Terowie, South Australia

File:Terowie Institute.JPG

Terowie is an aboriginal word meaning hidden waterhole,{{cite book |last=Manning |first=Geoffrey Haydon |date=1990 |title= Manning's Place Names of South Australia|location=Adelaide |publisher=G.H. Manning |oclc=25016107 |author-link=Geoff Manning }} first applied to Terowie Creek.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39127436 Munjibbee and Wookongarie Runs] South Australian Register 27 September 1864 p. 3 accessed 24 August 2011

Gottliebs Well – Prior to the 1870s the Terowie name was practically unknown to European settlers. The entire district was an extensive pastoral property named Gottlieb's Well Station (also Gottlieb Well – German: 'Loved by God'), first taken up in the 1840s under Occupation Licence, and then from 1851 under Crown Lease. By the 1860s, under leaseholder Alexander McCulloch, this run had expanded to a total area of 407 square miles, grazing 40,000 sheep.Baillière's South Australian Gazetteer, Adelaide 1866, page 90. The busy Gottliebs Well head station, which also catered for travellers and stagecoaches, was just a few kilometres southwest of present Terowie township. From the early 1870s many large pastoral properties of South Australia were broken up into smaller parcels through land reform. In the case of Gottliebs Well, this resulted in the proclamation of the Hundred of Terowie.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39269175/3989860 Government Gazette 22 February 1872] South Australian Register 23 February 1872 p. 6 accessed 24 August 2011 Thus obscured, the Gottliebs Well name was consigned to further obscurity in 1918 when, due to anti-German sentiment of World War I, it was renamed Parnggi Well.

The town of Terowie was founded as a private venture around 1875 by John A. Mitchell (died ca. May 1879), who built a public house (highly profitable due to its proximity to the Inkermann mine[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40083365 To Waukaringa and Back] South Australian Register 21 December 1875 p. 5 accessed 24 August 2011
This reference is interesting for its descriptions of the big towns but also Koolunga, Redhill, Georgetown, Booyoolie, Caltowie, Wirrabara, Saltia, Willochra, Wirreanda, Yednelue, Wonoka, Oudla Mudla, Droonda, Eurilpa, Morchard and Pekina. South Australian Register accessed 24 August 2011) on the main road, and sections were taken up by a blacksmith, a medical practitioner (a Dr. Carter[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43011716 Serious Results of a Quarrel] South Australian Register 2 May 1876 p. 5 accessed 24 August 2011), a store and others. This was in flagrant contravention of the terms of Mitchell's lease, but received an imprimatur when he facilitated building of a Wesleyan chapel.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42998096 Township of Shebbear] South Australian Register 7 May 1878 p. 6 accessed 24 August 2011 By the end of 1875 it consisted of seven houses in a row.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40087073 Notes of a Northern Tour] South Australian Register 5 November 1875 p. 6 accessed 24 August 2011 In 1877 an area of "wasteland" to the east across the road was nominated by the Government as the site of a town named "Shebbear".[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40785089 Township of Shebear (sic)] South Australian Register 10 August 1877 p. 7 accessed 24 August 2011 (perhaps named after Shebbear, Devon). This was objected to by interests in Terowie[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40784326/3982048 Townships in the North] South Australian Register 17 August 1877 p. 5 accessed 24 August 2011 and nearby Yarcowie, which was anxious for any development to be there.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40781702 Sale of Township near Terowie] South Australian Register 8 September 1877 p. 5 accessed 24 August 2011 Eventually lots were offered for sale at "Shebbear", but the name was scarcely used outside the context of proposed land sales, and all references to the future railway used "Terowie". By 1880 there were two stores, two butchers, a bakery, a saddlery, a bootmaker, three blacksmiths, the hotel (now run by Eglington) and another under construction, two chapels, an Institute (but as yet no Post Office or Police Station[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43110228 Terowie, 14 April] South Australian Register 21 April 1880 p. 7 accessed 24 August 2011) and the railway station.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43103035 A Town in the North] South Australian Register 27 March 1880 p. 6 accessed 24 August 2011 The line south was completed on 11 October 1880.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43142027 Railway at Terowie] South Australian Register 12 October 1880 p. 5 accessed 24 August 2011

Terowie has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Main Street: ES&A Bank Building{{cite web | url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=14353 | title=Former ES & A (English, Scottish & Australian) Bank Terowie Branch | publisher=Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | accessdate=8 April 2016}}
• Main Street: Terowie General Store{{cite web | url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=14352 | title=Former General Store | publisher=Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | accessdate=8 April 2016}}
• Main Street: Terowie Hotel{{cite web | url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=14400 | title=Terowie Hotel | publisher=Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | accessdate=8 April 2016}}
• Besanko Street: Terowie Oval Staging Camp Cell Block{{cite web | url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=14351 | title=Cell Block of former World War Two Staging Camp, Terowie Oval | publisher=Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | accessdate=8 April 2016}}
• Railway Terrace: Terowie railway station{{cite web | url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=14354 | title=Regional Council Terowie Railway Station (platform with plaques, part of original station building including porter's lamp room & connected lavatories & detached guard room) | publisher=Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | work=South Australian Heritage Register | accessdate=8 April 2016}}

Terowie's initial raison d'être was to serve as a transport hub for the late 19th-century pastoral settlement of the north-east of the State. The broad gauge line from the south (via Burra) ended at Terowie. Soon a narrow gauge line continued 20 km north to Peterborough, where lines from Perth, Alice Springs, Broken Hill and later Sydney met. Thus Terowie functioned for decades as the transshipment point at the railway break-of-gauge.

The broad gauge line was extended from Terowie to Peterborough in the 1970s, and Terowie went from a thriving township into something of a perfectly preserved ghost-town.Chambers, T.F. (1971) "The Railways and Terowie", Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, February 1971, pp. 25–35 The railway line was closed and removed in the early 1990s; many relics remain and have been well preserved in the Museum and the Walking Trail.

When in 1898 the town hosted a busy break of gauge its population was about 800–900 people, many of whom worked on the railways.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87780780 |title=Deputations |newspaper=The Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=6 August 1898 |accessdate=30 May 2013 |page=21 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

The town was home to a busy staging camp during World War II, due to the break-of-gauge for the busy railway traffic going to Alice Springs and thus much of northern Australia.

Elevation is {{convert|1634|ft|m}}.SAR Timetable 1954 p96

The pioneering Hollywood filmmaker J.P. McGowan was born in Terowie in 1880, his father's occupation being shown on the birth registration as engineman. It has been speculated that McGowan's decades-long film interest in steam rail would have stemmed from early exposure in the then-bustling rail terminus.

The town was revitalized when Afternoon Delight bought the local church. Thousands flocked there each weekend to experience the joy of a place about love and kindness without the "power and control" element usually associated with theocracy. There may be a film made about this by a descendant of J. P. McGowan.

File:General Douglas MacArthur monument at Terowie railway station, South Australia.jpg monument]]

While changing trains in Terowie on 20 March 1942, United States General Douglas MacArthur was interviewed by two journalists from the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper regarding the Battle of the Philippines. He said: "The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed from Corregidor to Australia for the purpose, as I understand it, of organising an American offensive against Japan, the primary purpose of which is the relief of the Philippines. I came through and I shall return". The following morning the Advertiser printed the interview with MacArthur under the headline: "I Shall Return."Advertiser 21 March 1942, p.1 MacArthur used the phrase repeatedly in his press releases until his return to Manila in February 1945. The event is commemorated by a plaque on the platform (which misquotes his remark).{{cite web|url=http://monumentaustralia.org.au/australian_monument/display/51790 |publisher=Monument Australia |work=Monument Australia Display |title=I Came out of Bataan and I Shall Return |accessdate=20 March 2013}}

{{Main article|Bob the Railway Dog}}

File:Terowie Bob information Board.jpg Bob, also known as Terowie Bob, first lived with Seth Ferry at Terowie, whilst Ferry was a Special Porter.

Bob is commemorated in Terowie via a series of information boards, the "Bob the Railway Dog Trail", at various points of interest in the town.

For the last 40 years the town has been littered with broken asbestos pieces and has even been referred to as an 'asbestos wasteland'. The South Australian government owns the land where significant quantities of asbestos has been dumped on the ground, open to the air with no signage fences or other warnings to stop people going near, nor stopping children playing in and around the extremely hazardous material. The town also has a significant problem with water quality, with the towns from Terowie to Cockburn on the Barrier Highway receiving water from SA Water containing "unacceptable levels of lead" in the tap water along with water tests commonly showing high levels of e-coli. The water, unfit for consumption, costs residents four times more than the uncontaminated water in Adelaide, the water itself is pumped through asbestos pipes from a local dam. The supply of contaminated water to residents of Terowie goes against basic international human rights as outlined by the United Nations.{{cite news| url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-26/residents-of-forgotten-town-want-asbestos-wasteland-gone/4541540| title = 'Forgotten town' wants asbestos wasteland gone - ABC News| website = Australian Broadcasting Corporation| date = 26 February 2013}}{{cite web | url=https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml | title=International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015. Focus Areas: The human right to water and sanitation }}

File:Old post office Terowie.JPG|Post office (former)

File:Old wooden shop Terowie.JPG|Old Shop

File:Terowieemporium.jpg|Old Shop

File:Terowie old shops.JPG|Old Shops

File:Terowie Imperial Hotel.JPG|Imperial Hotel

File:Country Womens Association Terowie.JPG|CWA

File:Bushellslanchooterowie.jpg|Old tea advertisement

File:Remaining station buildings of Terowie railway station, 2013.jpg|Portion of the remains of the Terowie railway station

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• [http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/terowie.htm South Australian history – Terowie]

{{Regional Council of Goyder localities}}

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Category:Mid North (South Australia)

Category:Towns in South Australia