| Type: | town |
| Loxton | |
| State: | sa |
| Coordinates: | -34.4539°N 140.5669°W |
| Coord Ref: | [1] |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Density: | 532 |
| Postcode: | 5333[2] |
| Timezone: | ACST |
| Utc: | +9:30 |
| Timezone-Dst: | ACST |
| Utc-Dst: | +10:30 |
| Dist1: | 246 |
| Dir1: | E |
| Location1: | Adelaide |
| Dist2: | 41 |
| Dir2: | S |
| Location2: | Renmark |
| Dist3: | 680 |
| Dir3: | NW |
| Location3: | Melbourne |
| Lga: | District Council of Loxton Waikerie |
| County: | Alfred |
| Stategov: | Chaffey[3] |
| Fedgov: | Barker[4] |
| Maxtemp: | 24.0 |
| Maxtemp Footnotes: | [5] |
| Mintemp: | 9.1 |
| Rainfall: | 259.8 |
| Near-N: | Katarapko |
| Near-Ne: | Loxton North |
| Near-E: | Bugle Hut |
| Near-Se: | Woodleigh |
| Near-S: | Pata |
| Near-Sw: | Pyap West |
| Near-W: | Pyap |
| Near: | Loxton |
| Footnotes: | Adjoining localities |
Loxton is a town on the south bank of the River Murray in the Riverland region of South Australia. It is located on the lands of the Erawirung people[6] who occupied the area before the arrival of Europeans.
It is a service town for the surrounding districts. Loxton's primary productions are agriculture & horticulture. Citrus fruit, wine grapes, almonds, and stone fruit trees are prevalent. Loxton is also the main town for the northern part of the Murray Mallee which is a dryland farming and grain cropping area. Loxton High School provides secondary education for the area.
Loxton has a pioneer settlement museum (known as the Loxton Historical Village), preserving the heritage of the mallee region. It is also famous for the "Loxton Lights Up" Christmas Festival in December each year, and the annual 120m Loxton Gift handicap sprint race held in late February. The town hosts the second round of the Australian HPV Super Series in May annually.
Loxton is the seat of the local government area of the District Council of Loxton Waikerie. It is in the South Australian House of Assembly electoral district of Chaffey and the Australian House of Representatives division of Barker.
The town is home to a variety of service clubs, most notably the Apex Club, Rotary Club, and Lions Club.
Historically, Loxton has been home to several newspapers. These include:
Channels from the following television networks are available in Loxton:
The first form of regular transport to Loxton was paddle steamers on the Murray River. The Loxton railway line, completed in 1914,[11] connected Alawoona and Tailem Bend to Adelaide. Loxton today is connected by road to the Sturt Highway, which passes nearby at Kingston On Murray and is the northern terminus of the Karoonda Highway and eastern terminus of the Stott Highway. The railway line now terminates at the Tookayerta grain terminal 7abbr=offNaNabbr=off south of the town and does not carry any passengers. The line was closed in 2015.[12]
Loxton is a town with many farms and fruit crops. The joint programme of salt interception schemes to help keep salt out of the River Murray, costing an estimated $60 million, commenced in 2001. This programme was expected to deliver 61 EC at Morgan by December 2007. The partner Governments of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia and the Commonwealth have agreed that joint salt interception schemes must both be economically and technically feasible.
The Loxton Gift athletics carnival offers the most prize money in South Australia apart from the Bay Sheffield held at Glenelg. The program includes races from 70m to 1000m and is the final major South Australian lead-up event to the Stawell Gift held at Easter.
Since 2014, the streets of the town have been shut off in May for the running of the Loxton Pedal Prix, which is a round of the Australian HPV Super Series. The track incorporates the major central roundabout and the surrounding main streets. It includes two long 600m straights, one uphill and one downhill. The event has proved popular with locals, riders and spectators alike, and is now a mainstay on the Australian HPV Super Series calendar. In 2018 it will be round 2 of the series.
Loxton has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Loxton has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSk), with very warm summers, mild winters and low annual precipitation. Average maxima range from in January to in July. Mean Average annual rainfall is 266.1mm, with a slight winter maximum. Annually, there are 108.2 clear days and 120.1 cloudy days.[18] Extreme temperatures have ranged from on the 21st of July 1982 to on the 20th of December 2019.[19]