Iron Ore Truck Iron Knob's History Iron Ore Truck

The town is situated within the traditional country of the Pangkala people (also named as the Banggarla according to some other texts).

The first non-indigenous explorer to document the place was Edward John Eyre, during an expedition in 1839 to map the region. He passed through the area several times before making a written record of it in his notes, after climbing one of the hills and commenting on the ironstone abundant there. In 1854 the land was purchased initially as a pastoral lease, for the purpose of grazing sheep for their wool. The property was named 'Koroona hill', but the spelling was changed to 'Corunna' and the property is still used for raising sheep today.

Entering Iron Knob, from the Port Augusta highway
In 1878 a sample of ironstone from the hill then known as 'The Nob' was sent to the Indian and Colonial exhibition in London, but it wasn't until 1880 that the first serious attempt to mine the ore was made. This was done by the German prospector Ernst Siekman, who formed the Mt.Minden mining company. This company collapsed in 1896 due to accumulated debts.

The leases were bought by the Broken Hill Proprietor company (BHP), as it needed ironstone as flux for the smelters that it owned at Port Pirie (on the other side of the Spencer gulf). Initially, the iron ore was carted by bullock team to Port Augusta so that it could be shipped to the smelters. This was a two day journey, often in summer temperatures that have been known to reach 50 degrees Celsius or more. In 1900, an act of local parliament was passed to allow BHP to build a jetty at Hummock Hill (later to become the city of Whyalla), and a tramway from the jetty to the town.

In 1915, Iron Knob was formally proclaimed a township.

Back to Home Page
Top of Page

More on Iron Knob's History

Click on a thumbnail below to view the full image