SAPort & river
Port Adelaide
Before it was a suburb, it was “Port Misery”.
1837Harbourmaster settles on Port Creek
WHAT STARTED IT
Colonel Light chose the sheltered Port Creek estuary as Adelaide’s harbour but kept the city inland, mainly because the port had no fresh water. The first landing place sat where the mangrove belt was thinnest, and in 1840 the wharves moved downstream to the present site.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Embankments and spoil dredged from the river raised the swampy ground, and the port gained wharves, warehouses, hotels and, in 1856, the colony’s first steam railway, to Adelaide. Deep-water berths at Outer Harbor and later container shipping drew trade and jobs away from the inner harbour.
TURNING POINTS
1837Harbourmaster Thomas Lipson moves to the Port Creek landing place, soon nicknamed “Port Misery”.
1840Governor Gawler opens the New Port and McLaren Wharf on 14 October.
1856A government railway reaches the port from Adelaide.
1908Deep-water berths at Outer Harbor are finished for larger ships.
1982Much of the town centre is declared a State Heritage Area.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A heritage precinct and waterfront redevelopment area with museums, old hotels and new housing. Naval shipbuilding at nearby Osborne keeps a working maritime role.