Ucolta, South Australia

Ucolta South Australia
Ucolta
Coordinates	32°59′48″S 138°57′29″E[1]
Population	13 (SAL 2021)[2]
Postcode(s)	5422
Elevation	532 m (1,745 ft)[3]
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACST (UTC+10:30)
LGA(s)	District Council of Peterborough
Region	Yorke and Mid North[1]
County	Kimberley[1]
State electorate(s)	Stuart[4]
Federal division(s)	Grey[5]
Mean max temp[6] Mean min temp[6] Annual rainfall[6] 21.9 °C 71 °F 7.3 °C 45 °F 365.7 mm 14.4 in
Localities around Ucolta: Minvalara Dawson Dawson Minvalara Peterborough Sunnybrae Ucolta Parnaroo Terowie Terowie Franklyn
Footnotes	Adjoining localities[1]

Ucolta is a locality in the Mid North region of South Australia. It was named for a former railway station on the South Australian Railways' 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge railway line between Port Pirie and the New South Wales border.^[7] After the line was re-engineered and converted to 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge in 1970, when the infrastructure was demolished, trains did not stop there.^[8]

The Ucolta station was demolished when the narrow-gauge railway was re-engineered and converted to standard gauge in 1970

Ucolta is also where the Barrier Highway first meets the railway line, and the Wilmington–Ucolta Road which connects across the northern side of the Mid-North, providing the shortest road route from Western Australia and Eyre Peninsula via Port Augusta to Broken Hill and New South Wales.

The name Ucolta was recorded as an Aboriginal name in 1862, but its meaning has been lost.^[3] The former Ucolta Post Office was in the railway station.^[9]

Lancelot

A town named Lancelot was surveyed in April 1877.^[10][11] Nothing now remains of the town except the cemetery; the state government declared that it had ceased to exist on 22 May 1980.^[12] It was adjacent to the Barrier Highway where it crosses Willanowie Creek (about 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) south of Ucolta railway station) and is now incorporated in the bounded locality of Ucolta.^[13] Lancelot cemetery remains managed by the District Council of Peterborough.^[14][15]

It had been anticipated that the railway north from Terowie would pass Lancelot, however the railway was built further west to meet the east-west railway at Peterborough. In the 1890s, Lancelot had both government and Catholic schools.^[16]

For the 1925 federal election, the polling booth at Lancelot was closed, with a new polling booth at Ucolta, which took a total of 49 votes.^[17]

References

1. "Search results for 'Ucolta, LOCB' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and localities', 'Counties', 'Hundreds', 'Local Government Areas', 'SA Government Regions', 'Gazetteer', 'Railways' and 'Roads'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian Government. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Ucolta (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
3. "Placename Details: Ucolta Railway Station". Property Location Browser. Land Services, Government of South Australia. SA0035163. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
4. "District of Stuart Background Profile (2014-2018 boundaries)". Electoral Commission SA. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
5. "Federal electoral division of Grey" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
6. "Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics Yongala (nearest weather station)". Commonwealth of Australia, Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
7. "Placename Details: Ucolta". Property Location Browser. Land Services, Government of South Australia. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
8. Fearnside, George H. (1970). All stations west: the story of the Sydney-Perth standard gauge railway. Sydney: Haldan Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 090991804X.
9. "Placename Details: Ucolta Post Office". Property Location Browser. Land Services, Government of South Australia. SA0011216. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
10. HAGGARD, H. DEBONAIRE (19 July 1877). "Untitled proclamation re the Town of Lancelot" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. p. 161. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
11. Office, South Australia Surveyor-General's; Crawford, -1890, Frazer S. (1877). Township of Lancelot : Hundred of Gumbowie. Adelaide : Surveyor-General's Office : Frazer S. Crawford, photo-lithographer.
12. Rodda, W. Allan (22 May 1980). "Crown Lands Act, 1929-1978: Hundred of Gumbowie, County of Kimberly - Town of Lancelot to cease to exist - closure of all roads in Town of Lancelot" (PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. p. 1373. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
13. "Placename Details: Lancelot". Property Location Browser. Land Services, Government of South Australia. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
14. "Cemetery Directions". District Council of Peterborough. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
15. "Lancelot Cemetery". Peterborough Festival Inc. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
16. "LANCELOT, JULY 27". The Southern Cross. Adelaide. 9 August 1895. p. 7. Retrieved 19 September 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
17. "The Federal Elections. Little Change in South Australia". The Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia. 20 November 1925. p. 3. Retrieved 19 September 2015 – via National Library of Australia.