Roxby Downs is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia about 511 kilometres (318 mi) north of the state capital of Adelaide.^[1][4] The town has a highly transient population of around 4,000 people.^[8]

Quick Facts Roxby Downs South Australia, Coordinates ...

Roxby Downs South Australia
A BHP-sponsored village in Roxby Downs
Roxby Downs
Coordinates	30°33′45″S 136°52′42″E[1]
Population	3,884 (2016 census)[2]
Established	20 November 1986 (town)[3]
Postcode(s)	5725[4]
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACST (UTC+10:30)
Location	511 km (318 mi) N of Adelaide[4] 10.6 km (7 mi) S of Olympic Dam
LGA(s)	Municipal Council of Roxby Downs[1] Pastoral Unincorporated Area[1]
Region	Far North[1]
State electorate(s)	Giles[5]
Federal division(s)	Grey[6]
Mean max temp[7] Mean min temp[7] Annual rainfall[7] 27.8 °C 82 °F 12.7 °C 55 °F 143.2 mm 5.6 in
Localities around Roxby Downs: Olympic Dam Olympic Dam Olympic Dam Andamooka Station Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Andamooka Station Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Station Andamooka Station
Footnotes	Adjoining localities[1]

Close

Roxby Downs has many leisure and community facilities including swimming, cinema, cultural precinct, community radio, shopping centre, schools, TAFE, cafes and sporting clubs and facilities. There are just two neighbouring towns in the area: Andamooka, an opal mining town about 30 km to the east, and Woomera, 84 km south of Roxby Downs. Andamooka people call the town home, and many are of European background since the days of early opal mining.^{[citation needed]}

The town of Roxby Downs was built in 1986-88 (land survey commenced in November 1986) with the aim of servicing the Olympic Dam mine and processing plant, located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of the site of the town. Roxby Downs was officially opened on 5 November 1988.^[9] The opening was celebrated with a "town party" held on the main oval and sponsored by the then owners of the operation Olympic Dam Project (O.D.P.).^[10] The town is subject to a specific Indenture Act and is administered by the Municipal Council of Roxby Downs in the form of an appointed Administrator.^[11]

Water is extracted from the Great Artesian Basin and desalinated by the operators of the Olympic Dam mine. It is then supplied via pipeline. In 2004, the township was estimated to consume a daily average of 3 megalitres.^[12]

Roxby Downs is located within the federal division of Grey, the state electoral district of Giles and the state government region of the Far North, and with land within the town of Roxby Downs being located in the local government area of the Municipal Council of Roxby Downs and the remainder of the locality of Roxby Downs being located in the Pastoral Unincorporated Area of South Australia.^[6][1][5]

Roxby Downs is in an area, like many other arid zones in Australia, that was very badly overgrazed by sheep and cattle during the nineteenth century, as pastoralism was introduced by European settlers. This caused many long-lived species of trees and shrubs to give way to short-lived annual plants and weed species. It was estimated that there were once at least 27 species of Australian mammals in the region, but by 2016 over 60 percent had become either completely or locally extinct since European settlement.^[13]

Introduced feral rabbits, cats and foxes exacerbated the threat to both flora and fauna. Some bird species, including the bush thick-knee and plains wanderer, are now either locally extinct or classed as an endangered species, and many of the medium-sized desert mammals are now completely extinct or only exist on a few islands of Australia.^[13]

Roxby Downs experiences a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh, Trewartha: BWhl), with very hot, dry summers; mild to hot, dry springs and autumns; and mild, dry winters. Extreme temperatures range from 48.1 °C (118.6 °F) on 25 January 2011 to −1.4 °C (29.5 °F) on 12 August 1966.