Undalya, South Australia
town in South Australia
Undalya (Postcode: 5451) is a small rural town on the southern edge of the Clare Valley, in the mid north of the state of South Australia. It is located on the Horrocks Highway approximately halfway between the towns of Auburn and Rhynie, at the junction of the River Wakefield and Pine Creek. To the east lies the town of Saddleworth and to the south-west lies the town of Balaklava. The town was officially gazetted as Undalya in 1859.
Meaning
The name Undalya was given by the local Aborigines and means "water holes", while the surrounding district was known as Kercoonda meaning "camp near water". In the early years of the village, Aborigines were in great numbers in the district.
History and events
On one of his expeditions, explorer Edward John Eyre camped at Undalya and commented on the large amount of water in the River Wakefield as well as the availability of the local blue limestone.
The most notable feature of Undalya is the local bridge over the River Wakefield. Built in 1855, with various alterations, additions and repairs, the bridge is known locally by three names: Basket Bridge, Cradle Bridge or Coathanger Bridge. It has taken the full force of many floods and at one time was the biggest one-span bridge in South Australia.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7882971. Authority coordinates are -34.074, 138.693. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1859 and 1855.
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This entry incorporates text from “Undalya, South Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.