Kanyaka Homestead - SA

Located 42 km north of Quorn on the road to Hawker, the Kanyaka Homestead is definitely worth visiting.

The buildings include remnants of a stable and harness room, a woolshed and an overseer's cottage. Detailed information about the ruins and their history is provided on a number of excellent information plaques which include photographs of the buildings before they became ruins.

The Kanyaka ruins are of the once huge sheep run, Kanyaka Station in the pioneering era. In 1856 the Kanyaka Station leases totalled 365 square miles or 240000 acres (945 square km or 94500 hectares).

In good seasons the property housed up to 70 workers and their families. The main homestead consisted of 16 rooms with 18 inch (46 cm) thick walls of stone and mortar construction.

One interpretation of the name "Kanyaka" appears to be from the aboriginal word "agnia", meaning a big stone or rock, and "ka" signifying surprise or wonder (possibly referring to the nearby "Death Rock" at Kanyaka Waterhole).

The earliest records show that the first Pastoral Lease of Kanyaka was to Hugh Proby on 1 July 1851. Proby's Grave is an historic attraction on the Arden Vale Road near Quorn.