#12 Farina

On the edge of the desert in the far north of South Australia, Farina is situated on the aligmnent of the original Ghan railway, 26 km north of Lyndhurst and 55 km south of Marree where the Oodnadatta and Birdsville Tracks commence. The townwas the railhead from Port Augusta from May 1882 until 1884 when the line was extended first to Marree and then Alice Springs. Railway buildings included platforms, goods shed, sheep and cattle yards, station masters residence, workman’s cottage and a 5m gallon reservoir. The line closed in the 1980s and was removed in 1993. One of the more unusual cargoes embarked at Farina railway station was South Australia’s biggest meteorite. The 1.2 tonne Murnpeowie iron Meteorite was dragged out of the desert north-east of here about a century ago; and can be seen today at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide.

The area was originally proclaimed a town on 21st March 1878 and called Government Gums because of the mature River Red Gums in the creek to the north of the town. Encouraged by a series of unusually wet winters in the 1880s, many optimistic farmers settled here, hoping that rain follows the plough. During the wet years, plans were laid out for a town with 432 quarter-acre blocks.

The locality's name was changed to Farina (Latin for wheat or flour) by farmers who optimistically hoped to turn the vast flat lands here into fields of grain. For a few years the rains were unusually good, and the farms and town flourished, reaching a population of about 600 before the copper and silver mine closed in 1927. It was believed that it would be good for growing wheat and barley, however normal rainfall is nowhere near enough to grow these crops.

Afghan camel drivers lived on Afghan hill, on the eastern side of the town. They brought in wool from the stations and delivered supplies to them. Chinese came to Farina as construction workers on the railway and some stayed on as gardeners.

The town is no longer inhabited, with the closest residents now living at Farina station, visible to the west of the town. The last resident died in 1960. The post office closed in the 1960s. In its heyday, the town had two hotels (the Transcontinental and the Exchange), a bakery, grain store, two breweries, a general store, post office, Anglican church, five blacksmiths and a school. Today nothing but stone ruins and the elevated railway water tank remain of the township. A bush camping area is maintained by the owners of the present-day Farina station.

The town's cemetery is located a few kilometres away via a signposted track. It was last used in 1960 and the town was finally abandoned in the 1980s. Of interest is the Afghan corner of the cemetery which contains several headstones with both English and Arabic inscriptions, plus several headstones without inscriptions, marking the resting place of former Farina residents of Afghan origin who were involved in or connected to the Afghan camel trains which used to provide transport services before the railway was extended. All the gravestones face Mecca in the Islamic tradition.