Australia So Much to See

Farina - can wheat really be grown in this dry climate? 

This large building was originally the Transcontinental Hotel from 1878 – 1928, seen here from behind.  It was then operated as a bush nursing post to 1945.  It became a boarding house until its closure in 1955. 

To see why Farina was founded, we need to look into the history of the town.  Farina's beginnings date from 1857 when George W. Goyder, the Assistant Surveyor General of South Australia, took charge of an exploration to report on the country to the north of the then pastoral districts of South Australia. 

At the time there had been good rains.  He found Lake Torrens full of fresh water and the surrounding country flourishing.  Very different to the desert described by explorer Edward John Eyre in 1837.

Later that year Surveyor General Captain Arthur Freeling went to see the country for himself, but is was bare and dry due to lack of any further rains.  He criticized Goyder for being deceived by floods and mirages.

Although Goyder had proved that further exploration was possible, her was aware of his blunder.  In 1859 he led and expedition to triangulate the country between Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre.  Because of lack of water, wells were sunk along their route. 

Site of residence of Nat and Lucy Finn and daughters Everleen, Ivy, May, Jane, Edith, Dolly and Connie. 1889 – 1944.

Following good seasons in 1870–75, settlement spread beyond Goyder’s Line, initially to Carrieton, extending over the adjacent Willochra Plain and up to Hawker in the Flinders Ranges. By 1879 the state had 560 000 hectares of wheat and six million sheep. Despite the opening of a developmental railway beyond Quorn to Government Gums (Farina) in 1882, a prolonged run of dry seasons from 1880–1881 soon caused settlers to retreat.

Goyder's Line was embodied in Schedule 1 of the Waste Lands Alienation Act 1872 which prohibited purchase of land on credit outside of designated agricultural areas. However, with good rains in the 1870’s, Goyder’s advice was disregarded and this led to the repeal of that act in 1874.

Hence 1874 pastoral land was carved up and sold as farms heading well north of the of the line – with wheat being grown as far away as Farina and even at Dalhousie. 

The Overland Telegraph Line from Adelaide to Darwin was completed in 1872 and the railway line extended to Farina in 1882.  Cultivated farming areas were expanding. 

Towns were established, and over the next ten years it appeared that Goyder had been wrong.  After another good season in 1882, in 1883 and 1884 the worst drought in twenty years occurred in South Australia which saw the abandonment of farms, houses, towns, livelihoods and dreams.  

Robert Moffatt's House.  This house is significant as it is the only non commercial or government building, being constructed with stone.  This property was stabilised as a significant ruin during 2011 - 2013. 

Farina Historic Village is 56 kilometres south of Marree.  In 1870, a well on Leigh Creek, which is known as Farina Creek when it is joined by the Witchelina Creek and is a tributary of the Frome River, gave the town its first official name of The Gums Waterhole. Later it became known as Government Gums.  The town was surveyed in 1876 and declared a town in 1878.  It was renamed Farina. The name Farina (Latin for milled grain or flour) was chosen in anticipation that the areas would be suitable for growing wheat. Only a small number of the lots surveyed were taken up. 

From 1882 to 1884, Farina was the railhead for those moving livestock and wool down the Strzelecki, Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks.  The railway was then extended to Marree.