Arno Bay

History

The area which is now known as Arno Bay was opened up by pastoralists in 1863, with the area being named 'Salt Creek Cove' in these early days. Of the variety of ventures that occurred before the town was built, the sinking of 'The Arno Bay Mine' was possibly the least successful, with water halting all operations. The town was expected to become a port and a jetty was built in 1880 in anticipation of this. The port was not huge, but nonetheless continued importing fertilisers and exporting cereal crops that were being grown in the district. By 1911, the town had grown substantially, with a school, post office, hotel and new hall established in this period. The town continued to grow as a port until the point where it was exporting 11,000 tonnes of grain in 1940. In the same year, the decision was finally made to alter the town's official name to 'Arno Bay', named after a sandhill well and not the Italian 'Arno River' as had been suggested. The period of high export came to an abrupt end in 1963 when the storage silos were built, and ocean shipping became redundant to the large trucks that were now the main mechanism of transport. This signalled the end of Arno Bay as a port, causing the population to drop slowly, eventually leading to its current position as a tourist fishing town.

Geography

Arno bay lies on the eastern Eyre Peninsula, and sits on the Spencer Gulf, a body of water that stretches up to Port Augusta in the north. The town itself lies on the bay of the same name, which is dominated by a mixture of white, sandy beaches, cliffs, and mangrove systems. Of particular note is 'Redbanks', a sedimentary cliff structure which is designated a geological monument by the Geological Society of Australia. The climate is much like that of Port Lincoln, which is only 118 km to South. The Mediterranean-like climate, with its hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters is typical for most of the Eyre Peninsula.

Most-observed species

• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  259
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  224
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  211
• White-faced Heron

  Egretta novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  208
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  188
• Little Pied Cormorant

  Microcarbo melanoleucos (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  177
• Great Crested Tern

  Thalasseus bergii (M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  149
• Little Black Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax sulcirostris (Brandt, 1837) · Aves
  137

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2018-11-21
  47 km N of Cowell, Australia
• M 3.9 — 2018-07-01
  15 km WNW of Cowell, Australia
• M 4.7 — 2010-06-05
  23 km NW of Cowell, Australia
• M 3.4 — 2006-07-17
  55 km S of Cowell, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2002-11-08
  33 km N of Tumby Bay, Australia