As it’s now school holiday time in South Australia, it was great to find a quiet free camp just south of Peterborough. For almost 90 years from 1880, Terowie was on the main line from Adelaide to Port Augusta. Passengers and freight had to stop at Terowie and change trains as it was the ‘break of gauge’ point where the broad and narrow gauges met. We followed Bob the Railway Dog’s interpretative trail along the old railway line from the restored railway station to the cemetery.
During WWII, there was an Army staging camp in the town. General Douglas MacArthur made his famous “I shall return” speech on the railway platform in March 1942.
The station closed down in 1989 and the town is largely deserted now. The Terowie Citizens Association are doing their best to keep the history of the town alive and have restored several buildings.
