Farina Township, history right there!

Farina was one of the towns settled early in the period of the ‘opening of the outback’ by European settlers.

It was surveyed in 1878 although people had been living here by the Government Gums waterhole before that. It was named “Farina”, which means “flour” as it was imagined that the area would become the “granary of the north”!

The rains didn’t fall and the town thus became the railhead to the pastoral country to the north.  The famous Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks saw their beginnings as the drovers and cameleers worked northwards from Farina.

They walked long miles in dusty isolation. These pioneers, along with the pastoralists, struggled against the climate and vast distances to develop the town.

Farina was at the end of the first stage of the narrow gauge “Great Northern” or “Port Augusta to Government Gums” railway line which became best known as the “Ghan”. Later on in the 1950s a modern standard gauge line was laid as far as Marree and you can still trace where each line went.

Explore the ruins, many of which have been stabilised and researched and imagine in your mind’s eye the life they may have lived and the hardships they endured.

Visit the cemetery and appreciate the many people from different cultures that came and worked together to open up and develop our unique piece of the outback.