Kingoonya, South Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Kingoonya
state = sa


caption =
lga = Outback Areas
Community Development
Trust
postcode = 5710
est =
pop =
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Electoral district of Giles
fedgov = Division of Grey
dist1 =
location1= Adelaide
dir1 = north
dist2 =
location2=
dir2 =

Kingoonya is a small settlement in the far north of the Australian state of South Australia. It was established in the early 1900s as a railway support town on the line extending west, and played a significant role in the construction of the Trans-Australian Railway.

When railway services were rationalised in the early 1990s, Kingoonya was almost abandoned. The houses in the township are only intermittently occupied by people involved in mining exploration and kangaroo shooting.

The township is reputed to have the widest main street in Australia and cricket matches have been played on it.The town's hotel is still running. [Outback Areas Community Development Trust, " [http://www.oacdt.sa.gov.au/communities/map_of_communities/kingoonya "Communities: Kingoonya"] ". Accessed 9 April, 2007.]

The town was featured on Australia Live, a four hour broadcast on January 1, 1988 to celebrate Australia's bicentennial year.

The Indian Pacific (running between Sydney and Perth) and Ghan (running between Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin, trains still call at Kingoonya on request, and to do the twice-weekly mail run; both trains service the town twice a week in each direction.

References