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District Council of Yorke Peninsula - History of Port Clinton
Port Clinton was named by Governor Sir Dominck Daly after the town of Clinton in Canada where he had held the office of Chief Secretary*. *Place Names of South Australia.
After the completion of the railway form Adelaide to Wallaroo in 1878 the jetty at Port Clinton fell into disuse and disrepair, but in its early days it was the shipping centre of farmers in the area. It was here where many of the miners for Moonta and Wallaroo were landed by ketch after their journey from Port Adelaide.
In 1900, James Barton discovered a deposit of phosphate rock about 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) to the west of Port Clinton on Yararoo Estate. The Government gave him a reward for finding it but the deposit was soon exhausted*.
*The Official Civic Record of South Australia, Page 522.
Between Port Clinton and Port Price large deposits of brown coal have been discovered. In 1923 drilling tests revealed an estimated 32 million tonnes lying at a depth of 89 metres (292 feet) in a 6.4 metre (21 feet) seam*. Since then further investigation has revealed that the deposit extends under the waters of St. Vincent Gulf and forms part of the deposit at Bowmans**. *The Geology of Yorke Peninsula, Page 76.
The plantations of native trees and shrubs seen growing by the side of the road were planted by citizen of Port Price, Eric Gianakos*. *"The Advertiser," 27th January, 1981.