Lock

History

Although many nearby coastal towns were settled much earlier, Lock was not established until the 1860s due to the low rainfall and marginal conditions. Early settlers grazed sheep on vast tracts of natural vegetation for very low costs. Land settlement occurred in 1861, with settlements continuing further north over the next decades. A major change occurred in the area with the arrival of the Port Lincoln railway line in 1913. The area was serviced by a siding known simply as Terre Siding after one of the local properties. This was altered when the town was gazetted in February 1918, and named Lock after Sergeant Albert Ernest Lock, a member of the South Australian Survey Department who had been killed in Belgium during World War I, in 1917. The potential for wheat cropping was realised with the establishment of the railway, but the low rainfall kept any developments from happening until the pipeline from the Tod Reservoir was connected. Two years later, a huge underground water reservoir was discovered under the town, capable of supplying all of the town's water needs. The Lock Heritage Museum displays a number of old wartime, farming and household items used in the area many years ago.

Geography

The town is located in the geographic centre of the Eyre Peninsula, surrounded by mostly flat farming land, with patches of remnant vegetation. It is at the intersection of the central highways, the Tod Highway from the base to the point of the peninsula and the Birdseye Highway across the middle. It is also located close to the Hambidge Wilderness Protection Area to the north and the Hincks Conservation Park and the Hincks Wilderness Protection Area to the south, where the area's original ecosystems are somewhat preserved.

Most-observed species

• Malleefowl

  Leipoa ocellata Gould, 1840 · Aves
  6
• Gray Shrikethrush

  Colluricincla harmonica (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  5
• Weebill

  Smicrornis brevirostris (Gould, 1838) · Aves
  5
• Yellow-throated Miner

  Manorina flavigula (Gould, 1840) · Aves
  5
• thick-lipped spider-orchid

  Caladenia cardiochila Tate · Liliopsida
  5
• Koppio spider orchid

  Caladenia septuosa D.L.Jones · Liliopsida
  5
• Spotted Pardalote

  Pardalotus punctatus (Shaw, 1792) · Aves
  4
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  4

Most recent

• 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 2.8 — 2002-11-08
  33 km N of Tumby Bay, Australia