Coonalpyn, South Australia

A Brief History of Coonalpyn

In the early years, Coonalpyn was known as the Ninety Mile Desert. It wasn�t a desert in a true sense; as it consisted of mallee scrub, yaccas and honeysuckle interspersed with lagoon and swamp flats, low fossil limestone hills and sand ridges.

Early in 1850, Police Inspector Tolmer travelled through this vast, uninhabited area on his way to the Victorian Goldfields, to purchase gold for South Australia and, hopefully, save the South Australian Government from bankruptcy. Today, cairns and plaques situated throughout the Council area commemorate the famous Tolmer Gold Escort Route.

After 1852 Government wells and signs were established to aid travellers passing though the desert country. In 1887 the Adelaide-Melbourne rail ink was opened up the area; and during the same period the Coonalpyn Post Office was established, followed by the school in 1889.

The Coonalpyn Primary School was situated just a few kilometres from the town towards Tintinara. The school was moved to its new stop on the west side of Coonalpyn. There are about 54 students R-7 the current attend the school.

By 1895 the land from Tailem Bend through to Coonalpyn and Tintinara was being managed under pastoral lease by the Cooke Family.

The township of Coonalpyn was proclaimed on the 25th November, 1909.

The Coonalpyn Congregational (Now Uniting) Church, on Poyntz Terrace was built in 1927 and had a number of followers.

Most pastoralists then ran only scrub sheep but some of the heavier land between Coonalpyn and Tintinara was being developed for cropping, but it didn�t reach its full potential till the 1950�s when superphosphates and trace elements were introduced to the area. With larges areas of land being developed during the 1950�s, the demand arose that a more acceptable road network be built.

Coonalpyn originally had two Lutheran Congregations (Bethlehem and Emmanuel). A new Lutheran Church was built in 1953 and in 1966 both congregations joined to become the Redeemer Lutheran Congregation. A hall was added to the church in 1960, and a Sunday school and kitchen facilities were built during 1978.

E.T.S.A power came to Coonalpyn in 1962. Before this, private operators supplied electricity. A further boost to the community occurred in 1968, when a water pipeline, from Tailem Bend to Keith was constructed for stock and domestic uses.

Coonalpyn has a football and netball team that compete in the River Murray Football/Netball League. They were the Border Downs Magpies until the early 1990�s when they amalgamated with Tintinara to form the Border Downs/Tintinara Crows. There is a stadium next to the oval that was built in 1979.

- Source 1986 History and Information - The District Council of Coonalpyn Downs.

Coonalpyn Downs Logo

In 1995, the DC of Coonalpyn-Downs, DC of Peake and Meningie District Council's amalgamated to form the Coorong District Council.

In 2001, the Border-Downs Tintinara Football and Netball Club left the River Murray Football League and moved to the Mallee Football league and still have active teams in A & B Grade and the Senior and Junior Colts.  2004 was also the year of the Coonalpyn Show Society's 60th Annual Show.

Entrance to Coonalpyn