About the Goyder Electorate

The electorate of Goyder is named after George Woodroofe Goyder (1826-1898).

George Woodroofe Goyder became South Australia’s first Surveyor General in 1861. He was nicknamed ‘Little Energy’ by the Australian Dictionary of Biography and was reputed to be the ablest administrator and most efficient public servant in the colony.

In 1865 he established the line of demarcation between safe and marginal agricultural areas. This line became known as Goyder’s Line and part of that line passes through the electorate of Goyder today.

Goyder’s input into the establishment of ‘Agricultural Areas’ in the 1870’s enabled small farmers to compete against wealthier pastoralists (often referred to as squatters), which established much of the settlement pattern in rural areas of South Australia.

Conservation is a key concern today but as early as 1873 Goyder recommended the use of forest reserves and actively encouraged the planting and preservation of trees. Among his other strengths were the conservation of water through dams and boring for artesian water.

Goyder is agriculturally rich, Yorke Peninsula is known as the ‘Barley Capital of the World’. Barley, wheat, canola, peas, beans and lentils are important crops together with sheep and cattle as the principal livestock.

With ventures in a range of produce including lavender, olives and grapes, and growing industries such as poultry farms, the Primo meat processing plant and Balco Pty Ltd hay exporters in the Wakefield Plains, the electorate is extremely diverse.

Aquaculture also plays a significant part in Goyder’s economy.

With its magnificent coastline and beaches plus natural beauty and a great Mediterranean climate, tourism, with an increasing emphasis on eco-tourism, is growing at a rapid pace on Yorke Peninsula and the Adelaide Plains. 

Goyder Electorate Map