Salt Creek, South Australia
{{Other uses|Salt Creek (disambiguation){{!}}Salt Creek}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type = town
| name = Salt Creek
| state = sa
| image = SaltCreekOilDrill.JPG
| caption = Oil drill monument
| image_alt =
| relief =
| coordinates = {{coord|36.12737|S| 139.648167|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| pushpin_label_position =
| map_alt =
| pop =
| density =
| density_footnotes =
| established = 24 August 2000
| abolished =
| gazetted =
| elevation =
| elevation_footnotes =
| area =
| area_footnotes =
| timezone = ACST
| utc = +9:30
| timezone-dst = ACST
| utc-dst = +10:30
| dist1 = 164
| dir1 = SE
| location1 = Adelaide
| dist2 = 86
| dir2 = north-west
| location2 = Kingston SE
| dist3 = 58
| dir3 = south-east
| location3 = Meningie
| lga = The Coorong District Council
| region = Murray and Mallee
| county = Cardwell
| stategov = MacKillop{{cite web |title=District of MacKillop Background Profile |url=https://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/state-boundaries?view=article&id=386:mackillop |publisher=Electoral Commission SA |access-date=28 December 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112136/https://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/state-boundaries?view=article&id=386:mackillop |archive-date=29 December 2017 }}
| fedgov = Barker{{cite web|title=Federal electoral division of Barker |url=http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/sa/files/2011/2011-aec-a4-map-sa-barker.pdf |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=28 December 2017}}
| url =
| maxtemp = 20.8
| mintemp = 10.3
| rainfall = 469.2
| near-n = Coorong
| near-ne = Colebatch
| near-e = Deepwater
| near-se = Tilley Swamp
| near-s = Tilley Swamp
| near-sw = Coorong
| near-w = Coorong
| near-nw = Coorong
| near = Salt Creek
| footnotes = Adjoining localities
}}
Salt Creek is a small settlement in South Australia, located along the Coorong, and is also the location of the Coorong National Park Information Centre.
History
The following brief history of Salt Creek was compiled by the South Australian historian Geoffrey Manning:{{Cite web |url=http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/digitalpubs/placenamesofsouthaustralia/S.pdf |work=Manning Index of South Australian History |title=South Australian Names – S|first=Geoffrey |last=Manning |author-link=Geoffrey Manning |publisher=State Library of South Australia |access-date=20 December 2017}}
... There is another Salt Creek, 61 km South-East of Meningie and, 'early in 1866, Mr John Hodgkiss and others formed a small company with a capital of £500 to test the value of a supposed discovery of petroleum made near the notorious Malacha Martin’s house on the Salt Creek, by Mr W.H. Hamilton': Four men were sent out with 500 feet of boring rods and the oily substance which he had described as scum upon the surface of the water was traceable in various parts of the creek. Extensive claims were taken out and a company was formed to work a substance known as mineral caoutchouc and Mr Eustace R. Mitford was dispatched there.
Boundaries for the locality were created on 24 August 2000 for the " long established name" which is ultimately derived from a stream that flows through the locality on its way to the Coorong.
Oil rig monument
In 1892, a group of entrepreneurs, who believed there was oil located in the Coorong, drilled Australia's first oil well. They were unsuccessful, as it was later discovered that the 'oil' was in fact a flammable, compacted vegetable substance (known as 'coorongite'). A replica of the oil rig has been built as a monument to this enterprise.{{cite web |title=Salt Creek – Gateway to the Southern Coorong |url=https://coorongcountry.com.au/salt-creek/ |access-date=24 January 2025}}
People from Salt Creek
In 2017 the authorities discovered two young women who were kidnapped by a Salt Creek local by the name of Roman Heinze. Both girls were from overseas one was Brazilian and one was German. They were kept as sex slaves and they managed to escape and alert authorities.{{Cite web | title=Salt Creek attack: Roman Heinze can now be identified as the predator who kidnapped and terrorised foreign backpackers {{!}} The Advertiser | url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/law-order/salt-creek-attack-roman-heinze-can-now-be-identified-as-the-predator-who-kidnapped-and-terrorised-foreign-backpackers/news-story/6d73b9611cf762ddf3c62fd8e7c2037b | access-date=2025-01-24 | website=www.adelaidenow.com.au}}
References in literature
The novel Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar is set in the Coorong at Salt Creek in the 1850s and 1860s.{{Cite web|last=Clark|first=Clare|date=2017-10-28|title=Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar review – a love song to a lost world|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/28/salt-creek-by-lucy-treloar-review|access-date=2021-03-20|website=The Guardian|language=en}} It includes references to the Travellers' Rest Inn, to William and Catherine Robinson, the proprietors, and to Malachi Martin, and the real life murders committed by Martin.
Governance
Salt Creek is located within the federal division of Barker, the state electoral district of MacKillop and the local government area of the Coorong District Council.
References
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{The Coorong District Council localities}}
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