Koolywurtie, 16 km north of Minlaton, on 1 March 1877; it ceased to exist on 28 March 1979. Mr Wallis set up a blacksmith’s shop there but the town never grew and, today, the only evidence that one was intended is the presence of St Raphael’s Church.
In 1880, a deputation comprising of Messrs E. Crozier, G.D. Dowling and J.C. Tonkin waited upon the Minister of Education on July 12 to ask that a school might be erected in the Hundred of Koolywurtie. ‘The nearest school was at Mount Rat... A public meeting had been held and it was suggested that a school might be erected at the SE corner of section 53, known as the Two-Mile-Hut Section...’
The Koolywurtie School opened circa 1882 in the Croser (sic) family residence and closed in 1942.
Anglican Church of St Raphael.
The Reverend J H Corvan conducted services every 3 weeks at Mt Rat in the home of Mr A Humberstone from 1876 until 1878 when the area came under the care of the SYP missioner based at Yorketown. From then until 1889, Mt Rat spent years being tended by missioners from the Northern or Southern areas. During 1889 the Reverend W A Clampett was in charge of the whole peninsula, and Mt Rat came under the care of Minlaton.
It was in December of 1897 that the Archdeacon George Dove opened and dedicated the church of St Raphael on land donated by Mr Clift. In 1904 the stone wall was erected in front of the church.
Some time after 1911 the church must have fell into disuse, as it was reopened by Archdeacon Bussell on 22nd October 1916.
On the 25th November 1945 Bishop Robin relicensed and rededicated the church, and it has been in constant use since then.
Koolywurtie School
The original ’Provisional school’ with less than 20 children & an ‘uncertified’ teacher opened as early as 1883 on the property of Mr. Edward Croser, but in 1895 the Koolywurtie Public School opened here on land given by Mr. James Brown. With the very large families in the district, enrolments multiplied until the late 1930’s when the minimum enrolment of at least seven children to keep the school open, became a great struggle. Even ‘borrowing’ a child from Minlaton school eventually proved fruitless when the school buses began running past to carry pupils to that larger school.
However the school’s most famous old scholar was Captain Harry Butler, who once delighted the students by ”buzzing” his old school and dropping a greeting to those below!
Captain 'Harry' Butler had an amazing life that spanned from growing up in Minlaton to joining the Royal Flying Corps, becoming a fighter pilot in France, an aviation instructor in England to flying the first mail delivery over the sea from Adelaide to Minlaton.
Born November 9th, 1889 in Yorketown, Henry John Butler grew up on a small farm at Koolywurtie, near Minlaton. Even as a child, Harry was determined to fly and used to catch the chickens so he could measure their wingspan and weigh them to learn more about flying.
Harry's greatest achievement came on August 6th, 1919 when he finally arrived home to Minlaton on the first mail delivery across the sea from Adelaide. He set off in his ‘Red Devil’ Bristol Monoplane facing gale force winds blowing at 110 km per hour with an 18 kg mailbag of letters on board for delivery to Minlaton, 100 km away. Harry arrived in Minlaton to a crowd of over 6,000 people, some who had never seen a plane flying before.
Harry continued to thrill many crowds with his aviation displays and was responsible for the first aerial photograph ever taken and published in South Australia over the suburbs of Adelaide.