20230523 SA Cradock to Carrieton

Its 10:15 and we just left Hawker for the last time after spending the night at the caravan park where I blogged until 3 in the morning, shit I had better get to bed. I woke early or more like was woken by Des tinkering around in the kitchen, as he does. We left Hawker for the last time as we head along the Flinders Range Way with the intention's to camp at the Cradock Hotel, that’s just down the road so after we check the town out we decided to continued our journey.

In the early days before Cradock it was just a stock route until the locals settlers requested a township be established along the same route, with other towns, Cradock was created in 1879 during a land rush. In those day the first school was unfenced and the cattle going through the town caused great excitement for the children but it was also quite dangerous as the school wasn’t fenced.

The Hotel was opened in 1881 but it was first known as the Heartbreak Hotel as a result of many crop failures throughout the area.

Perched on a high stand opposite the Hotel stands a giant hat although no one knows the reason it exists, but I’m guessing it could have something to do with the R.M Highway that runs passed the town.

You can find some interesting jokes on pub wall.

There were three churches built in Cradock in the 1880’s but it was the Catholic church that was the most attractive ever erected in the district, it opened in 1883.

Cradock School early 1920'S.

However, like many small towns that sprang up in the Flinders in the early years, Cradock was soon on the wane as farmers struggled to make a living in an area hit badly by droughts and grasshoppers. 

Carrieton or Yanyarrie as it was originally know is another town along the same stock route as Cradock that sprung to life in the 1860’s as a stopping place for teamsters on the copper road from Burra to Blinman, the population was declining by 1889 due to low record rain, wheat farmers were struggling and most left the land. Like all the towns in those rugged waterless times all that’s left is a handful of locals, a general store, a pub that only opens at certain times and a street that is deep in history with some new interest to entice the travellers passing through.

The Main Street of Carrieton celebrating 130 years from 1878 to 2008.

The Carrieton Hotel (built 1879) at Carrieton. According to a researcher, 'this is the second hotel at Carrieton.

The general store/ Post office dated 1887 supplies the locals with the basic item.

The ceramic mural depicts events and special features of Carrieton and District since settlement in 1878. Used in the making of the mural was 1 tonne of clay, comprising 880 tiles and is 15 metres in length.

Historic machinery outside the hotel in Carrieton.

St Raphael's Catholic Church on the Hill overlooks the town of Carrieton was erected in 1889, and it still looks as strong as the day it was built.

A old Fanta sign on the shop wall.