Crystal Brook is the second largest town after the city of Port Pirie in the Southern Flinders Ranges area. The shady peppercorn trees grace the main street, Bowman Street. The area where the present town is now was founded in 1839 by Edward John Eyre who was passing through the region. He named it after the beautiful sparkling clear water and named it 'Chrystal Brook'.
Where is it?: 25 km south east of Port Pirie; 198 km north of Adelaide; 111 metres above sea level.
Crystal Brook is situated on Goyder's Line near the border of two climate systems. While apparently cold semi-arid, the town benefits from a temperate mediterranean climate zone near to the east, making possible slightly more intense farming in the region. To the west and north-west lies some marginal, semi-arid farmland. The local farming community still supports many small businesses in the town.
Crystal Brook is named after the spring-fed creek next to which it was founded.
The town is home to nearby Bowman Park, a nature preserve that is situated in the Crystal Brook Valley and has an abundance of wildlife and shady camping spots right next to the Crystal Brook Creek. The park contains history that dated back to the 1800s. The original homestead that belonged to the Bowman Brothers, which the park was named after, is there overlooking the Crystal Brook.
The administrative land division the Hundred of Crystal Brook was proclaimed in 1871 in the vicinity of the confluence of the Rocky River and Broughton River. The township, near the eponymous Broughton River tributary, Crystal Brook, was surveyed in August 1874 and officially proclaimed on 12 November that year.
Built features: The Big Goanna; Bowman Park, of the Crystal Brook run (1847); Beetaloo Reservoir; Laura (32 km north east - the boyhood home of C.J. Dennis, author of The Songs of A Sentimental Bloke); National Trust Museum (1875)
Natural features: Native Fauna Zoo; Beetaloo Valley; Bowman Park Native Fauna Section (5 km east).
The Sydney to Perth and the Adelaide to Darwin railways share the same approximately 530 kilometres (329 mi) of track between Crystal Brook and Tarcoola. There is a triangular junction at Crystal Brook which joins Tarcoola, Adelaide and Sydney. Another triangular junction at Tarcoola joins Crystal Brook, Darwin and Perth.
The town lies on the Heysen Trail, a 1,200 kilometre-long walking trail from Cape Jervis to Parachilna Gorge. Close to the north-south midpoint of the trail, Crystal Brook marks a change in climate on the trail. Hot, dry summers and mild winters lie to the north, and more temperate conditions to the south.
During World War 2, Crystal Brook was the location of RAAF No.31 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), built in 1942 and closed on 14 June 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of $1.8 million.
The Big Goanna
