Yongala is a small town located in the state of South Australia, Australia. It has a population of approximately 240 people and is situated on the Clare-Peterborough Road (B79). The town was proclaimed on 23 May 1876 and within 5 years had a population of 353 as developers anticipated the connection of a railway. The railway instead went through the nearby town of Peterborough.
Yongala is situated on a high plateau and winter snowfalls are common. The town holds several records for the lowest minimum temperature in South Australia.
History
Yongala was established as a hundred and part of the Dalhousie county in 1871 as one of the first of the 12 hundreds to be declared in that county. Land could be purchased in a hundred as soon as it had been declared.
The SS Yongala launched in 1903 and owned by the Adelaide Steamship Company was named after the town. It sank in a storm in 1911 off the coast of Townsville, Queensland and its wreck site is protected by the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.