Wool Bay

Wool Bay (formerly Pickering) is a locality and a former government town in the Australian state of South Australia on the east coast of southern Yorke Peninsula.

Wool Bay (formerly Pickering) is a locality and a former government town in the Australian state of South Australia on the east coast of southern Yorke Peninsula.It is located between Stansbury and Coobowie on Yorke Peninsula, approximately 220 kilometres from Adelaide by road, but only just over 60 km due west across Gulf St Vincent.

The town was originally called Pickering when it was established on 24 August 1876. It is on cliffs overlooking a protected bay. In 1882 a jetty was built, initially to roll wool bales out to the ships. The locals came to know the jetty as Wool Bay jetty and by 1940, the name of the town had also changed to Wool Bay. For many years, the town functioned as a wool, grain and lime exporting port.

Between 1900 and 1910, six lime kilns were built on the cliffs overlooking the bay. Lime was burnt to create quicklime, an ingredient in mortar and brick-making. The kilns were one of the largest and most modern facilities in the state when they were established by David Miller & Sons, and opened in 1910. The Wool Bay lime kilns closed in the 1960s and most of the kilns and associated infrastructure were demolished in the 1970s. One kiln remains and was listed along with the jetty under the name of Wool Bay Lime Kiln & Jetty on the South Australian Heritage Register on 28 November 1985. Limestone is still mined at Klein Point north of the township of Wool Bay, and shipped from a separate jetty to the Adelaide Brighton Cement facility near Port Adelaide.