Fowlers Bay, South Australia

Fowlers Bay
Town of Fowlers Bay
Fowlers Bay
Coordinates: 31°59′25″S 132°26′09″E / 31.990142°S 132.435748°E / -31.990142; 132.435748
CountryAustralia
StateSouth Australia
RegionEyre Western
LGA
Location
Established10 July 1890 (town)
8 February 2001 (locality)
Government
 • State electorate
 • Federal division
Elevation
3 m (9.8 ft)
Population
 • Total51 (SAL 2016)
Time zoneUTC+9:30 (ACST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+10:30 (ACST)
Postcode
5690
CountyHopetoun
Mean max temp21.5 °C (70.7 °F)
Mean min temp12.3 °C (54.1 °F)
Annual rainfall300.2 mm (11.82 in)
Localities around Fowlers Bay
Yalata Yalata Yalata
Mitchidy Moola
Coorabie Fowlers Bay Mitchidy Moola
Bookabie
Great Australian Bight Great Australian Bight Great Australian Bight
Locations
Adjoining localities

Fowlers Bay, formerly known as Yalata, is a bay, town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about 917 kilometres (570 mi) north-west of the state capital, Adelaide. The town is located on Port Eyre, at the western end of the larger Fowlers Bay. It was named Yalata after Yalata station, established in the 1860s and stretching from the Nullarbor Plain across to near Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula, whose homestead was located on the hill nearby. The name Yalata now belongs to a small Aboriginal community further west, which was also situated on station land.

Situated on the Nullarbor Plain, Fowlers Bay was once an active port and a gateway to the western reaches of the continent, but fell into decline in the 1960s and 1970s. However a revitalised tourist industry started bringing more tourists to the town from the 1980s onwards. The southern right whales that frequent the Great Australian Bight were a target of whalers in the past, but now bring sightseers. Large sand dunes are prominent on the southern side of the town, and have been migrating to cover parts of the town over the past century.