CABLE BAY: at the foot of the Yorke Peninsula region of South Australia

Over the years Postcards has been a regular visitor to Innes National Park at the foot of Yorke Peninsula. It's an area steeped in history from the gypsum and salt works at the old ghost town at Inneston to the spectacular Stenhouse Bay Jetty where bagged gypsum was loaded on to ketches bound for Adelaide.

And one of the most picturesque vantage points is on the road leading into the Park. You can take in Cable Bay and remote Althorpe Island where for many years the lighthouse keepers kept watch on ships, which passed through Investigator Strait.

But the story of Cable Bay dates back to a time when the colony of South Australia was consumed with fear. In the mid 1880s the mother country Britain was involved in a territorial dispute over Afghanistan. And, as Ranger Richard Thomas explains the young colonists went to extraordinary lengths to protect themselves because it was feared the Russians were coming.

"They decided to lay a cable from a location now known as Cable Bay for obvious reasons. And they laid a cable from Cable Bay to Althorope Island, which is a distance of some six or seven kilometres. The cable had to come from London and was delivered in two coils."

One coil was laid from Cable Bay to Warooka forty-seven kilometres further inland where it was connected to an existing communications link back to Adelaide. The other, weighing thirty-five tons was rolled out by two ships into Investigator Strait.

"Richard Thomas, Ranger: "They were afraid that enemy ships passing by would be able to sail by Althorope Island undetected had the cable not been laid because, at certain times of the year conditions tended to be fairly rough and misty. So under those conditions ships could possibly have passed by undetected."

It's not until you visit Althorpe that you realise what these early engineers were up against. Getting here was one thing - hauling the cable up to the lighthouse was quite another. The project was completed in 1886. Soon the lighthouse keepers were in position. And they waited... and waited... for an invasion that never came.

Now its holidaymakers who invade the bottom end of Yorke Peninsula often picking up supplies from Rhino's Tavern before heading to the various camping grounds dotted throughout the nine thousand hectares of coastal mallee with its ever-present wildlife.

Many visitors also head to historic Inneston with its array of heritage accommodation including the Engineer's and Manager's Houses built for those who worked at the Gypsum works. The more adventurous book into this little reminder of Innes National Park's early farming history built in 1919.

Richard Thomas, Ranger: "It was built by a man named Daveys. And it was actually called the Daveys' Shepherd's Hut in its time. It was built simply for the shepherds that used to graze sheep and cattle in that area."

From the Shepherd's Hut you're a stone's throw from picturesque Shell Beach which is yet another reminder, like nearby Dolphin Beach of why so many venture here to lose themselves on the miles of secluded beaches that dot the toe of Yorke Peninsula.

Innes National Park is a comfortable three-hour drive from Adelaide. Entrance into the park is $6 per vehicle. Heritage accommodation can be arranged by calling 61 (0)8 8854 3200. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards.sa.com.au