Mungeranie, South Australia

Mungeranie South Australia
Mungeranie
Coordinates	28°01′7.28″S 138°39′48.02″E / 28.0186889°S 138.6633389°E / -28.0186889; 138.6633389Coordinates: 28°01′7.28″S 138°39′48.02″E / 28.0186889°S 138.6633389°E / -28.0186889; 138.6633389
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACDT (UTC+10:30)
Location	204 km (127 mi) N of Maree
LGA(s)	Outback Areas Community Development Trust
State electorate(s)	Stuart
Federal Division(s)	Grey

Mungeranie or Mungerannie,^[1] also called Mungerannie Hotel or Mungerannie Station, is a homestead on the Birdsville Track in northeastern South Australia. Located 204 kilometres (127 mi) north of Marree, South Australia and 313 kilometres (194 mi) south of Birdsville, Queensland it is the only fuel and supplies depot on the Birdsville Track. The name "Mungeranie" is Aboriginal for "big ugly face". ^[2]

The homestead is composed of a hotel/pub and an airstrip 500 metres (1,640 ft) away. It stands on the edge of the Sturt Stony, Tirari, Simpson and Strzelecki Deserts, nestled beside the Derwent Creek. A permanent waterhole fed by an artesian bore from the Great Artesian Basin has established a local wetlands which provides a habitat for 110 bird species.^[3] The annual rainfall in the area is 130.6 mm (5.14 in).^[4]

Richard Forbes Sullivan opened a depot and hotel at the present site along the Birdsville track in 1886 to supply shepherds, drovers and travelers. In 1888 William Crombie took up a block nearby to rest horses and water cattle. By 1889 Robert Rowe took over the store and in 1901 the government sunk a bore to supply permanent water.^[5]

A station and a police station were established in 1903, a school had been built in 1915 and in 1920 Mungerannie was the head office of the Great Northern League whom want to form the separate state of Branchina. The cattle station was also once part of the Cowarie and Kanowna runs.^[5]

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