Kingscote is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located on Kangaroo Island about 119 kilometres (74 mi) south-west of the state capital of Adelaide.
Kingscote is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located on Kangaroo Island about 119 kilometres (74 mi) south-west of the state capital of Adelaide.It is South Australia's oldest European settlement and the island's largest town. At the 2016 census, Kingscote had a population of 1,790. It is a well-established tourist centre and the administrative and communications centre. It is home to a colony of the smallest penguins in the world, the little penguin.
The town is served by Kingscote Airport with passenger flights on two airlines.
History
The South Australian Company established its colony at Kingscote at Reeves Point on 27 July 1836, as South Australia's first official European settlement, the first settlers having arrived on the Duke of York, and named for Henry Kingscote, one of the founding directors of the Company.
It was early suggested that Kingscote could serve as the capital of South Australia, but the island's resources were insufficient to support such a large community; the South Australian Company moved almost six months later to Adelaide after sending surveyors to find a better site.
The history of the area is displayed in the museum in Hope Cottage, to the north of the town. Hope Cottage was one of the three earliest houses built in Kingscote, circa 1850, with the adjoining cottages of Faith and Charity. (Faith has been subsequently demolished.)
The Old Mulberry Tree at Reeves Point was planted in 1836 and still bears fruit. Reeves Point has been placed on the Australian Heritage Places List.The current town of Kingscote is now immediately to the south of the original Kingscote settlement at Reeves Point in the area originally known as Queenscliffe (the origin of the name of the Queenscliffe Hotel in Dauncey Street).
State heritage places
Kingscote contains the following places which are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register:
Hope Cottage
The Bluff Cottage
Barrett's Store
Reeves Point Settlement Site being the site of the first official settlement in the Colony of South Australia
Old Government Quarry
Weather
Kingscote has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb), where most of the rain falls in the winter months.
Things to do