Cowell (wikipedia) is a coastal town on Franklin Harbour on the eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula, in South Australia on the Lincoln Highway 111 km south of the major town of Whyalla. It is 493 km by road from Adelaide. Franklin Harbour is a natural harbour 49 km² in area with a channel to the sea just 100 metres wide.The town of Cowell is the major population centre of the District Council of Franklin Harbour, and the centre of an agricultural district, farming wheat and sheep. The district covers an area of 3,283 square kilometres with a district population in 2011 of 1070. Fishing, and more recently, oyster farming has also been an important industry. History When settlers commenced farming the area in 1853, Franklin Harbour became a logical place to load ships for export of wheat and wool and a small settlement was soon established. In 1880 the Governor, Sir William Jervois, named the town of Cowell after Sir John Clayton Cowell who was, at the time, the Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle. In 1965, a deposit of Jade was discovered in the nearby Minbrie Ranges. To date over 100 outcrops have been found within an area of 9 square kilometres and as such has been designated by the South Australian Department of Minerals and Energy Resources as the “Cowell Jade Province”. The Franklin Harbour Historical Museum situated in the old Post Office residence in the Main Street of Cowell preserves many historically important artefacts of the region, both natural and manmade.

25^th February, Wednesday

We are in Cowell and saw the road sign for WA (homeward bound).  The drive was a pleasant 250kms, some hilly bits, some flat bits, some coastal bits so a mish mash of scenery. Cowell is a small coastal town, not that much here and it would seem that most people are here to fish. The weather is very pleasant, about 26 degrees today. The caravan park has views of the harbour and the jetty which seems a popular spot for fishing although most fishing people here have boats. The caravan park is pretty full and Ralph just spotted a small snake under our van, you would have thought that with all these people it would have gone elsewhere. We went into town to buy a few things and there is an IGA which stocks most things and there are loaves and loaves of sliced bread behind the counter with peoples names on them because they are obviously keeping them for the locals.  I went to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread only to be told that they don’t sell bread????? It would seem that bread in this town is a precious commodity.  Hugo needs to have his cartrophen injection tomorrow and we found a vet in town.  The sign outside states that they are only open on Wednesday and we thought “Goody, today is Wednesday”. We stopped and I went in to enquire if they could give Hugo his shot only to be told that they are open every Wednesday but the vet is only there every second Wednesday and they don’t have cartrophen anyway??????? Next stop was to the newsagent to buy the paper and I was dreading going in as I thought that they might not sell newspapers………HALLELUJAH! They had newspapers and lots of them. We will do some drives inland and go along the coast as there are supposed to be some nice beaches further along. Cowell is quite famous for their oysters, they are farmed in the harbour and some of our friends are quite disgusted that we are here and we don’t eat oysters. Cowell is also famous for its Jade and the general public are not allowed to fossick much to Ralphs disgust as the mines are all on private leases, never mind as he will find some lovely black jade when we get to WA and there he is allowed to fossick until his heart is content.

26^th February, Thursday

A beautiful cool morning, so refreshing. Our first call was to the chemist to fill a script for Ralph and we were wondering if they had what he needed in stock because of our experiences yesterday. We put the script in and the lady asked if we were passing through or if we were staying.  We said that we were here for 2 more days and was there a problem.  She informed us that the pharmacist was only there in the afternoon and that we would have to pick the script up when he was there, she then said that she had to check that what Ralph needed was on the shelf.  We tried so hard not to laugh, it really was funny. We did a little tour of the coast today and came back via the inland road.  Our first stop off was at Flat rock beach where Hugo could have a swim and we could go for a walk and pick up beautiful little tumbled coloured stones for making some jewellery when we get home and get all arty farty. It was a lovely secluded beach and a beautiful coast line. There were some caravans parked on the dunes.  We would love to have camped there but there were probably only 8 spots and they were all occupied, we were not surprised because it really was a beautiful spot to camp. From there we drove to Port Gibbon, not a lot there, just some holiday homes and some holiday shacks, from there to Arno Bay, not much there either just a pub, a small grocery store a small caravan park and a few houses. They did have a lovely jetty as most of these little coastal places have. Most of the jetties were once used for transporting goods but obviously no longer used for this purpose and now only used as a fishing platforms.  We stopped at the pub for a drink and then came back via the inland road.  We passed a big defense force property where we weren’t allow access and there were these igloo type structures built there.  I googled the history which I will paste here.

Radar Station 203 near Cowell: Ron examines some military history on the Eyre Peninsula in the West Coast region of South Australia In a wheat paddock about eighteen kilometres from Cowell on Eyre Peninsula stand some remarkable structures. The igloo like landmarks are well known by locals today but their initial purpose dates back to a time when it seemed Australia faced an imminent invasion by the Japanese. The story of the cement structures is shrouded in secrecy even today. The Royal Australian Airforce built them in 1942 – the nation’s darkest hour – when the bombing of Darwin brought the war home to all Australians. With the defence of important industrial cities Port Pirie and Whyalla considered paramount, the RAAF set about the construction of Number 203 Radar Station. Smaller huts were built to house generators and within the shadow of the little shack village at Port Gibbon stand the ruins of the men’s quarters. Sixty-six years on from the construction of the two main radar huts the details about the operations of this top-secret facility remain sketchy. Lyndon Carmody: “They had the most advanced radar system of the time suspended between the towers. There would have been a huge series of antennae going across one hundred and thirty odd feet up and then across.” Former cocky Lyndon Carmody – remembers returning home from service as a mechanic on Catalina Flying Boats to find giant structures dominating the wheat paddocks around Cowell. Lyndon Carmody: “Like everything that was going on in the war, 99 percent of Australians hadn’t a clue what was going on.” Another local farmer Gerald Beinke also got quite a shock when he finally returned from service in Darwin. He says similar stations near Ceduna and Port Augusta were meant to act hand-in-glove with this facility to provide three reference points on aircraft entering Eyre Peninsula air space. Today the strange cement igloo like structures cause many a tourist to pull over on the dirt roads at the back of Cowell just as they did more than sixty years ago. Despite all the secrecy and effort Radar Station 203 was never used. The defeat of the Japanese at the Battle of Midway lead to the scrapping of this radar project and over time farmers dismantled the radar towers using the wood for shearing sheds and the like. The concrete structures got a guernsey as well – hosting dances and picnics for the locals. Today they remain an intriguing landmark from a different time when Australia was under attack. The remains of radar station 203 can be seen from the Port Gibbon Road about eighteen kilometres from Cowell on Eyre Peninsula. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au I know it’s a lot of stuff to read but it is very interesting and quite intriguing. We drove through the inland town of Cleve, small place and not much there so we didn’t stop.  Back to base and our biggest dilemma of the day is what to cook for dinner.

27^th February, Friday

We went to Lucky Bay this morning.  It’s a bay just with beach shacks and not much else. The beach was ok but so much seaweed so we left and decided to go back to Flat rock where Hugo could have a nice swim and roll on the beach and we could pick up some more little tumbled stones.  That beach is awesome, it’s empty, there was only one other guy walking with his dog “Weeds”.  Weeds and Hugo had a great time playing and chasing the ball along the beach and into the water.  It’s hot and humid today so we came back to base to veg out for the rest of the day.  There really isn’t too much to do here unless you have a boat.  There’s not much inland and what there is we’ve seen so tomorrow will be a veg day.

28^th February, Saturday

We are stuck indoors today as it has been blowing a gale since this morning.  Apparently the wind is going to be a lot stronger by late afternoon so we have taken down the screens and rolled the awnings in and are slowly packing away as we leave for Coffin Bay tomorrow.  We are hoping that it is not as windy there as it is here. Cowell as I mentioned is a place only for fishing if you have a boat so we are happy to move on. I have been chewed to bits by sandflies (same as Pardoo station). Catch you all in the next spot and as we keep moving we are getting closer to home.