Drought hits Peterborough businesses in SA’s Mid North

This once-bustling railway hub in South Australia’s Mid North is hurting in the drought, and locals fear it could have tragic ramifications.

Peterborough Mayor Ruth Whittle fears for people’s lives if the drought doesn’t break soon.

Ms Whittle said the mental health of farmers and the owners of other businesses in the Mid North town were front of mind after back-to-back drought years. Some farmers near Peterborough have spent five of the past seven years in drought conditions.

“Drought has a massive effect on the community,” Ms Whittle, who has been mayor for the past 34 years, said.

“Sometimes droughts have an effect on just one section of the community but because we had a bad drought a few years ago and it really hasn’t gone away, it’s now had the trickle down effect and the whole community is suffering.

“Farmers haven’t got any money to spend so they don’t go to the tyre place or the mechanics, they don’t come in and spend so much on the groceries, they perhaps only have every second haircut, they don’t come in and go for a coffee, they don’t come in and go out for dinner – all measure of things.”

Peterborough mayor Ruth Whittle. Picture: Brett Hartwig

It’s the sort of economic hit the once-bustling town could do without. Peterborough, about 250km north of Adelaide, was once home to about 5000 people and one of Australia’s major railway junctions.

A public meeting formally established the town in 1879 and between 1911 and 1914 the railway through Peterborough was recognised as the busiest single track in the world.

But since the trains stopped running in the late 1980s, the town’s population has dropped to about 1600 and rates among the poorest in South Australia according to latest Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) reports.

“A lot of people here are on welfare and a lot of people are retired,” Ms Whittle said. “So we’re a relaxed, retired town with not much industry and so our resulting (average) weekly income is not good.”

Junction Hotel publicans Luke Hart and Adrian Mendo. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Publicans Luke Hart, 39, and Adrian Mendo, 38, are among those doing it tough.

The couple took over the Junction Hotel, established in 1881, just before Covid hit. It’s one of three pubs left in town.

They say a combination of skyrocketing government charges and the drought for a lack of custom which has them on the brink of closing their doors.

“The farmers are not going out anymore because everything’s too expensive,” Mr Hart said.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of the farming industry but we’re really not seeing them anymore.

“We used to see them every couple of days but no we haven’t seen them in about 12 months, or two years. And we used to get a lot of truckies as well but we don’t see them anymore.”

It’s a sentiment echoed around the corner at Bridgestone Service Centre in Kitchener St, run by Carolyn and Graham Mercer for the past couple of decades.

Peterborough Bridgestone Service Centre owner Carolyn Mercer. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Ms Mercer, 65, said farmers had stopped buying new tyres in the past couple of years.

“When it’s a drought like this, the farmers only have repairs done to their tyres and machinery, they don’t replace them, they’re getting as much mileage out of their tyres as they can,” she said.

Evie Oras, 60, runs The Tinsmith’s Cottage tea room and vintage store in Main St. She said business throughout town was flat because farmers had stopped spending but the drought also had an effect on the tourist industry.

“It’s like there’s nothing to see here because everything’s dead – drought-affected,” Ms Oras said.

“The other thing I’m noticing is a change in spending – before people would come in and order a main meal, a dessert and coffee. Now it’s one or the other.

“Hospitality’s the first one to suffer – when there’s any change in the world, it’ll come straight back and smack hospitality.”

Evie Oras at The Tinsmith’s Cottage. Picture: Brett Hartwig

The magnificent and heritage-listed Peterborough Town Hall just down the road from The Tinsmith’s Cottage is also home to the mayoral office. Ruth Whittle, 79, will become the longest-serving mayor in Australia in October but this drought has her worried.

“I fear for people’s lives, I really do,” she said.

“We have people right now that go to Rotary and Lions and talk suicide and self-harm and divorces and all those sorts of things happens as a consequence.

“Because if the wife just can’t stand it anymore, can’t stand the isolation, she may leave and go off. Then the kids don’t go to the boarding school that they wanted them to go to and marriages break up.

“I fear for all that sort of thing.”

Originally published as Drought hits Peterborough businesses in SA’s Mid North