
Peake. District population 104.
The Hundred of Peake was declared in 1906 and named after a Labour South Australian Premier. All the Hundreds (a survey district of 100 square miles) along this rail route were named after a state premier, or leading politician - e.g. Price, Peake, Cotton and Bews (the politician who got water to Moonta etc. He was Commissioner of Public Works 1885-91). The small town of Peake was named after a liberal, rather than conservative SA premier, Archibald Peake (1912-15) who reduced public debt and brought the budget into surplus. He entered parliament in 1909. He had acted briefly as Premier in previous years because of his alliance with the Labor Party. He brought in 6 o’clock closing for hotels and had many spur railways built. This area around Peake was originally part of John Whyte’s Moorlands leasehold station. (His city mansion was at Fulham.) Although the train line to Pinnaroo passed through here in 1906 it took some years for local farmers to get a small railway siding and town. The township of Peake was proclaimed on 8th August 1907. Its claim to fame was that it had limestone suitable for mining. Limestone rock was mined here, crushed and used for the building of Murray Mallee roads. Near the railway liner is a well from the pastoral era, Polly’s Well sunk in 1877. It is next to the War Memorial and some town information boards. There are several other interesting buildings in the town. A corner site building was erected as a possible hotel although it was never licensed. An application was made in September 1908 for a license for the proposed hotel at Peake. Mr E. Moore the builder of the premises stated that it was built as a bakehouse. The building subsequently became a store. On 25th August 1922 it was acquired by the Baptist Church. It was then used as a church and manse. The building has been altered over the years. Next to it is the old saddlery estabsliehd by Harold Porter in 1912. The town has an old Post Office and residence built in 1912. The first school opened on 25th January 1909. There were eight male and seven female pupils. When the Peake Institute opened in 1913 it moved into that building. The new government school room was built in 1929. The school closed when the pupils were transferred to Geranium Area School in 1965. Like most small towns the stone Institute was an early structure. It opened in September 1913 and was used as such until 1961 when the more modern hall opened on the main road. The original hall is now a private residence. The station master’s house by the railway line was erected in 1912 but it is now dilapidated.