WanAus 207 - Kyancutta ICEM Kyancutta, South Australia, Australia
By WanderingAus on 17-Oct-11. Waypoint GA3493

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN WRITING IMPLEMENT!!!

I've Cached Everywhere, Man is the largest cache series hidden in Australia. It is made up of the locations made famous by Lucky Star in the song "I've been everywhere" in 1962, lyrics by Geoff Mack, as well as other towns mentioned in verses made up by geocachers. Kyancutta is the one hundred and fifty-first place mentioned in the song, at line three in GCA Verse 7 by Trigg-A-Nomics. Having travelled through Kyancutta at least fourteen times over the years I found a Quick Firing 25 Pounder Field Gun there in October 2009, and claimed a find of GA1381 RSL War Artefacts/Memorabilia by MADSTARS. I also placed my cache GC1ZW6N WanAus 135 - Kyancutta Gun there. Having "found a cache" there I could then place an ICEM cache there too. (I won't place an ICEM cache in any place where I haven't found a cache of some sort first - my rule for me only).

GCA Verse 7 by Trigg-A-Nomics
I've cached in Tarlee, Marree, Waikerie, Yongala,
Coobowie, Terowie, Nangwarry, Barmera,
Woomera, Virginia, Wudinna, Kyancutta
Alice Springs, Spalding, Iron Knob, Curramulka
Pine Creek, Leigh Creek, Tennant Creek, Oodnadatta
Taperoo, Jabiru, Buckleboo, Orroroo!

Located 244 km west of Port Augusta on the Eyre Highway, Kyancutta is a tiny wheatbelt town located at the junction of the Eyre and Tod Highways on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Once a busy town with an airport, Kyancutta is now nearly a ghost town, acting only as a centre for the agricultural districts surrounding it, as well as passing tourists.

The town was established in 1917 to support the surrounding agricultural lands. The name is thought to be derived from the Aboriginal 'kanjakatari'; kanja - 'stone' and katari - 'surface water', inferring water in rocks. Another possible origin is that the name was taken from a nearby hill 'Kutta kutta' which was the local Aboriginal name for the night hawk.

An airport was built not long after establishment, and flights between Adelaide and Perth stopped there regularly. This added another facet to the towns economy, and caused the town to fall into a steady decline after its closure in 1935.

A school was built in the town in 1920, remaining active for 25 years before closing in 1945.

An official weather station, established at Kyancutta in 1928 became Australia's first fully automated station with a three hourly programme of weather observation which is still ongoing under the care of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Just beyond the General Store in Kyancutta is the Polk Dinney Park which was opened on 29 March 1986. It's a Jubilee 150 Project to Commemorate the Pioneers of the Kyancutta District and all of the fences around the Park have been carved with the names of the Pioneering Families. In the centre of this small park is some old pioneering equipment from the area. One of those pieces of equipment also houses this cache.

The town now is the service centre for the surrounding agricultural districts, with cereal crops and sheep grazing the prevalent industries. Wheat silos for storage are also located within Kyancutta.

It also serves as a rest point for travellers making their way across the Eyre Highway. Except for Polk Dinney Park Kyancutta has no real attractions of its own, but a number of natural features including 'Waddikee Rock' and 'Corrobinne Hill' do lie within 20 km of the town.

The cache is a small Sistema cliplock container.

Swaggies are not tradeable items. Please feel free to take them without making a trade, but please leave a note in the logbook and your online log, and do log them online. Grounspeak Trackables (geocoins and travel bugs) can NOT be logged into this cache, or any other GCA cache. Please don't drop any Grounspeak Trackables in this cache, and if you find any in this cache please remove them and log a "Grab it from somewhere else" log for the trackable.