Oodnadatta facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oodnadatta South Australia
The Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta
Oodnadatta Location in South Australia
Population	204 (shared with other localities) (2016 census)
Established	30 October 1890 (town) 8 February 2001 (locality)
Postcode(s)	5734
Elevation	121 m (397 ft)(railway station)
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACST (UTC+10:30)
Location	873 km (542 mi) N of Adelaide 544 km (338 mi) N of Port Augusta 181 km (112 mi) NW of Coober Pedy
LGA(s)	Pastoral Unincorporated Area
Region	Far North
State electorate(s)	Giles
Federal Division(s)	Grey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 29.1 °C 84 °F 14.6 °C 58 °F 174.7 mm 6.9 in
Localities around Oodnadatta: Todmorden Todmorden Allandale Station Todmorden Oodnadatta Allandale Station Allandale Station Allandale Station Allandale Station
Footnotes	Locations Adjoining localities

Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located about 873 kilometres (542 mi) north of the state capital of Adelaide (over 873 kilometres (542 mi) by road) and 112 m above sea level.

The name is probably derived from the Arrernte word utnadata, meaning "mulga blossom", and the place was for tens of thousands of years a stop on an old trade route for Aboriginal people. It was later used by the Overland Telegraph Line and was a stop on the old railway from Adelaide to Alice Springs, but is now bypassed by The Ghan. The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback road popular with tourists, runs through the town.

History

John McDouall Stuart explored the region in 1859. The route mapped by Stuart in his journeys of 1857 to 1862 was adopted as part of the Overland Telegraph Line route. There was no township at Oodnadatta in those days. It was called the Yellow Waterhole, or Angle Pole, and later was known as Hookey's Waterhole.

By the 1880s this route was being used by camel trains, led by cameleers from Afghanistan, both of whom were especially brought to Australia for the task of hauling goods into Central Australia for use by pioneer settlers. Camels were the only pack animals capable of taking on a six-week journey in often extreme heat, through sandy terrain. When train travel arrived, many of these camels were left to run wild in the outback where they number in the tens of thousands today. Many Afghan men and their families eventually settled in Oodnadatta and Maree, some marrying into the Aboriginal community.

Oodnadatta became the terminus of the Great Northern Railway in 1890, and remained so until the line was extended to Alice Springs in 1929. The line became known as the Central Australian Railway and the train service on the line was known as the Ghan in honour of the Afghan cameleers. The railway was built with narrow gauge (1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)) tracks; train traffic was frequently disrupted by washouts and other damage to the trackbed leading to a slow and unreliable service. The Algebuckina Bridge is nearby. The railway through Oodnadatta was closed in 1981; a new standard gauge line was built to the west bypassing Oodnadatta.

Oodnadatta's busiest era was World War II when Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force set up local facilities to service troop trains and fighter aircraft en route to Darwin. Following the closure of the railway line in 1981, Oodnadatta, formerly a government service centre and supply depot for surrounding pastoral properties, became a residential freehold town for Indigenous Australians who, moving from cattle work, bought empty houses as railway workers left. Increasing tourist traffic along the Oodnadatta Track and an emerging mining industry keep the village alive. The Aboriginal school is the biggest employer.

Both the historic Oodnadatta railway station, now a museum, and the nearby Algebuckina Bridge are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.

Climate

Oodnadatta has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) and has also recorded the highest reliably measured maximum temperature in Australia: 50.7 °C (123.3 F) on 2 January 1960. A higher temperature was recorded at Cloncurry in 1889; however, this has since been shown to have been recorded in a non-standard enclosure and likely to have been considerably cooler than first believed. There is a large sign in Oodnadatta claiming the town is "The driest town, the driest state of the driest Continent".

Oodnadatta elsewhere

The name Oodnadatta has been used as a name for a crater on the planet Mars.

Life in Oodnadatta

Oodnadatta Track sign

Canoe hire

The Pink Roadhouse (so-called because it is painted bright pink) is a focal point for the town, providing petrol, a general store, meals, post office facilities and canoe hire. Although they really do have canoes (also painted bright pink), it is not clear where to use them in the surrounding area unless the local waterholes are recently filled.

Oodnadatta is serviced twice weekly by the Coober Pedy Oodnadatta One Day Mail Run. The OKA mail truck also carries some general freight and passengers. Road trains bring weekly supplies of food and fuel etc. from Adelaide. Royal Flying Doctor Service and charter flights use the Oodnadatta Progress Associations' local all weather WW2 airstrip which houses an automatic weather station.

There is a museum in the old Ghan railway station, and a staffed medical centre. The railway station comprises a large and imposing Victorian-era home built for the station master's family, with verandahs on three sides, very high ceilings for coolness, and a cellar. Abutting the station-masters residence is the railway station office itself. The whole precinct has been kept in very good condition since the line closed.

Demographics

At the 2016 census, the population of Oodnadatta was 204 with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people making up 53.3% of the population. This was a decrease on 2006, when the population was 277, of whom less than half were Indigenous.

In 2016, 61.7% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken included Yankunytjatjara 4.7%, Luritja 3.6%, Afrikaans 1.6%, Tagalog 1.6% and Pitjantjatjara 1.6%.

See also

In Spanish: Oodnadatta para niños