See Coobowie Water Tower, South Australia

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Water tower art completed in April 2021. The salt water inlet has always attracted many pelicans and the recent water tower art in Coobowie features them and other marine birds including black swans. Three artists led by Jason parker also included some local wild flowers. Coobowie has also had an annual rodeo since 1950 and scenes from that, in contrasting colours and atmosphere feature on the shed adjoining the water tower. After the pastoral era this salt water inlet was regarded as a favourable spot for a settlement and farmers arrived in 1874. They called it Salt Water Creek in the Hundred of Melville. The Hundred of Melville was declared in 1869 after Lord Melville, First Admiral of the Admiralty. Most of the Hundred was surveyed in 1869 as Yorketown was the centre of one of the special agricultural areas of 1869 allowing the first land purchases by farmers on credit. It took a few years for the coast land at Salt Creek to be settled by farmers. When the government town was laid out along the coast in January 1875 the Naranga word for “wild water fowl” was adopted as the name. The locals however, referred to it as Salt Water Creek for many decades. Like most small farming towns the first public structure was the Coobowie Hotel in 1876, followed by a government school in 1878, and a Wesleyan Methodist Church on 25th March 1877. Surprisingly the first jetty was not erected until 1925 although townspeople had called on the government to build one as early as 1875. Apart from loading wheat the jetty was needed for the salt industry along the Salt Water Creek, the lagoon and inland salt lakes. But it was not far by road to the jetty at Edithburgh as a causeway across the salt water inlet was built in 1878 to shorten the trip to Edithburgh. The Institute was built in 1905, and the old bakery from the 19th century still stands. A Baptist church was also built around 1880. It closed around 1949 and the Methodist Church only closed in recent decades. The Coobowie School closed in 1971. The original structure was replaced with a red brick school in 1919 which is now part of the caravan park.

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