Quorn and Hawker are two towns in the southern Flinders Ranges that are well worth a visit either by travelling north from Port Augusta - or south from Wilpena Pound.
The town of Quorn, 50kms north of Port Augusta, was proclaimed on 16 May 1878. With the building of the Great Northern Railway it became an important railway centre, and the main railway junction for the east-west rail to Perth and north-south to Alice Springs. The last Ghan train passed through Quorn in 1956. This major railway link has now closed but you can travel up to Quorn on the Pichi Richi steam train from Port Augusta. The railway line passes through Pichi Richi Pass which was a major route used by the Aboriginals for thousands of yeas, it's name derived from the Pitjuri bush which was used by the Aboriginals as a medicine.
Whether you visit Quorn via rail or road it is a lovely scenic route up through the lower Flinders Ranges. We travelled to Quorn from Port Augusta in the afternoon and it indeed a beautiful scenic drive. I wish we had gone up in the morning, or taken the Pichi Richi train and allowed more time to explore - but alas we only had the afternoon spare.
If you have an interest in history, your will love Quorn's historic streetscapes which have been the setting for a number of movies incuding Bitter Springs (1940), Walk About (1952) Robbery Under Arms (1957), The Sundowners (1960), Sunday Too Far Away (1974), Gallipoli (1980), The Last Frontier (1985) and the Shirlee (1987).
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