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Whites Flat, South Australia

locality in South Australia

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ24189948
Source-derived summary

Whites Flat (also known as White Flat) is a rural locality in the Eyre and Western region of South Australia, situated within the District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula. The boundaries for the locality were formally established in October 2003 for the long established local name; this had originally been named after pastoralist Samuel White.

The main feature of the locality is the Tod Reservoir. It also contains the Tucknott Scrub Conservation Park, which lies in its north-west corner.

Whites Flat Post Office opened on 1 October 1897. In 1915, Whites Flat was described as consisting of a post office and local hall, the latter simultaneously serving as school, church, dance hall and lecture room, for less than a dozen inhabitants. The hall had been built by the local residents with their own labour. The school survived for several decades; in 1942, air raid trenches were dug for the students. In 1950, it was reported that "the tiny little post office at White Flat remains unchanged" and that the writer "would be sorry to see the day of the demolition of this little thatch-roofed place which stands a sentinel of the early days".

The post office at Whites Flat is long closed; however, the building, reputed to be the "smallest post office in Australia" survives, having been relocated to the National Trust of South Australia-owned Koppio Smithy Museum in adjacent Koppio.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Whites Flat, South Australia” as locality in South Australia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2003, 1897, 1915, 1942—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Whites, Flat and South can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as locality in South Australia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24189948. Authority coordinates are -34.512, 135.853. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003, 1897, 1915 and 1942.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Whites Flat, South Australia”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Whites Flat, South Australia primary sources, Whites Flat, South Australia archive and Whites research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Whites Flat, South Australia”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Whites Flat, 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.