Booleroo Centre, South Australia: Travel guide and things to do

Booleroo Centre is located 259 km north of Adelaide and 400 metres above sea-level at the southerly end of the Flinders Ranges. It is essentially a service town for the surrounding wheat farmers and the joy of visiting the town is to experience the vast, almost uninhabited, fields and paddocks around the town which are characterised by solitary sandstone remnants in vast fields of wheat. The town's appeal is also heightened by the prominent position of Mount Remarkable which looms over the town.

The town's name reputedly comes from a local Aboriginal word, either 'bulyeroo' or 'bulyaroo', which meant either 'plenty' or 'soft mud'. There is no hard evidence for either interpretation. The Reverend John Thorne claimed that he added 'Centre' when the town was first being surveyed. It became Booleroo Centre in the 1870s when the local property, Wirrabara station, was resumed by the government.

Things to see

Booleroo Steam & Traction Preservation Society Museum
The town's only real attraction is this excellent collection of steam and traction engines. Not surprisingly in March/April each year it is host to an annual display when lovers of steam power bring their antique engines and tractors to the town. There are such strange items as the Fowler Steam Ploughing engine which was built in 1882 and weighted 26 tons.

Tourist Information

Flinders Ranges & Outback InformationBooleroo Centre SA
Telephone: 1800 633 060
Facsimile: (08) 8223 3995