Sheringa is a coastal locality on the western side of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia on the Great Australian Bight.[2]
| Sheringa South Australia | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Sheringa | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°50′53″S 135°13′58″E / 33.84807°S 135.23285°E | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 32 (SAL 2021)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5607 | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 113 km (70 mi) northwest of Port Lincoln | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | District Council of Elliston | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Flinders | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Grey | ||||||||||||||
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The Flinders Highway runs through Sheringa.[2] Sheringa is located on the highway, containing a hall, Church, CFS and Roadhouse.[3] Surf Life Saving Australia describes Sheringa Beach as "a relatively popular spot for sightseers, while the local surfers and fishers use the beach".[4]
History edit
In August 1843, Joseph Cummings aged 16 born in England, and Samuel Harris aged 14 born in the United States, became only the second westerners to trek through the Eyre Peninsula, following in explorer Edward John Eyre's footsteps, and using a coastal map prepared by Matthew Flinders from his circumnavigation of Australia in 1802. They had left the Fowlers Bay whaling station to walk to civilisation, because of the torrid conditions in which they found themselves. They walked 650 kilometres (400 mi) to Point Drummond where a ship was seen, and took them to Port Lincoln. A local magistrate heard their story, and freed them on the condition that they guided a survey party to the region of good farming land they described, at what became Sheringa. He also granted them parcels of land there, that they farmed.[5]
The town of Sheringa was surveyed in October 1882. It was initially proclaimed as Holsworthy on 19 April 1883, then revoked and proclaimed as Sheringa on 23 August 1883. Its name is derived from Tjeiringa, a local Aboriginal name for a yam-like root that grew in the area.[6] The former Sheringa Post Office opened on 1 September 1891 and closed on 28 September 1984.[7]
The Wesleyan Methodist church granted permission to construct a church building at Sheringa at its district meeting in 1886.[8] In 1898, the town consisted "...of a temperance hotel, a general store, and blacksmith's shop under one roof, and a public building, which is used as a Church, a school, and a dancing-room."[9] St. John's Anglican Church opened in 1910.[10]
The historic Round Lake Washing Pool, a former sheep wash located near Sheringa, is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.[11] Washing pools were used before 1870 to wash sheep prior to shearing. This wash pond was built in the 1840s and used by several adjacent sheep runs to clean the sheep before shearing. After about 1870, fleece did not need to be cleaned by the farmers before sale, as manufacturers could produce lanolin as a by-product of cleaning the fleece themselves.[12]
The one road sign in Sheringa "Nowhere Else road", has attracted attention for its unusual name.[13][14]
References edit
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Sheringa (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ a b "Sheringa SA 5607". Google Maps. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ "Sheringa Roadhouse". Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ "Sheringa Beach". Beachsafe. Surf Life Saving Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Solo trekker Steve Woore follows runaway teen whalers' 500km pioneering trek across Eyre Peninsula, Jodie Hamilton and Emma Pedler, ABC News Online, 2019-09-25
- ^ "Placename Details: Sheringa (LOCB)". Property Location Browser. Land Services, Government of South Australia. 31 March 2010. SA0061410. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ "Sheringa". Post Office Finder. Premier Postal. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ "WESLEYAN DISTRICT MEETING". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 25 October 1886. p. 7. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ "A TRIP TO THE WEST COAST". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 24 December 1898. p. 5. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ "OPENING OF NEW CHURCH AT SHERINGA". Australian Christian Commonwealth (SA : 1901 - 1940). SA: National Library of Australia. 8 July 1910. p. 11. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ "Round Lake Washing Pool". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Patricia Sumerling, Heritage of Eyre Peninsula: a short history, Professional Historians Association (SA), p. 4, retrieved 14 February 2016
- ^ "Nowhere Else a steal for tourists". ABC.news.com. Australian Broadcast Commission. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "10 most ridiculous Australian place names". Travel. CNN. 13 December 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015.
Further reading edit
- Nosworthy, William; Nosworthy, Maureen; Sheringa History Committee (1988), Tjeiringa : the story of the Sheringa district, Sheringa History Committee, ISBN 978-0-7316-4187-1
- Watson, Dianne (2010), St. John's Anglican Church, Sheringa : celebrating 100 years in 2010, D. Watson, retrieved 14 February 2016