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We are pleased to welcome you to the website of the Southern Mallee District Council.
Southern Mallee District is located approximately 2 hours drive east of the South Australian capital city of Adelaide. It is predominantly a farming/rural community of 2,300 people located in an area covering 6,000 square kilometres. Major employment in the area is farming or in service industries supporting the farming industry. Farming generally consists of cereal grain crops, potatoes and sheep. The district produces 22% of the state's potatoes, 7% of onions and 4% of cereal grain. It has South Australia's largest Pistachio plantation and over 100,000 olive trees under farming.
Towns in the district include Geranium (population 160), Parrakie (population 80), Lameroo (population 600), Parilla (population 80) and Pinnaroo (population 700). These towns are located adjacent to the Mallee Highway, which is the shortest travelling route between Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney.
The district was first farmed in the late part of the 1800's, however it was not until 1906, that viable farming activities came into existence because of the introduction of rail services and pioneering families moved into the district and permanently settled. Local government was established in October 1908 and other services such as hospitals, schools and retail shops were established at the same time.
We have 336,000 hectares of conservation parks including walking trails, native birds, wildflowers, camping and four wheel drive tracks.
We at the Southern Mallee District Council hope that you find the information on our web site informative and we welcome your inquiries and any suggestions that you may offer that will assist us further communicating the characterisitics of the district to visitors to this site. Contact us at council@southernmallee.sa.gov.au.
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