Ceduna (/səˈdjuːnə/ sə-DEW-nə) is a town in South Australia located on the shores of Murat Bay on the coast, west of the Eyre Peninsula. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of Adelaide. The nearby port of Thevenard lies 3 km to the west on Cape Thevenard. It is in the District Council of Ceduna, the federal electoral Division of Grey, and the state electoral district of Flinders.

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Quick Facts Ceduna South Australia, Coordinates ...

Ceduna South Australia
Poynton Street, the main street of Ceduna
Ceduna
Coordinates	32°07′0″S 133°40′0″E
Population	2,290 (UCL 2021)[1]
Established	1898
Postcode(s)	5690[2]
Location	778 km (483 mi) NW of Adelaide 423 km (263 mi) N of Port Lincoln
LGA(s)	District Council of Ceduna
State electorate(s)	Flinders
Federal division(s)	Grey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 24.0 °C 75 °F 10.8 °C 51 °F 271.0 mm 10.7 in
Localities around Ceduna: Koonibba Uworra Kalanbi Wandana Nadia Charra Ceduna Merghiny Denial Bay Ceduna Waters Laura Bay

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The name Ceduna is a local Aboriginal Wirangu word, alternatively phoneticized as Chedoona, thought to mean a place to sit down and rest.^[3]

The town is a fishing port and a railway hub.

The Wirangu people once lived over the area including Ceduna. Sea level rise 18,000 to 7,500 years ago completely displaced inhabitants of previous coastal areas and resulted in dramatic changes in distributions of peoples.

Matthew Flinders, on his voyage in the Investigator, anchored in Fowlers Bay on 28 January 1802. He went on to explore the coast and named Denial Bay, Smoky Bay and the islands of Nuyts Archipelago. He was disappointed to find no river and gave the name Denial Bay because of the deceptive hope we had formed of penetrating by it some distance into the interior of the country.^[4]

French expedition leader Nicolas Baudin visited Murat Bay after meeting with Flinders and named it after Joachim Murat. He also named the point of Thevenard after the Admiral and Minister of Marine Antoine-Jean-Marie Thevenard, and Decres Bay after Denis Decres, duke of the First French Empire.

The first European exploration of the hinterland was during August–September 1839 by John Hill and Samuel Stephens, using the chartered brig Rapid as a base. Hill reported to Governor Gawler that although the bay was 'valuable', the hinterland was 'waterless', thereby stalling European interest.^[5][6]

There was a whaling station on nearby St Peter Island during the 1850s before settlement.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands, faced with widespread agitation to open West Coast lands for agricultural settlement, invited three farmers in July 1887 to inspect the lands between Streaky Bay and Western Australia. They were optimistic about the area and recommended that the necessary surveys be started at once. In 1889 the Government in Adelaide formalised the Far West with survey lines.

In June 1901, the town of Ceduna was proclaimed. For many years, locals called the township Murat Bay and it was not until the railways came and called the siding Ceduna in 1915 that locals adopted the name. The Ceduna Jetty was built in 1902.

The Tod Water pipeline was officially opened by Mr M McIntosh, Commissioner of Public Works, June 1928.

Ceduna was the site of a major satellite telecommunications facility operated by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission. It was a major employer in the town until made redundant by technological change. It was built in 1969 and by 1984 almost half of Australia's International telecommunication traffic passed through Ceduna's Earth Station.^[7] The dish is now operated remotely and used as a radio astronomy observatory by the University of Tasmania.^[8]

On 4 December 2002, Ceduna received international attention when the path of totality of a solar eclipse passed directly over the town. Though the day had at times been partly cloudy, and although mere kilometres away in Thevenard the view was still clouded over, the southwestern sky where the Sun and Moon were located was clear from Ceduna itself at the time of the total solar eclipse, late in the afternoon.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2007/2008 State Budget, Premier Mike Rann (who had opened the new Ceduna TAFE campus in the early 1990s) announced a commitment of $36 million for Stage 1 of the Ceduna Hospital Redevelopment. It was opened in 2011.^[9]

In February 2010 Premier Mike Rann opened the world's largest mineral sands mine, Jacinth-Ambrosia Mine, operated by Iluka Resources. The $390 million mine is located 200 km north west of Ceduna.^[10]

According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 1959 people in Ceduna.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 26.4% of the population.
• 79.2% of people were born in Australia and 82.1% of people spoke only English at home.
• The most common response for religion was No Religion at 33.7%.^[11]

The town is the last major settlement before crossing the Nullarbor Plain from east to west. It is set on Murat Bay and the sandy coves, sheltered bays and offshore islands of the bay make it a popular base for a beach holiday. The foreshore at Ceduna is lined with Norfolk Island pine trees. There is a jetty for walking, fishing and small boats.

• Jenny Borlase (née Kennett), former netballer, born in Ceduna^{[citation needed]}
• Krista Eleftheriou, journalist and former television presenter, raised in Ceduna^{[citation needed]}
• Kym LeBois, professional AFL footballer playing for Carlton Football Club
• Freda Evelyn Gibson, (1908-1977) was an Australian flying doctor based here.^[28]
• Scott Lycett, professional AFL footballer playing for Port Adelaide Football Club
• Jodi Martin, singer/songwriter, born and raised in Ceduna
• Terry Milera, professional AFL footballer who played for St Kilda Football Club^{[citation needed]}
• Tyson Stengle, professional AFL footballer playing for Adelaide Football Club
• Chris Sperou, aerobatic pilot, born in Ceduna in 1938

• Ceduna Airport
• Point Bell Conservation Park