Streaky Bay is on the western side of the Eyre Peninsula, in South Australia just off the Flinders Highway
The town is the major
population centre of the District Council of
Streaky Bay, and the centre of an agricultural district farming cereal crops and sheep, as
well as having established fishing and tourism industries.
The first European to sight the area was Dutch explorer Pieter Nuyts, in 1627 in the Golden Zeepaard. A monument has been erected on the median strip in Bay Road.
In 1802 Matthew Flinders named
Streaky Bay whilst on his voyage in the Investigator. In his log of 5 February 1802, he described "And the water was much discoloured in Streaks"... so he called it
Streaky Bay.
It is now known thought these streaks are caused by the release of oils by certain species of seaweed in the bay.
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In 1839, Edward
John Eyre, the renowned explorer, established a small base about 3 kilometres from the
Streaky Bay Township which he used as a store for his overland expeditions to Point Bell. This site, known as Eyre's
Waterhole, can still be seen today just off the road to
Port Kenny. Wheat growing began in the 1880s and by 1906, 31,000 bags of wheat and 470 bales of wool had been exported from
Streaky Bay by ship..
Pastoralists moved into the area from 1854. The town was officially proclaimed in 1872, originally called Flinders, but was changed in 1940 to
Streaky Bay to reflect local usage of the name.
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Murphy's Haystacks 39 kilometres south of
Streaky Bay and just two kilometres off the main Flinders Highway are believed to have been weathered and sculpted into their present form about 100,000 years ago. Geologists say the Stacks are composed of pink
granite from the Hiltaba suite of rocks that were laid down some 1500 million years ago. Amazingly these beautiful pink granites were formed at a depth of 7 to 10 kilometres below the earth's surface. Clearly a great deal of erosion has occurred since the
granite's formation.
Local legend says that Murphy's Haystacks acquired their name from an Irish agricultural expert who saw this landmark in the distance whilst travelling on a coach. Apparently the learned Irish gentleman was very impressed and informed his fellow passengers that the farmer must have harrowed his land to produce such a great abundance of
hay! The original farmer of the land was a Mr. Murphy and to this day the landmark is known as Murphy's
Hay Stacks.
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