Swan Reach, South Australia

Swan Reach is a river port in South Australia 127 km north-east of Adelaide on the Murray River between Blanchetown and Mannum in South Australia. It is on the left bank of the river. The Swan Reach Ferry is a cable ferry crossing operated by the state government as part of the state's road network. Swan Reach, with all parts below Lock #1, is also one of the lowest parts of the river. In 2009–2010 the river was about 1.5 metres below its normal level. In late 2022 and early 2023 the town experienced a flood with river levels not seen since the devastating flood of 1956. Homes and businesses on Victoria street were inundated, along with most of the holiday homes at Marks Landing. Widespread damage was caused. At the 2016 census, Swan Reach had a population of 283.[2]

Not to be confused with Swan Reach, Victoria.

Swan Reach
South Australia
Swan Reach is located in South Australia
Swan Reach
Swan Reach
Coordinates34°34′04″S 139°35′59″E
Population274 (UCL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)5354
Time zoneACST (UTC+9:30)
 • Summer (DST)ACDT (UTC+10:30)
LGA(s)Mid Murray Council
State electorate(s)Chaffey
Federal division(s)Barker

History

Swan Reach was first settled in the 1850s and was originally the largest of five sheep and cattle stations in the area. It soon became one of the first riverboat ports in South Australia and was a loading port for grain and wool.

Swan Reach Mission was established by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) in 1926 to provide a Christian education to Aboriginal children. It was closed in 1946 due to frequent flooding of the area, and the UAM opened the Gerard Mission near Loxton. Some residents were transferred to the new mission,[3] but some, including the parents of singer-songwriter Ruby Hunter, moved elsewhere for work.[4] Children of the mission became part of the Stolen Generation, later provided with some compensation through the National Redress Scheme.[3]

Around the town

Swan Reach has an area school, hotel and bottle shop, general store and post office, an op shop that opens Mondays to Fridays and Saturday mornings, and a fast food take-away shop near the ferry. The tourist boat Proud Mary and paddle-wheeler PS Murray Princess stop at the town once a week. There is a Lutheran church, with regular services, and a Lutheran pastor in residence. Anglican and Roman Catholic services are held monthly. Tourism, agriculture and irrigated horticulture are the main industries, and there is a large almond processing plant 1.5 km from town on the Stott Highway.

River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve

The Swan Reach Conservation Park lies in a 3,200-square-kilometre (1,200 sq mi)[5] area which was named the nation's first, and the world's 15th[6] International Dark sky reserve in October 2019, by the International Dark-Sky Association.[5] The "dark sky" title refers to areas where the night sky has a high darkness rating and there are policy controls to ensure light pollution is kept to a minimum, with reserve status only given when both public and private residential land is included.[6]

A multi-million-dollar joint project between Silentium Defence and the Western Sydney University to build a space domain awareness observatory to monitor satellites and other objects orbiting the Earth was announced in June 2020. The Murray Mallee location and terrain of the land was considered ideal for the purpose.[7]The Oculus passive radar observatory opened in December 2021.[8]

The reserve's official name is the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve.[5][9]

See also

Notes and references
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Swan Reach (Urban Centre and Locality)". Australian Census 2021. 
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Swan Reach (L) (Urban Centre/Locality)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  3. "Swan Reach Mission (1926 - 1946)". Find&Connect. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  4. Bradbrook, Sam (18 March 2022). "Push to rename Murray River island after iconic Aboriginal musician Ruby Hunter". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. "About Us". River Murray Dark Sky Reserve. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  6. Collins, Laura; Butcher, Anita; Dawes, Samantha (7 November 2019). "River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve, our first official reserve, lands Australia's darkest sky status". Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  7. Vonic-Joyce, Meg; Step, Matt (23 June 2020). "SA's River Murray Dark Sky Reserve to become home of space traffic management facility". Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  8. "Silentium reaches for the stars with new Oculus Observatory". 9 December 2021.
  9. "The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)". International Dark-Sky Association. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
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