Map of country areas in South Australia showing land for sale by name of Hundred. Details include topography, section numbers, description of vegetation, soil and arability of land. Relief shown by shading.

Yorke Peninsula was a largely pastoral area from the early 1840s. Early exploration by Robert Cock and later William Robinson had shown it to be without surface water, although water could be obtained by sinking wells in many locations. Cock, in his examination of the country around Port Victoria, had considered the Peninsula to have great potential for agricultural purposes. It was not until the late 1860s, however, that the surveying of the Peninsula began and it was opened up to farmers. Beginning in the south, pastoral leases were gradually resumed, town locations decided upon, and the land placed progressively on the market.

This map, in addition to showing the allotments, describes the vegetation that was still much as it had been since first explored: thick scrub consisting generally of black teatree, sheoak and mallee box, and wiry grass. The farmers would change this, with the scrub pulled out or rolled flat and burned. The mallee roots made good fire wood and in the early years, and later during the poorer years, were also shipped across the Gulf to Adelaide. The limestone turned over in the soil was used for building walls and fences, or sent to lime kilns. With the land cleared the farmers could sow their crops of wheat, and later, barley. Yorke Peninsula would become a major exporter of wheat and barley particularly when the use of superphosphate in the late 19th century improved yields dramatically. The Peninsula was changed for ever - except for some residual patches of scrub, it is now open farm land.

Progress of discovery: Victoria Harbour. Report of Information obtained by Robert Cock ... South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register 15 June 1839 p. 2

Kenny, S. D. A native vegetation survey of the Yorke Peninsula Region, South Australia 1994 [Adelaide]: Geographic Analysis and Research Unit, Information & Data Analysis Branch, Planning SA , 2000

Carmichael, Ern, The ill-shaped leg : a story of the development of Yorke Peninsula [Fullarton, S. Aust.]: E.J. Carmichael, 1973

Souvenir of Yorke Peninsula: embodying Maitland, Ardrossan, Kilkerran, Port Victoria, Minlaton, Curramulka, Port Vincent, Stansbury, Yorketown, Edithburgh and their environs: the land of the golden grain, described and illustrated Adelaide: O. Ziegler, 1921