Leigh Creek (formerly Leigh's
Creek) is a coal-mining town in the north of South Australia. On the edge of
the desert, to the west of the northern
Flinders Ranges, the current town is 13 km further south than the original town it was moved in 1982 to allow the expansion of the
mine. This means that most facilities and buildings in the town are only a little over twenty years old, and with relatively modern designs.
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The area was named after its first settler, Harry Leigh, in 1856. Coal was discovered and small quantities mined from 1888 The town to support the
mine at that time was called
Copley, after William
Copley, an MP and Commissioner of Crown Lands. However the coal was not mined in a significant commercial manner until 1943 in an effort to make South Australia more self-sufficient for its energy needs, with less dependence on New South Wales. The premier Thomas Playford saw the need to be seen not to rely on interstate energy if he was to attract business to South Australia.
The brown coal mined from the open cut
mine is transported 250 km by rail to power stations outside
Port Augusta on the east side of the top of Spencer Gulf. The coal occurs in several nested bowl-shaped seams, each several metres thick. The coalfield at
Leigh Creek is operated by the NRG Flinders and currently produces over 2.5 million tonnes a year of coal. NRG Flinders also operate the power stations at
Port Augusta which produce up to 40 per cent of the electricity generated in South Australia.
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The development of the
Leigh Creek coalfield raised the question of cheap and efficient transport from field to power station. When Playford A was built, the narrow-gauge line was the only means of transport. Late schedules and derailments were the order of the day. The Commonwealth railways decided to rebuild the line for standard gauge and save 13
miles of construction and many steep gradients by taking it out of the
Flinders Ranges and along the
western plain. The South Australian government was not happy about this but agreed to the route after a royal commission.
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The new line reached Brachina in May 1955, and the problem arose of how to transfer goods from this line to the standard one. The Commonwealth Railways solved it with its unique "pick-a-back" railway. Narrow-gauge trucks were shunted up a ramp to where standard-gauge flatbed wagons were fitted with narrow-gauge tracks and locks to hold the trucks securely. The very first pick-a-back was a consignment of coal from
Leigh Creek to
Port Augusta. The practice was discontinued after a new line to the
Leigh Creek coal loading
bins was completed in May 1956."
.