Thevenard, South Australia

Thevenard (postcode 5690) is a port town in the far west of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It is contiguous with the larger town of Ceduna. Its name derives from nearby Cape Thevenard, which in turn was named after Antoine-Jean-Marie Thévenard, a French admiral. In the, Thevenard had a population of 563.



The port handles bulk grain, gypsum, salt and zircon. Thevenard is a terminus of the privately operated Lake MacDonnell–Thevenard railway, which delivers three trains of bulk gypsum daily from the Lake MacDonnell mine, 65 km to the west. Production from the mine, owned by Gypsum Resources Australia, is about 3.5 million tonnes (3.4 million long tons) per year.

Iluka Resources exports about 300,000 tonnes (295,000 long tons) of zircon concentrate from Thevenard per year, which the company mines and processes at the Jacinth Ambrosia Mine, 270 km north-west of Thevenard; delivery is by road.

The jetty has two berths, each capable of handling ships of 198 m length over all and 28 m beam, with a berthing pocket 30 m wide and 9.8 m deep. A gantry supports a load-out conveyor and a discharge boom with a travel length of 160 m capable of bulk loading grain at 750 t per hour and gypsum at 950 t per hour into ships' holds with a maximum outreach of 18 m.

Thevenard is in the District Council of Ceduna local government area, the South Australian House of Assembly electoral district of Flinders and the Australian House of Representatives Division of Grey.

Greek immigration to Thevenard, especially by people in the fishing industry, has been important in shaping the town's culture. Greeks from Thevenard are believed to have introduced eating barramundi to Anglo-Celtic Australians.