Mount Mary, South Australia
| Mount Mary South Australia | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mount Mary Hotel | |||||||||||||||
| Population | 36 (SAL 2021)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Established | 1883 | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5374 | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation | 95 m (312 ft) | ||||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Mid Murray Council | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Stuart | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Barker | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Mount Mary (formerly Krichauff and Beatty) is a small town on the Thiele Highway between Eudunda and Morgan in South Australia. It was also served by the Morgan railway line from 1878 until 1969 and is named for the Mount Mary railway station on that line.
Despite the town's name, the terrain is essentially flat, and is believed to have been a corruption of Mound Mary. The town was originally surveyed in 1883 and named Krichauff in 1884, after the Hundred of Krichauff which in turn was named for Friedrich Krichauff. The name was changed from a name of enemy origin in 1918 to Beatty (along with the name of the hundred) then again in 1940 to Mount Mary to match the name of the railway station.[2][3] Beatty remains the name of the locality covering the northern half of the hundred of Beatty.
Mount Mary School opened as the Krichauff School in 1886. It was renamed Mount Mary in 1896, and temporarily closed from 1909 to 1913. The school closed permanently in 1956.[4]
Mount Mary still has a hotel serving the community and travellers, but little other business remains other than farming. The town contains ten homes, the pub, and a working telephone box.[5]
References
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Mount Mary (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ "Placename Details: Mount Mary". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. 31 March 2010. SA0047016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
- ^ "NEW TOWN NAMES APPROVED". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 26 July 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 5 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Dreckow, Betty (1986). Hills, Valley and Plains: History of the Eudunda District. p. 140.
- ^ Mike Gribble (30 January 2016). "Mt Mary Hotel is the pub with no peer in a town time forgot". Sunday Mail. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
