From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gladstone ( 33°16′S, 138°21′E) is a small rural town in the Mid North of South Australia in the approach to the lower Flinders Ranges.

It has a population of around 800, and services the surrounding district with two pubs, three churches, a bank, Post Office and several shops and small businesses providing basic goods and services. The closest hospital is 11 km away in a neighbouring rural town, but doctors take appointments in the town’s medical clinic. There is a kindergarten (approximately 12 enrolments), state primary school (63), Catholic primary school (60) and a secondary school (approximately 205 students, drawn from the wider district).

Gladstone has sporting/social clubs providing for Aussie Rules football, netball, cricket, tennis, golf, lawn bowls, swimming (at the local outdoor pool) and soccer (newly formed for school-aged children), all seasonal. Sporting competitions occur between clubs from the neighbouring towns within a radius of about 75 km.

Wheat and sheep are the main farming produce of the region, but Gladstone has the largest inland grain storage facility in the Southern Hemisphere, storing wheat, barley, durum wheat, peas, faba beans and fiesta beans.

Gladstone is located on the main Port Pirie to Broken Hill railway, with branches going north and south.

Originally, all the lines were 3′ 6″ narrow gauge. In 1927, the line south of Gladstone to Hamley Bridge was converted to 5′ 3″ broad gauge, making Gladstone a break-of-gauge junction.

In 1970, the line from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to 4′ 8½″ standard gauge making Gladstone into a rare three-gauge break-of-gauge junction. In the 1980s, the broad and narrow gauge lines were closed, leaving Gladstone as a purely standard gauge station.

Gladstone's main tourist attraction is the old Gladstone Gaol, built between 1879-81 and originally used for 'inebriates and debtors'. During World War II it was used for the internment of Germans and Italians, and later as a military detention centre. From 1953 the gaol was used as a youth corrective centre. It was closed in 1975, due to its outdated facilities. It is now open to the public for tours, back-packer accommodation and available for functions.

On the afternoon of 9 May 2006, an explosion at a factory ten kilometres from Gladstone killed three men and injured two more. The factory is a former ammunition factory now used for making mining explosives. The explosion could be heard in Gladstone. (ABC)

This South Australia geography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.