The town is located in the Yorke Peninsula Council local government area, 194 kilometres (121 mi) north-west of the state capital, Adelaide.

The British concepts of property ownership were incompatible with the Narunggas' nomadic lifestyle, resulting in the gradual displacement of the Aboriginal population.

[2] A site of 600 acres (240 ha) for a settlement was granted on 2 February 1868 at a place known as Bookooyanna (spelt Bukkiyana[5][6] or Burgiyana in later sources[citation needed]), about 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Kadina.

[4] Included in the recommendations was that the government become the legal guardian of all Aboriginal children upon reaching their 10th birthday, and place them "where they deem best".

[11] The institution is named in the Bringing Them Home report, as one which housed Indigenous children forcibly removed from their parents and thus creating the Stolen Generations.