Monarto South, South Australia

Monarto South is a locality in South Australia 16 km (9.9 mi) west of the Murray River and 65 km (40 mi) south east by road from Adelaide. The Monarto South railway station is north of the South Eastern Freeway between the Callington and Murray Bridge exits, but the locality spans south of the freeway to Chaunceys Line Road and Ferries McDonald Conservation Park.

Monarto South South Australia
Monarto South
Coordinates	35°07′19″S 139°07′44″E
Population	152 (SAL 2021)[1]
Established	1973
Postcode(s)	5254
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACDT (UTC+10:30)
Location	67 km (42 mi) ESE of Adelaide
LGA(s)	Rural City of Murray Bridge
State electorate(s)	Kavel
Federal division(s)	Barker
Localities around Monarto South: Callington Monarto Rocky Gully Callington, Hartley Monarto South White Hill, Gifford Hill Hartley Langhorne Creek Brinkley

In the late 1970s Monarto Junction (or "New Murray Town") was proposed to be the site of a new satellite city of Adelaide.^[2] By the turn of the century the proposal had been completely abandoned.

Monarto South took its name from the cadastral Hundred of Monarto (established 1847) centred on the original township of Monarto to the north.^[3] The name of the hundred was after "Queen Monarto", an aboriginal woman (spouse of a tribal leader) who lived in the area at the time of its proclamation.^[4][5]

Transport

Monarto South is adjacent to the main Adelaide to Wolseley line, with Monarto South station formerly a junction for the Sedan branch line running north on the plain between the Murray River and the Mount Lofty Ranges.

In the 2010s, a local government project to upgrade Ferries McDonald Road commenced in Monarto South which included bitumization of the road.^{[citation needed]} Due to the presence of mallee fowl in the vicinity the project had to go through several iterations to ensure that the environmental impact is minimized.^{[citation needed]} Completion of the project would create a heavy transport link from Langhorne Creek to the Barossa Valley.

Parks

There are several significant parks within or overlapping into Monarto South, including:

• Monarto Conservation Park (Braendler Scrub)
• Loomooloo Sanctuary
• Ferries McDonald Conservation Park^[6]
• Monarto Woodlands Conservation Park

See also

• Monarto, South Australia
• List of cities and towns in South Australia

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Monarto South (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
2. "Property Location Browser: Search for 'Monarto, LOCB (ID: SA0037209)'". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
3. "GOVERNMENT GAZETTE (EXTRAORDINARY). PROCLAMATION. By his Excellency FREDERICK HOLT". The South Australian. Adelaide. 3 December 1847. p. 4. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
4. "NOMENCLATURE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. NAMES AND THEIR ORIGIN. XVII.—AN ALPHABETICAL REVIEW". Adelaide: Evening Journal. 29 June 1908. p. 2. Retrieved 8 June 2007. Monarto was the name of a native lubra. J. W. Bull, in his "Early Recollections," makes the following reference to a native tribe occupying a piece of country on the banks of the Murray [...] "We called their chief King John and the name of his lubra was Monarto, which was considered so pretty a name that the whites never changed it. [...]"
5. "Search for 'Hundred of Monarto' (ID SA0045594)". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
6. "Property location browser: Search for 'Ferries McDonald Conservation Park, NPWS (ID: SA0023804)". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 1 April 2016.