Elliston

History

The first inhabitants of the land that is now Elliston were the Nauo. The first recorded exploration of the adjacent coastline was by Matthew Flinders in the vessel from 10–13 February 1802. He named the offshore islands but did not note the presence of Waterloo Bay in his log. Edward John Eyre explored the area on land in 1840 and 1841 on a journey to Western Australia from Port Lincoln. Originally named Waterloo Bay, the township was later named by Governor Sir William Jervois on a plan for the town on 23 November 1878. It is named after the writer and educator Ellen Liston who was born in London in 1838 and emigrated to South Australia in 1850. She was a governess working on a local property (Nilkerloo) owned by John Hamp. Those dismissive of women's contributions to history have suggested that Jervois, who had a military background, chose to honour Sir Henry Walton Ellis (1783–1815) who was a hero of the Battle of Waterloo during which campaign he died of his wounds. However it is recorded that Jervois liked naming places after people he knew and the town was gazetted formally as Elliston in 1878 after being informally called Ellie's Town. The Sydney Morning Herald write of the town's naming after Ellen Liston: "The honour was a combination of the wide spread respect and admiration she enjoyed in the area and Jervois' penchant for naming towns after friends and family." The area was settled in the 1840s with Elliston being the central port from which the early settlers transported their wool and wheat to market. Sailing ships and later steam ships crossed Waterloo Bay's notorious reefed entrance. A number of ships foundered in the bay due to its narrow entrance and variable tides. The Nauo people were hit extremely hard by the effects of European…

Geography

The town of Elliston lies on Waterloo Bay, a small coastal inlet which is partially protected by a number of reefs lining the entrance to the bay. Outside of the bay, the coastline is exclusively large cliffs, with a number of surf beaches located on these stretches. Inside the bay, it is relatively calm and shallow, with seagrass beds and reefs underwater, and sandy beaches lining most of the bay. Inland, the country is mostly flat agricultural land. The southern end of the Lake Newland Conservation Park lies about 10 km to the north of the town. Offshore, Flinders Island is west south west of Wellington Point at Elliston. Elliston experiences a warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb); with warm, dry summers and mild, wetter winters. Breezes from the Southern Ocean moderate summer temperatures (with average maxima and minima reaching in January and in February); but on occasion, northerly breezes from the Outback produce heatwaves: with maxima exceeding . Winter temperatures are more consistent: bottoming at in July. Annual precipitation is somewhat low: averaging , between 105.5 precipitation days- primarily concentrated in frequent winter showers. While of precipitation was recorded in June 1956, only was measured in 1959. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on the 23rd of January 2019 to on the 27th of September 1994.

Most-observed species

• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  76
• Pacific Gull

  Larus pacificus Latham, 1801 · Aves
  72
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  65
• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  56
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  44
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  42
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  42
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  35