Balaklava

The town of Balaklava (population 2048, postcode 5461) is located in South Australia, 92 kilometres north of Adelaide in the Mid North region.

The town of Balaklava (population 2048, postcode 5461) is located in South Australia, 92 kilometres north of Adelaide in the Mid North region. It is on the south bank of the Wakefield River, 25 kilometres (16 miles) east of Port Wakefield.

Since prehistoric times the Balaklava district has been near the boundaries of the Kaurna and Peramangk peoples. The first Europeans to traverse the district were John Hill and Thomas Burr on 29 April 1840. They discovered Diamond Lake and encamped near Owen. The first European settlers in the area were James and Mary Dunn who in 1850 opened a hotel to service bullock teamsters carting copper ore upon the Gulf Road between the Burra mine and the export port of Port Wakefield.

The Gulf Road copper ore traffic came to a sudden end in 1857 when a railway connected Gawler to Port Adelaide which provided a more economic path for exporting the ore. The teamster's loads were replaced by a flow of pastoral produce to Port Wakefield, mainly wool and grain. The town was laid out by Charles Fisher in 1869 and named it after the Hundred of Balaklava which in turn was named for the Battle of Balaklava. He built large grain stores on the tramway from Hoyleton to the port at Port Wakefield, intending to encourage farmers to settle near the town. The first Hotel erected in the new township of Balaklava was the Balaklava Hotel, later called the Royal. Thomas Saint borrowed the finances from Thomas James Manton and applied for the Hotel Keepers Licence on 17 November 1870 and was granted licence No.17 of 1871 on 4 April 1871.

Balaklava was first on the1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge Port Wakefield railway line which was an isolated horse-drawn tramway inland through Balaklava to Hoyleton. This was eventually taken over by South Australian Railways and converted to steam, as well as being extended at both ends. Balaklava was later considered to be on the Gladstone railway line, with a junction to Port Wakefield. The line to Balaklava from Hamley Bridge (connecting to Adelaide) opened in 1878. It was converted to 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge in 1927 and still existed as far as Balaklava up to 2002. The last freight on the line was bulk grain in 2004.As the Balaklava railway station was originally on the Port Wakefield to Hoyleton line, before the railway from Hamley Bridge was built, and that line entered the town from the southeast, trains travelling using the route between Gladstone and Adelaide needed to change direction at Balaklava, as both the north and south lines entered the station from the east, with Port Wakefield being to the west.The name of the town was originally spelled Balaclava.

Balaklava is home to long time nuclear veteran campaigner Avon Hudson.