LEIGH CREEK

town and coalfield, east central South Australia, 350 mi (563 km) by rail north of Adelaide. Lignite coal, discovered there in 1888, was mined underground from 1892 to 1908 and then abandoned until 1941, when wartime shortages forced the government to explore the possibilities of reopening the field. By 1944 commercial quantities of coal were being extracted again. The opencut mines were taken over by the Electricity Trust of South Australia in 1948, which has since developed them as the fuel source for large power generators in Port Augusta. The town, named for a stockman who settled in the vicinity in 1856, was established in 1941 and in 1981 was moved 8 mi south to enable the mining of coal beneath the old town. It lies on the Central Australian Railway. In addition to large coal reserves, magnesite, gypsum, ochre, and pigment clays are worked locally. Fossil deposits of soft-bodied marine animals at Ediacara Reserve and Lake Callabonna are of worldwide interest. Pop. (1981) 1,635.