours later
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 Cockburn
Location in South Australia
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| Established | 29 April 1886 (town) 29 May 1997 (locality) |
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| Elevation | 213 m (699 ft) | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | AEST (Eastern New South Wales) (UTC) | ||||||||||||||
| Location |
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| LGA(s) | Pastoral Unincorporated Area | ||||||||||||||
| Region | Far North | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Stuart | ||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Grey | ||||||||||||||
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| Footnotes | Adjoining localities | ||||||||||||||
Cockburn (pronounced KOH-bern) is a small town in the eastern part of South Australia. It sits right next to the border with New South Wales, not far from Broken Hill.
Cockburn was created because of a rule about trains. For 84 years, until 1970, trains from South Australia were not allowed to use their own engines in New South Wales. This meant that trains had to stop at Cockburn to change engines and crews before crossing the border.
The Railway Story
In the 1880s, a lot of valuable ore (like silver and lead) was found in Silverton. Moving this ore by horse and cart was very slow and hard. South Australia wanted to build a railway line from its border to Silverton to help transport the ore to Port Pirie.
However, the New South Wales government said no to this plan. So, some clever investors started their own company, the Silverton Tramway Company, in 1885. They built a railway line from Silverton right up to the border.
The town of Cockburn was then set up in 1886 on the South Australian side of the border. It became the important spot where trains would swap engines and crews. On the New South Wales side, the Silverton Tramway Company built a station called Burns.
More minerals were found nearby, especially in Broken Hill. This made the railway line even more important. The line was extended from Silverton to Broken Hill in 1887. This railway route was very useful because it had good slopes for trains. It was easier for trains to carry heavy loads of ore from Broken Hill to Cockburn.
A Busy Town
By 1892, Cockburn had grown quite a bit. About 2,000 people lived there. The town had two hotels, two general stores, and three places for people to stay. It also had schools and churches. You could find a blacksmith, a butcher, a baker, and other businesses.
The railway was a big part of life in Cockburn. There were engineers, a stationmaster, and other railway workers living there. The town had a special shed and facilities to fix and maintain train engines. In 1892, seven trains regularly ran between Petersburg (now Peterborough), Cockburn, and Broken Hill. These trains also carried passengers. That year, over 83,000 passengers passed through Cockburn!
A Place for Change
Cockburn also played a small part in history related to workers' rights in Broken Hill. In 1908, a speaker named Tom Mann was not allowed to speak publicly in New South Wales. So, about 3,000 people from Broken Hill came to Cockburn to hear him speak. He gave his speech from outside the Cockburn Hotel. This event was linked to a big disagreement in 1909. Mining workers in Broken Hill were not allowed to work because they refused to accept pay cuts that would have made their wages too low.
Cockburn Today
In 1970, a new, wider railway line was built. This new line runs a bit south of the old town. It has a new station, but it is no longer used.
In the early 1990s, the South Australian government thought about closing down small towns along the Barrier Highway, including Cockburn. But the local communities worked together to stop this from happening.
Today, not much is left of the old railway yard. There is an old water tank that used to fill up train engines, but now it helps with bushfires. The last houses for railway workers were taken down in 2009. In 2016, the census counted 56 people living in the area around Cockburn.
How Cockburn is Managed
Cockburn is part of the federal division of Grey and the state electoral district of Stuart. It is also in the Pastoral Unincorporated Area of South Australia. This means that a South Australian government agency, the Outback Communities Authority, helps provide local services to the community in Cockburn.
