Paskeville, South Australia

Paskeville is a town on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. It is located approximately 20 km east of Kadina on the Copper Coast Highway towards Adelaide. At the 2016 census, Paskeville had a population of 178.[1] The town's district is administratively divided between the Copper Coast Council and the District Council of Barunga West.

Paskeville
South Australia
Main street of Paskeville, with the Paskeville Hotel in the foreground in 2010. The Hotel was burned down in 2012
Paskeville
Coordinates34°02′20″S 137°54′8″E
Population178 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)5552[2]
Elevation123 m (404 ft)
Location20 km (12 mi) E of Kadina
LGA(s)
State electorate(s)Narungga[5]
Federal Division(s)Grey
Localities around Paskeville:
Kadina Bute Lochiel
Moonta Paskeville Kulpara
Arthurton

History

Paskeville is within the traditional lands of the indigenous Narungga people. The first European explorers to traverse Northern Yorke Peninsula were John Hill and Thomas Burr, on horseback. On 28 April 1840 they camped overnight near present-day Paskeville and later reported they had discovered extensive fertile land there.[6] The area then known as Green's Plains, after John Green who established a sheep station there in 1851, was soon occupied by sheep graziers, who held occupation licences until closer settlement came two decades later.

The Hundred of Kulpara was proclaimed on 12 June 1862. Surveys soon followed, including the surveyed township of Kulpara. The District Council of Green's Plains was established in 1871 bringing local administration to the hundreds of Kulpara and Kadina. Pioneer farmers cleared the land for cropping, but there was no town at Paskeville until 1878, when a station was established on the new Port Wakefield to Kadina railway. The surveyed town which surrounded this station was on 4 March 1880 named after General Edward Hanson Paske, brother-in-law of the incumbent Governor, Sir William Jervois.

The railway yards at Paskeville were soon busily thronged by local farmers with transhipments of bagged wheat and barley, as well as wool. Goods sheds were built in 1887, while silos were built later for bulk grain handling. These products were generally exported through the port of Wallaroo. The township also provided commercial and community support services, including churches, a school, grocer and baker, and a hotel (originally named the Railway Hotel). Gaslight came to Paskeville in 1903, a new post office in 1925, and a 32-volt power supply until 1953. The township thrived for a time, but the closure of the railway, plus better roads and shopping options, eventually stalled its growth.

Bikie shooting

In February 2008 a Kadina man was lured to Paskeville where he was ambushed by four men and shot at least 15 times at close range, before driving to the Paskeville Hotel. The offenders fled, leaving the man in a critical condition. Remarkably, he survived. The victim was linked to the shooting death of a bikie gang member at Wallaroo in May 2004, for which he had been tried and acquitted.[7] The hotel burnt down in 2012,[8] and the owners decided not to rebuild it.[9]

Geography and climate

The original geography of Northern Yorke Peninsula was of scrub-covered undulating plains, almost devoid of watercourses. Since European settlement the scrub has mostly been cleared, with the exception of roadside remnants, leaving a dominant landscape of undulating grain fields. Paskeville is sited upon a plateau which, although low-lying, affords clear and distant views in certain directions across the surrounding region. The geology, which is dominated by limestone overlaid by ancient sand dunes, was quickly exhausted by pioneer cropping, but modern farming methods and fertilisers make this a highly productive food bowl. The area has a dry Mediterranean climate with seasonal temperatures a few degrees above those in Adelaide.

Yorke Peninsula Field Days

Paskeville biennially hosts the Yorke Peninsula Field Days,[10] a three-day field day with a major focus on agriculture and the future. The event also offers a variety of displays designed to be of interest to both rural and urban families. The event, which began in 1895, has since 1975 been held on a permanent site approximately 3 km west of the township.

  • Former shop
  • Former bank
  • Former court house
  • Uniting church
  • War memorial
gollark: Here's how you make a fission reactor controller!
gollark: Observe, nuclear power.
gollark: Clearly we should switch to IRC, then.
gollark: Cool.
gollark: You know *multiple* people who worked on nuclear weapons?

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Paskeville (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  2. Australia Post - Postcode Search
  3. "Development Plan, Copper Coast Council, Consolidated – 28 August 2014" (PDF). Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. 2014. p. 286. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  4. "Development Plan, Barunga West Council, Consolidated – 19 March 2015" (PDF). Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. 2015. p. 176. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  5. Narungga (Map). Electoral District Boundaries Commission. 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  6. Register, 9 May 1840, p.5.
  7. James, Colin (11 February 2008). "Man shot 15 times survives". Daily Telegraph. Paskeville. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  8. Conlin, Thomas (14 November 2012). "$500,000 fire destroys Paskeville Hotel on Yorke Peninsula". The Advertiser. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  9. Koch, Rhiannon (6 August 2013). "Paskeville Hotel will not be rebuilt". Yorke Peninsula Country Times. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  10. "Yorke Peninsula Field Days".
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