Murphy's Haystacks

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Murphy's Haystacks are inselberg rock formations located at Mortana, between Streaky Bay and Port Kenny on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.{{cite web | url=https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Murphy's+Haystacks/@-33.0189717,134.4952388,4681m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xd1c8bcb0e598970 | title=Murphy's Haystacks | publisher=Google Maps | accessdate=14 February 2016}}

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They are of a 'tumulus' form of weathered granite outcrop.{{cite journal |last=Main |first=B York |title=Granite outcrops: A collective ecosystem |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia |volume=80 |issue=3 |page=115 |date=September 1997 |publisher=Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia |url=http://www.rswa.org.au/publications/Journal/80(3)/80(3)yorkmain.pdf#page=3 |accessdate=4 April 2017}} They are made of a pink, massive, coarsely equigranular rock consisting mostly of quartz and orthoclase. Their appearance may be due to a combination of erosion by underground rainwater and then by subsequent weathering after they were exposed. Most of the pillars emerge without a break from the underlying granite. Their structural base may be of orthogonal or vertically-aligned sheet jointing.{{cite journal |author1-last=Twidale |author1-first=C. R.|author-link=Charles Rowland Twidale |author2-last=Campbell |author2-first=Elizabeth M. |year=1984 |title=Murphy Haystacks, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. |journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia |volume=108 |issue=4 |pages=175, 177–9 |url=https://archive.org/stream/TransactionsRoy108Roya#page/173/mode/2up |accessdate=24 April 2017}}{{cite web |last=White |first=Melissa |title=Prioritising rock-holes of Aboriginal and ecological significance in the Gawler Ranges |page=17 |publisher=Knowledge and Information Division Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation |date=31 December 2008 |url=http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/files/sharedassets/sa_arid_lands/water/water-rockholes-aboriginal-ecological-sig-rep.pdf#page=17 |accessdate=24 April 2017}}

They obtained their name because a traveller in a coach saw the formation in the distance. He asked how a farmer could produce so much hay. As the farm was on a property owned by a man called Murphy, the rocks became known as Murphy's Haystacks.{{cite web|title=Murphys Haystacks in SA|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-07-26/murphys-haystacks-in-sa/2515044|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=3 October 2014|date=26 July 2007}}{{cite web|title=Murphy's Haystacks, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia |url=http://www.murphys-haystacks.com/the_story.htm |publisher=Steve Wade |accessdate=3 October 2014 |date=2002 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820192320/http://www.murphys-haystacks.com/the_story.htm |archivedate=August 20, 2008 }}

The site is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.{{cite web | url=http://apps.planning.sa.gov.au/HeritageSearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=16394 | title=Murphy's Haystacks Geological Site | publisher=Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | accessdate=14 February 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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