Cunyarie is a locality on northern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The Hundred of Cunyarie was proclaimed in 1922 and the town was surveyed in November 1927. Land was released, surveyed and apportioned on an application basis, with the latest sections being surveyed as late as the 1960s and 1970s. However, the limiting factor for early settlers was the availability of water, and allocations were generally preferentially selected around rare rocky outcrops or uplands which could afford some opportunities for increased runoff into earthen dams. Indeed, access to water was a critical factor in European settlement of Eyre Peninsula.