Grain Silos

Minnipa's silo blocks tower over the scene as NJ2, an 830 and another NJ head another load of grain to Port Lincoln in the mid-1990s. Photo: Greg O'Brien

Bulk handling of grain came late to South Australia, and the first installations on Eyre Peninsula opened in 1958. Minnipa's first silos were erected in 1962. A second silos block was erected in 1968, and the original block was extended in 1969.

Block No.	Year	Configuration	Capacity (tonnes)
1	1962	4 main, 1 interspace concrete cells	8,900
	1969	6 main, 2 interspace concrete cells	9,900
2	1968	6 main, 2 interspace concrete cells	13,800
		Total	32,600

Blocks 2 (nearest camera) and 1 are seen in this 1974 scene at Minnipa. The then-new rotating jib crane is in the foreground. Photo: Alex Grunbach

Block 1 at Minnipa in 1998. The original cells (nearest the camera) and the later extension can be clearly differentiated. The outloader on the right is for block 2. Photo: Peter Knife