Copley was settled as the Great Northern Railway forged its way inland in the 1880s. Despite the township adjacent to Leigh Creek Railway Station being officially proclaimed the town of Copley on 27 August 1891, it was originally known as Leigh’s Creek or Leigh Creek in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as was the nearby sheep station and creek. It was undesirable to have a town of one designation and a railway station and post office of another, so the name Leigh Creek for the railway station and post office was officially abandoned in 1916, much to the dislike of many residents who unsuccessfully petitioned the government. The hotel, however, retained the Leigh Creek name.

Original Railway Station building, Copley (John Mannion)

Copley Leigh Creek, Out of Hundreds 1891.jpg

Hawker - Leigh Creek road, approaching Copley (Eileen Lewis)

Aerial view of Copley, 1978 (Enid Blieschke Collection)

Post Office

'Lorry on Muluwartana mail route', c.1937. (Charles Mountford)

Distances from Copley in imles , 1970s (Judy Yates)

Postal services were conducted from the Railway Station building, both original wooden and subsequent cement block building still remaining, until the 1950s. At that time postal services transferred from the jurisdiction of the Railways to private contract. The contract was taken up by Mert Lewis, and a building was erected on the southern side of the Copley hotel to serve as the Post Office.

The telephone exchange served the township and surrounding district. A party line provided telephone service to those isolated on stations and communities to the east of Copley. With the party line system, each customer had a specific identifying ring type. However, calls were not completely private due to this line being shared by all.

Mail runs to stations and communities on the ‘east side’ of Copley as far as Moolawatana Station ran weekly, providing mail delivery plus provisions ordered from the store. Occasionally, the turnaround time of this mail run exceeded 4 days due to rainfall.

Railway Station

a very rare aerial photograph of copley circa 1960 (Malcolm Treloar) — an aerial view of copley circa 1960 (Malcolm Treloar)

Tank which provided water for steam engines on the Great Northern Railway came to grief in the 1970s (Eileen Lewis)

Loading Sheep onto the Train in Copley - 1957 (Malcolm Treloar) — Loading Sheep onto the Train in Copley, 1957 (Malcolm Treloar)

Leigh Creek Hotel - Copley

dave miller, emily violet pierpoint, tommy agnew (Maxine Patterson)

Copley - 1940s

Dorothy Church with Marilyn, 1949 (Kathy Ffoulkes)

Copley - 1950s & 1960s

Joan O’Donnell and John Grace (Courtney Nayda)

Copley kids waiting for sunday school bus, 1960s. Betty Woodifield, Lyn Thomson, Evelyn Woodifield, Ingrid Stremke, Erica Stremke, Judy Thomson and Helen Brand (Helen Fitzgerald)

Russell, Lloyd and Helen Brand

Copley Post Office and Hotel, 1969 (Pam Oates)

Pat Read, Allan Chennall, Jim Cassie, Peter Barrington and others drink “Sparkling Starwine” at the copley Hotel to celebrate Allan’s farewell in 1965 (Donna Read)

Judy Mann’s 21st Birthday at the Copley Hotel in the 1960’s (Donna Read) — Judy Mann’s 21st Birthday at the Copley Hotel in the 1960s (Donna Read)

Copley - 1970s

The Last Steam Train to Copley - 1972

Locomotive 3801 was operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between 1943 and 1974. It is arguably Australia’s most famous steam locomotive, being the only one to have visited all mainland states and territories. In 1972 it visited South Australia to celebrate opening of a new railway line to Whyalla. In October 1972, on a historic run to Marree, it became the last steam locomotive to visit Copley. 3801 visited South Australia again in 1988 when it crossed the continent from East to West as the ‘Bicentennial Steam Train’.