Truro, South Australia

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Truro
South Australia

The Sturt Highway is the main street of Truro (looking west towards the Barossa Valley and Adelaide).
Postcode: 5356
Location: 80 km (50 mi) North-east of Adelaide
LGA: Mid Murray Council
State District: Schubert

Truro (34°24′S, 139°07′E, postcode 5356, altitude 311m) is a town in South Australia, 80 km northeast of Adelaide. It is on the Sturt Highway east of the Barossa Valley near where the highway crosses the ridge of the Mount Lofty Ranges. The town was laid out in 1847 and 1848 by John Howard Angas, the son of George Fife Angas who had bought the land in 1842.

Truro is in the Mid Murray Council local government area, the South Australian House of Assembly electoral district of Schubert and the Australian House of Representatives Divisions of Barker and Wakefield.

[edit] History

Truro is named after the city of Truro in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is somewhat uncertain whether the name Truro was given by Angas, or the first settlers in the town, but as these settlers were Cornish, it is quite likely that they were the namers of the town.

A primary industry in Truro until recently was copper mining. The nearby Whealbarton mine operated from before 1842 until the 1970s.

Rainfall in Truro is lower than in the neighbouring Barossa Valley region. For this reason the crop farming is more prevalent than viticulture.

During the 1970s, the town of Truro gained notoriety due to the findings of human remains in bushland. These findings became known as the Truro murders, one of the first occurrences of serial killing in Australian history.

[edit] References