The town of Yarcowie was surveyed in 1875. First land was released to settlers in the district of Yarcowie in March 1872.[10] The name is said to be Aboriginal (Ngadjuri) for "Wide Water". The name changed to Whyte Yarcowie in 1929[11] after early pastoralist John Whyte.[12] The railway station on the Peterborough railway line was opened in 1880, but the railway closed in 1988.
The Yarcowie Hotel (formerly the Commercial Hotel) on the Barrier Highway opened around 1881. A second hotel – also then known as the Yarcowie Hotel or Globe Hotel – operated between 1875 and 1893.[13]
^"NOMENCLATURE ACT, 1917 – ALTERATION OF NAME OF YARCOWIE TO WHYTE-YARCOWIE"(PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. 5 September 1929. p. 570. Retrieved 23 December 2018. ...alter the present name of the town called : "Yarcowie" to that of "Whyte-Yarcowie" and of the railway station at the said town to that of "Whyte-Yarcowie.