Port Augusta (Goordnada in the revived indigenous Barngarla language)[6] is a coastal city in South Australia about 310 kilometres (190 mi) by road from the state capital, Adelaide.

Formerly a seaport, the city supports regional agriculture and services many mines in the South Australian interior to its north.

The last speaker of the language died in 1964, but successful efforts have been made to revive it based on a 3500-word dictionary compiled in the 1840s by German Lutheran pastor Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann.

[20] Port Augusta is at the head of Spencer Gulf, a natural barrier to land transport, leading to the city being considered to be the "crossroads of Australia", the junction of major road and rail links.

Virtually all road traffic across southern Australia passes through Port Augusta across the top of Spencer Gulf.

An ambitious project to build a line from Stirling North to the centre of Port Augusta was completed in 2001 and now provides half-day and full-day heritage railway journeys on selected dates from March to November.

[24] Port Augusta Airport, 6 kilometres (4 miles) from the city, handles about 16,000 "fly-in fly-out" passengers a year who work at many mines in the north of South Australia.

[31] Port Augusta has desert vegetation, although the city maintains with governmental aid with some plants adapted to aridity.

[40][41] In 2016, a local community group was lobbying for assistance to replace the coal-fired plants with a solar thermal power station.

[42] The premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill announced in August 2017 that construction would begin in 2018 and was expected to be completed in 2020.

The Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project is expected to cost A$650M to build, including a A$110M loan from the Federal Government, and deliver 150MW of electricity.

[44] It opened in October 2016 and produces 39MW of thermal energy from over 23,000 mirrors and a 127 metres (417 ft) tower, used for heating, electricity, and desalination to irrigate tomatoes in greenhouses.

The company intended to construct a transshipment facility suitable for the export of iron ore, wheat and other commodities.

[47][needs update] The major publication of the town is The Transcontinental, a weekly newspaper that was first issued in October 1914 and continues to be located on Commercial Road.

In federal politics, the city is part of the division of Grey, and has been represented by Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey since 2007.

The City of Port Augusta is believed to have had the longest serving mayor in Australia, Joy Baluch, who died after 30 years of service on 14 May 2013.