Terowie Station

Terowie is a small township with a population of 220, located around 200 kilometres north of Adelaide. It came into existence as part of the railway network which was built in South Australia in the late 19th century. It has been designated a historic town because of its large number of untouched 19th century buildings. There are old hardware stores and blacksmith's shops in the main street which have all the charm of something from the 1880's.

The first European to see the Terowie-Hallett area was probably the explorer Edward John Eyre who passed through the district in July 1839. By 1842 early pastoralists John and Alfred Hallett had settled in the area and the following year more land was taken up in the area by John Chewings, William Dare, George Hiles, Dr William James and Dr John Harris Browne.

Terowie was surveyed in 1871. John Mitchell purchased land in 1873 and built the town's first pub, the Terowie Hotel, the following year. A store and a blacksmith soon followed.

Advertisement Terowie was gazetted in 1877. Three years later the railway arrived making the town a natural regional centre. This led to intense settlement of the district with the population of the town almost 700 by 1881, but the droughts of the 1880's, combined with the proliferation of rabbits, soon made the smaller land holding uneconomic. However the railway continued to sustain the town's importance. It was the vital link between Adelaide and New South Wales and was the place where the two different railway gauges met. At its peak Terowie had over 3 kilometres of railway tracks in its yards where men worked in workshops, engine sheds and the shipping yards. The town's population at its peak reached 2000.

During World War II there was an army camp established at Terowie. It was here that General Douglas MacArthur made his famous speech: 'I came out of Bataan and I shall return.' There is a plaque at the railway station which commemorates the event.

In 1969 the broad railway gauge was extended and Terowie's importance declined. Very quickly the population dropped to the low hundreds. By the 1980's the railway line had been removed.