Wallaroo Marina Apartments Yorke Peninsula review | SA’s Great Travel Planner

You have to admire a town that loves history. Even if, sometimes, it’s not entirely its own. I’m keen for a face-to-face with George the giant squid at Wallaroo’s Heritage and Nautical Museum.

You have to admire a town that loves history. Even if, sometimes, it’s not entirely its own. I’m in Wallaroo for the weekend, on the west coast of Yorke Peninsula, where the most obvious recreational option would be to jump on a fishing boat and drop a line in the water.

But since I don’t fish I’ve headed out from our comfortable apartment overlooking the new marina to check out the town, where some fine colonial public buildings – an old railway station, primary school and town hall – recall a wealthy past.

The spot I want to visit is Wallaroo’s Heritage and Nautical Museum, housed in the old Post Office (entry is cash only) to check out the history of the town, built originally on copper.

Wallaroo was where Welsh smelters took ore dug by Cornish miners in the Yorke Peninsula’s copper triangle of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo to produce enormous amounts of the metal – and bankroll South Australian prosperity from 1861-1923.

Back in those days, a dozen big square belching chimneys punctuated the skyline before the refined metal could be sent to the port and shipped around the world.

Today, only one of those chimneys remain, and it’s only a hundred metres or so from the museum, which does a good job of telling the district’s story.

But it’s not only copper that has lured me here: I’m also keen for a face-to-face with George the giant squid.

I’ve seen a few giant squids before, one at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, and the other over several floors in the SA Museum. These cephalopods, rarely seen in the wild, live up to their moniker (the record so far is 13m but they could go to 20m, scientists think). That’s as you would expect, given they tangle with sperm whales and, mythically, the odd sailing ship or submarine.

But George, when I find him, pictured left, seems to have been truncated. Quite a lot of his tentacles, which once stretched 8.5m, have been lopped. He looks like a piece of gnarly orange wood.

Still, interesting enough in his tank. But why is he here at all? I didn’t know giant squids lived in these waters; I’m still not sure if they do. “George,” says a piece of paper on a nearby wall, “was swallowed by a whale many years ago and was found inside the whale’s stomach after it had been killed off Albany in Western Australia.”

Wallaroo apartments. Picture: Ben Heide

Still, Albany’s loss is Wallaroo’s gain. And George is just one of many fascinating exhibits scattered across these three buildings. There are 70 sailing ship models, an old telephone exchange, photos of everything from Cornish shipwrecks to the riches of old Wallaroo, Aboriginal artefacts, and the story of Caroline Carleton, who wrote The Song of Australia, a losing contender for the national anthem in 1977.

While she didn’t compose it here (that was in Adelaide, in 1859) she moved to Wallaroo, died near Kadina and is buried at Wallaroo. A lot has changed since Caroline’s time. Farming has replaced copper as the main local industry, and Wallaroo is healthier, if not wealthier, for it. The town has changed too, with the new marina and a partly developed suburb of waterside mansions where our hotel is based.

Our executive apartment has a covered veranda overlooking the main channel out to Spencer Gulf, along which fishing boats head to sea, and dragon boat crews practise with pounding drums and loud grunts.

There’s a full kitchen, a dining table and comfy lounge from which we can watch Foxtel on TV or just admire the view to the sea beyond. Adjacent is an open-plan bedroom, with a large connected bathroom. Inside is a bath and splendid rain shower.

Handily, there’s also a Cooper’s pub next door, where you can enjoy meals and drinks The music from the hotel did thump loudly on the Saturday night, although it stopped promptly at midnight. Thankfully, they don’t go too wild in Wallaroo.

Reviews are unannounced and paid for by SAWeekend.

This review was first published in January 2020 and details updated in March 2021.

• 11 Heritage Drive, Wallaroo
• [phone]
• wallarooapartments.com.au
• LOCATION Wallaroo marina, Yorke Peninsula, 160km northwest of Adelaide.
• ACCOMMODATION Twenty-six apartments over five storeys, all with water views, ranging from one-bedroom studio apartments to executive apartments with kitchen, plus three, and four-bedroom boardwalk apartments and top-floor penthouse.
• FACILITIES Airconditioning, refrigerator, flat-screen TV, Foxtel, bathtub. Some have kitchens and laundry facilities, check for details.
• PRICE $159-$490 a night for two people.