Discover Cummins: the agricultural hub of Lower Eyre Peninsula
Sitting less than 70 km north of Port Lincoln, the township of Cummins lies at the centre of rich undulating farmland and is a service hub for outlying communities. Named after William Patrick Cummins who served on the South Australian Legislative Council from 1896-1907, the rural hub has played an essential role in the Eyre Peninsula agriculture industry since settled in 1904.
Today, Cummins offers a good range of shops, health and sports facilities, and accommodation options (including a caravan park). Meanwhile, many of its historic buildings remain, including the old butter factory, a horse dip and the original government dam.
The railway line to Port Lincoln was completed in 1907, and the railway loading triangle is now a park with free barbecues, picnic area, playground and toilet facilities. It also features a community-funded Wheat Lumper statue, commissioned to recognise grain handling methods important in the district’s agricultural history. For those wanting to know the region better, the Biographical Gallery tells the stories of many past residents.
Cummins is home to Cummins Milling Company: one of Australia’s oldest and the only flour mill on Eyre Peninsula. The versatile mill produces a range of premium commercial flours (used by the local Five Loaves Bakery), and stock feed, while a huge silo and bunker system provides grain storage before it’s transferred to Port Lincoln.
Look out too for Wild Timber, a family business that creates custom-designed furniture and crafts, and the ‘Tree with a difference’, a tree featuring hundreds of hanging shoes, runners, boots and sandals that seemingly ‘sprang up’ after the 2005 bushfires.
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