Port Augusta (population 15,250) is a town in South Australia. The town is located at the head of the Spencer Gulf, 322 km north of state capital Adelaide.
A natural harbour, the port was settled on 24 May1852 by Alexander Elder and John Grainger. The port was named after Lady Augusta Sophia Young, the wife of the Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Edward Fox Young.
Railways
In 1878, the town became the southern terminus of a proposed North South transcontinental line, headed for Darwin 2500km away. This 3' 6" gauge line never got there, and was later taken over by the Commonwealth in 1910, to be renamed the Central Australian Railway.
Between 1913 and 1917, an East West Transcontinental railway 2000km long was built from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. This was built in 4' 8½" gauge as part of a long term plan to harmonise gauges between the mainland states, causing a temporary 60 year break-of-gauge at Port Augusta.
PortAugusta is located 322 km north of Adelaide and is a genuine crossroads with roads heading north to Alice Springs and Darwin, west to the Nullarbor and the Eyre Peninsula and east to Adelaide.
PortAugusta is a prosperous and interesting rural centre which is home to an excellent tourist information office which provides lots of valuable information for people planning to travel across the Nullarbor or north through the Northern Territory.
PortAugusta, being located on the edge of the Outback, is one of the many bases for both the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the School of the Air.
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