Cocata, South Australia

Cocata is a rural locality in the Eyre and Western region of South Australia.[2]

Cocata
South Australia
Cocata
Coordinates33.288540°S 135.3021°E / -33.288540; 135.3021
Established1928[1]
Postcode(s)5654
Location27 km (17 mi) south-west of Wudinna
LGA(s)Wudinna District Council [2]
State electorate(s)Stuart [2]
Federal Division(s)Grey [2]
Localities around Cocata:
Mount Damper Mount Damper
Wudinna		 Wudinna
Mount Wedge Cocata Warramboo
Mount Wedge Coolillie Palkagee
FootnotesCoordinates[1]

The area was informally known as Cocata from the 1800s. Explorer John Charles Darke passed through the area on his 1844 expedition.[3] A survey of the Cocata area in 1893 noted that "the land fit for agriculture was chiefly confined with a radius of one and a half miles of Mount Damper, Kolballa, Cocata, Ucontitchie and Pordia Hills, and consists of heavily-timbered mallee land with belts of pines, bushes and teatree, besides small grassy plans fringed with stunted wattle". It noted that there were soakage wells at Cocata Hill and at Koballa Hill, "each having a poor supply of fresh water", and that the soil was unfit for dams. It also reported that a track had been established from the Cocata area to the port at Venus Bay.[4] Transport proved an early challenge, with local advocacy for improved roads and a railway to reduce the challenges of moving material.[5][6][7]

The name for the Hundred of Cocata, which was created on similar boundaries to the present locality, was approved by the Nomenclature Committee on 20 June 1928; it was surveyed into sections for pastoral selection soon after.[8][9][10] The modern bounded locality was created in November 1999 in respect of the long-established name.[11]

In 1938, a weekly mail service to Cocata was introduced.[12] The area had its own school for several decades from around the early 1920s; in 1926 it was referred to as one of "a number of South Australian schools with a roll call to which only six or seven students answer".[13][14][15]

Much of the southern section of the Cocata locality is taken up by the Cocata Conservation Park.[2] Ucontitchie Hill, which lies towards the northern end of Cocata, is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register as a designated place of geological significance.[16][2]

References
  1. "Search result for "Cocata (Locality Bounded)" (Record no SA0042115)". Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  2. "Cocata, 5654". Location SA Map Viewer. Government of South Australia. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  3. "The J. C. Darke Expedition, 1844". Port Lincoln Times. SA. 7 September 1944. p. 8. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "LAND IN THE WESTERN DISTRICT". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 5 July 1893. p. 10. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "DISTRICT COUNCIL OF MINNIPA". West Coast Sentinel. Streaky Bay, SA. 23 October 1931. p. 7. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "ELLISTON DISTRICT COUNCIL". West Coast Sentinel. Streaky Bay, SA. 1 November 1919. p. 2. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "A WEST COAST TOUR". The Chronicle. Adelaide. 29 December 1917. p. 11. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Hundred of Cocata". Property Land Browser. Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  9. "WEST COAST LANDS". Port Lincoln Times. SA. 17 May 1929. p. 5. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "LANDS OPEN FOR ALLOTMENT". Port Lincoln Times. SA. 16 May 1930. p. 6. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Cocata". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  12. "LeHunte Council Meet". Port Lincoln Times. SA. 4 March 1938. p. 7. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "STATE POLITICS". West Coast Sentinel. Streaky Bay, SA. 8 December 1923. p. 3. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "SCHOOLS OF THE OUTBACK". The Mail. Adelaide. 3 July 1926. p. 1. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "STRENUOUS TOUR BY MINISTER". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 27 March 1935. p. 22. Retrieved 17 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "Ucontitchie Hill (designated place of geological significance)". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
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