Salt Works (Port Augusta) Traditional Cache
Salt Works (Port Augusta)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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The Port Augusta Salt Works.
he Spencer gulf is a Hyper-Saline Inverse Estuary Which in simple terms means it's much more saline further up the gulf than it is further down.
And although the water moves with the tide, it’s the same water moving backwards and forwards, add natural evaporation and the salt concentration is much higher. (approx 10%)
Which means the Spencer Gulf waters are ideal for salt production.
In Australia, salt is produced by solar evaporation from sea water, saline lake waters, underground brines and harvested from dry lake beds. Today about eighty per cent of all salt is produced in Western Australia whereas before 1966 it was South Australia which produced that amount. At present only fourteen per cent of all salt is produced in South Australia.
The method of obtaining salt from sea water evaporation was started in 1915 at Yorkey Crossing near Port Augusta, Port Paterson in 1915. This method now accounts for most of South Australia's salt production.
Production by the Solar Salt Company at Port Paterson was suspended in 1966. Salt production by the Crystal Salt Company at Port Augusta started in 1917. The works were taken over by the Ocean Salt Company but abandoned in 1932.
The Port Augusta Salt Works operated throughout the 1920s and the 1930s. At one point they built a hand cart bridge on which they transported salt across to the Trans Australian Railway line.
“Large pumps were used to pump the water up to the salt pans, then they would wait for it to evaporate and then collect all the salt,”
All that remains now is some concrete slabs here and there the salt pans infrastructure such as pipes, boards and banking with a few bits and piecies Lying here and there. (Paterson’s Curse Cache has the pumping platforms).
The Port Augusta salt works are now a part of a conservation zone, and vehicle access is forbidden and a large fine applies if caught driving there, although it appears that many still drive there (do so at your own peril).
All that remains now is some stone walls, a shipwrecked barge in the mangroves, the old cart bridge, and the salt pans infrastructure.
If the tides are right it’s a nice place to paddle a kayak out to and perhaps camp overnight.
The cache location is on the “accessible side” of the gulf you will need to park at S 32 25.8318 E 137 45.7452 and then a short walk to the cache location along the groyne that was used to cart the salt to the main railway line.
Best of luck getting to the salt works proper from here.
Please re-cover cache well, Thanks.
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(Decrypt)
Ebpxf
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