Australian Travel & Tourism Network
Outback SA

Bookmark and Share

Outback SA Holiday Holiday Attractions
South Australia

DUKE'S BOTTLE HOME

This local landmark is made entirely from discarded beer bottles.

ETTAMOGGAH PUB

Along a bumpy bush track at White Dam is the late Bill MacDougall's Ettamoggah Pub, a landmark known throughout the nation derived from cartoonist Ken Maynards' creation in the Australasian Post magazine. Bill's tin and timber shanty is a welcome stop for opal miners, outback workers and tourists alike. It's surrounded by the typical moonscape of opal mines.

ANDAMOOKA STATION

Telephone (08) 8671 0788
This 2,590 square kilometres property borders Lake Torrens and provides interested visitors an opportunity to learn and observe daily station life, such as raising sheep and cattle. Inspect the original outbuildings and blacksmiths workshop, now the Station museum.

THE BIG WINCH

Telephone (08) 8672 5264 This lookout and landmark above the town centre is Coober Pedy's largest opal and art gallery. The display includes rough and cut crystal, black opals, and the largest opal fossil in the world. The Big Winch lookout features a giant miners' winch.

THE BREAKAWAYS

This remarkable natural attraction is thirty two kilometres north of Coober Pedy in the Breakaways Reserve, approximately forty square kilometres of some of the most colourful landscape in the area. The colours of the Painted Desert change with the passing of the sun and give the area a surreal atmosphere no one should miss.

OLD TIMER'S MINE

Telephone 08 8672 5555
An original opal mine & underground homes dating back to 1916 The Old Timers Mine is one of the most unusual “Museums” you will ever visit. The Old Timers Mine is situated in the outback town of Coober Pedy in South Australia. The exhibits have been set up by miners to demonstrate the mining techniques and lifestyle of those who worked in the original mine. The actual mine however is not a mock up, it is an actual mine that was buried and forgotten until an excavation for an underground home extension broke through the sandstone earth wall and the mine was rediscovered. The displays have been made extremely life like and organized into an underground tour. By following the tour and viewing each display, the visitor will get a much better understanding of a miners life underground in the 19th century.

Pick and shovel were the first tools used and visitors will see how the early miners worked by candlelight to find a trace of opal. You can see the early shafts used to get access to the underground mine - or walk through an original 1318 underground home.

THE OPAL CAVE

Telephone (08) 8672 5028
This underground complex features a display of high quality jewellery, opal cutting demonstrations and an opal museum. Visitors can see the original underground house over fifty years old, visit an underground mine, see opal being mined and learn the history of opal.

OPAL QUEST

Telephone (08) 8672 5277
This working opal mine offers visitors a chance to see how the rare and precious stone is mined today. You're given a hard hat and miners pick to go and fossick for your own souvenir. Common opal is readily obtainable from the mine's walls. But first a tour familiarises you with the mines, geological formation of opal and its mining.

UMOONA OPAL MINE

Telephone (08) 8672 5288
This underground complex has a museum covering the development of European settlement in Coober Pedy, including all aspects of opal mining and Aboriginal culture. A special feature is the extensive display of opals. A guided tour takes you through real opal workings where all aspects of opal mining are explained.

UNDERGROUND CHURCHES

Coober Pedy's fascinating attractions also include underground churches - the Church of Saint Peter and Paul (classified by the National Trust) and the Catacomb Church.

CULLLYAMURRA WATERHOLE

A picturesque spot on the Cooper Creek, excellent for fishing. Evidence of the occupation of the area by the Yantrwantas Aboriginal tribe can be seen with rock carvings at the eastern end of the waterhole.

MOUND SPRINGS

Approximately 130 kilometres west of Marree are some fine examples of the many mound springs found in the area. Their discovery around the rim of the Great Artesian Basin enabled pastoral settlement in the outback. They also dictated the path of the Overland Telegraph, the Ghan Railway and stock route, the Oodnadatta Track. They include Bubbler and Blanchecup Mound Springs. Coward Springs is like an oasis, the warm water bubbling up out of the ground, with date palms providing a refuge for the many birds that frequent the area.

CURDIMURKA SIDING AND ARTESIAN BORE

One hundred and twenty one kilometres west of Marree, a section of the original Ghan line remains at the old Curdimurka Siding. Three old settlers cottages, a water tank and sheds have been retained by the Ghan Preservation Society; there is also an artesian bore next to the siding.

KILLALPANINNA LUTHERAN MISSION MEMORIAL

At Etadunna Homestead 121 kilometres north of Marree is a memorial commemorating the efforts of the people who ran the Lutheran Aboriginal Mission, the ruins of which are just to the north- west. The mission was built in 1867 and once cared for two hundred Aboriginal people. The severe drought of 1915 forced its closure.

LAKE EYRE SOUTH

South Australia's giant inland ocean, Lake Lyre is 81 kilometres west of Marree and can be seen from the Oodnadatta Track. There are two lookouts next to the road and a rough track leads to the lake shore.

LAKE HARRY RUINS

This is where the state government struck its first bore along the Birdsville Track. The old deserted homestead was once a busy camel trading post until 1851. A few date palms, survivors of a large plantation, remain.

ALGEBUCKINA SIDING RUIN

Just west of the Oodnadatta Track and fifty kilometres southeast of Oodnadatta is the Algebuckina Siding Ruin and a permanent water hole. One of the old Ghan Railway's most impressive bridges, nearly 600 metres long, still spans the river nearby.

RAILWAY STATION MUSEUM

Telephone (08) 8670 7828
The 98 year-old station contains a collection of historical photographs memorabilia and Aboriginal artefacts and a preserved portion of the historic Ghan Railway.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL WORKSHOPS AT PORT AUGUSTA

Telephone (08) 8642 2611
One hour guided tours are held twice a week at these large and important workshops, taking the visitor over the locomotive and wagon workshops where overhauling and repairs of the equipment occurs. Also in the complex are the machine shops, car building, welding, painting and electrical workshops. A tour of the apprenticeship training centre is included.

HOMESTEAD PARK PIONEER MUSEUM

Telephone (08) 8642 2035
This is a railway and pastoral museum featuring the historic Yudnapinna Homestead which was transported from its original site to Port Augusta and re-built as a museum. The 130-year old homestead is fully furnished in period style and is the only original log homestead in the state.

McLELLAN LOOKOUT

This vantage point, on the site of Matthew Flinders' landing-place in 1802, offers excellent views of Spencer Gulf, Port Augusta's power station, and the Flinders and Bluff Ranges. A stone cairn marks where Flinders stepped ashore on March 10

ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE BASE

Telephone (08) 8642 2044 The Port Augusta base is one of fourteen in Australia and provides medical services to people in remote areas of the state. Visitors have the opportunity to see first- hand the work of this uniquely Australian Aero Medical Service.

SCHOOL OF THE AIR

Telephone (08) 8642 2077
Visitors can see this radio education for students in the remote outback. There is an audio visual display and a viewing bay to observe teachers working with geographically isolated students via the two-way radio, broadcast through the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The service began in 1951. In 1991 it became a primary and secondary school, part of the Open Access College of South Australia.

WADLATA OUTBACK CENTRE

Telephone (08) 8642 4511
This interpretive centre features a series of hi-tech displays with the themes of The Greentime (ancient geological development), Aboriginal Heritage and Culture, Early European Explorers, Transport Development, Communications Development, Modern Technology and Development and a variety of other themes. Each is depicted with audio visual means, storyboards and imaginative display methods.

WATER TOWER LOOKOUT

This tower dates from 1882 and is surrounded by beautiful gardens. It was originally built to provide Port Augusta with a reserve water supply. There are excellent views of Port Augusta, the gulf and the Flinders Ranges.

OLYMPIC DAM VISITORS CENTRE

Telephone (08) 8671 8888
This centre explains the operations at Olympic Dam a vast copper, uranium, gold and silver mine. A video is available for viewing, and daily tours of the Olympic Dam surface mine site leave here.

WARRINA SIDING RUIN

These ruins, 117 kilometres from William Creek are stone settlers cottages. At the Warrina Siding Ruin is a commemorative plaque to the Elder Scientific Expedition which in 1891 left this spot for a 6,886 kilometres journey to Western Australia.

MISSILE PARK AND HERITAGE CENTRE

Telephone (08) 8673 7042
The Missile Park displays a fine collection of rockets, missiles and aircraft used in the testing range. The Woomera Heritage Centre includes a museum which displays historic groupings of fossil and stone, Aboriginal artefacts and homestead items.

Photo courtesy SATC

SA Service Index
SA Weather
accommodation and accommodation services in South Australia australia
for car rentals, motorhomes, campervans and budget auto rentals in Sydney and South Australia
for tours of South Australia australia
South Australian Region Map
Outback SA Information
This website developed and maintained by Australian Travel & Tourism Network Pty Limited for Australian Travel Service providers © last updated 11-Oct-2011