Farming History

Pastoral development began on Yorke Peninsula in 1846, with the first leases given in 1851. The leases had a term of 14 years which gave security to many of the squatter's and rent was set at 10 shillings a square mile.

It wasn't until 1860, when a successful wheat crop was grown at Green Plains near Kadina that an explosion of interest in agriculture began. Many workers from the Adelaide Plains, Barossa Valley and the Southern Districts came to try their luck on Yorke Peninsula. Agricultural success was evident when production rose from 552 acres planted and reaped in 1870 to 180,000 acres by 1884.

The experimentation of using superphosphate from trials by Professor Lowrie at Roseworthy College - saw Joe Parsons from Curramulka, drill seeds and phosphate together in the same hole in 1892. By 1896 other farmers in the area had followed his lead and they were averaging 4.5 to 5 bushells while the rest of the peninsula averaged only two bushells.

The rich limestone soils and growth in agricultural knowledge from clearing the land to sowing seeds, produced bumper crops and the Yorke Peninsula soon became known as the 'Barley Capital of the World'.

As a direct consequence of Yorke Peninsula's agricultural success, Ardrossan now has the third largest grain bulk-handling facility in South Australia.


Stump Jump Plough
The ingenuity of early settlers was evident when in 1876 the 'stump jump plough' was invented to circumvent the laborious task of clearing mallee stumps from farmland. Invented by RB and Clarence Smith, the plough helped revolutionize the task of reducing the despised mallee scrub.

This was also assisted by knocking down and burning the growth of the mallee trees discovered by Charles Mullens at Wasleys, and the improvement of scrub rollers by William Fowler which allowed a team to travel over already rolled scrub. Ardrossan is known as the home of the stump jump plough and the ingenuity of the Smith Brothers is remembered and showcased at the local museum.