Yeelanna, South Australia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yeelanna South Australia
Yeelanna Location in South Australia
Population	86 (2016 census)
Established	1904
Postcode(s)	5632
Location	398 km (247 mi) W of Adelaide 77 km (48 mi) N of Port Lincoln 14 km (9 mi) N of Cummins
LGA(s)	District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula
Region	Eyre Western
County	Flinders
State electorate(s)	Flinders
Federal Division(s)	Grey
Localities around Yeelanna: Mitchell Karkoo Kapinnie Yeelanna Brooker Cummins Cockaleechie

Yeelanna (an Aboriginal word meaning "Local Spring") is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in South Australia located 77 kilometres (48 mi) north of Port Lincoln. It is on the Tod Highway and Eyre Peninsula Railway between Lock and Cummins. The Yeelanna district is known for its extremely fertile farming land, where nearly all farms in the district are continuously cropped.

History

The first settlers came to the district in 1904. The township was surveyed in 1908, and had a policeman in the early days who lived in a tent, and there were two brick cells there for the wrong-doers. A large dam was dug in 1909 and supplied the township in the early days, and later was connected to the Yeelanna oval to water it for football and cricket. Yeelanna had a butcher shop, a blacksmith shop and a 19-room hotel in the early days. The hotel opened in 1912 and closed in 1924, it was then dismantled and the stone was transported to Kimba to build the current Kimba Gateway Hotel. Also, there was a bank, a bakery until the 1950s, a boarding house that opened in 1910 and a primary school that opened in 1908 and closed in 1972. The school is now the Bellwood Museum. There was a railway station, five railway cottages that were demolished in the mid to late 1970s, and a couple of mechanical businesses. The town had two shops in the early 1980s, with one being also a post office. The last shop closed was the Yeelanna General Store in the late 1980s. There were five fuel agents in town, with at least two still being their in the 1990s. There is still one mechanical business.

The oval was used until around 2003–04 when the oval was last used by the Karkoo/Yeelanna cricket club. The part of the recreation ground where the oval was, has since been sold and a new house and shed built on it where a spraying and windrowing business is run from, but the part of the recreation ground where the toilets, tennis and netball courts are remain in public ownership.

The town has a hall with public toilets, a post office in one of the front rooms of the Yeelanna Hall, grain silos that were built in the 1960s and a railway line that has been their since around 1908 and transports grain to Port Lincoln for export, fourteen houses, a Uniting Church, a CFS brigade, an Agriculture Bureau that has existed since 1908, a Country Woman's Association, a museum called Bellwood Museum, and a historic cemetery. The town has a table tennis club, that plays its home matches in the Yeelanna Hall, and was established in 1939 that last won back to back Premierships in 06/07 and in 07 were undefeated Premiers. Yeelanna's Football and Netball clubs amalgamated with the United(Karkoo and Murdinga area) football and netball clubs in 1964 to form the United Yeelanna Football and Netball clubs. United Yeelanna football and netball clubs played at three home ground's being Murdinga, Karkoo and Yeelanna. They stopped playing at Murdinga around the late 1970s and Yeelanna at the end of the 1994 season. In 2014 United Yeelanna won the football Premierships in the A,B and colts (under 16's) grades, and in the netball won the Premierships in the A-Reserves, and B-grade and in 2015 and 2016 United Yeelanna's football clubs A grade won Premierships to win three Premierships in a row and United Yeelanna's netball club won Premierships in 2015 and 2016 as well to also win three Premierships in a row. Yeelanna's cricket club amalgamated with Karkoo in around 2000/01 to become the Karkoo/Yeelanna cricket club and stoped playing at Yeelanna in around 03/04. Yeelanna had a tennis club until the late 1980s,that then folded and the Yeelanna players joined with neighbouring club at Karkoo.

The Yeelanna district is known for its extremely fertile farming land, where nearly all farms in the district are continuously cropped.

Yeelanna Uniting Church is part of the Western Eyre Uniting Churches Parish. The church is located in Bell Street, opposite the museum and welcomes people from many different Christian backgrounds. A Sunday school and youth group operate from the church.