Hawker, South Australia

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Hawker
South Australia

Location of Hawker in South Australia (red)

Population:

300

Postcode:

5434

Elevation:

315 m (1,033 ft)

Location:

365 km (227 mi) North of Adelaide

LGA:

Flinders Ranges Council

State District:

Electoral district of Stuart

Federal Division:

Division of Grey

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
25.1 °C ^{77 °F}	10.6 °C ^{51 °F}	307.5 mm ^{12.1 in}

Hawker (31°53′S, 138°25′E) is a town in the Flinders Ranges area of South Australia, 365 km north of Adelaide. The town population is about 300, with another 200 people in the surrounding district. It is in the Flinders Ranges Council, the state Electoral district of Stuart and the federal Division of Grey.

The main economic activities in the area are tourism and pastoral runs of sheep and increasingly cattle. Due to the arid environment, the stocking rates are low, at about one sheep per three to four hectares. Hawker is 55 km south of Wilpena Pound, a unique natural dish-shaped range of hills popular with tourists, as well as the spectacular scenery of the southern Flinders Ranges.

Hawker was a thriving railway town from the 1880s until 1956 as it was on the famous Ghan railway line, until the route was moved further west when the line was upgraded.