Port Gawler
| Town or Locality: | Port Gawler |
|---|---|
| Year Established: | 1970/01/01 |
| By: | Land subdivision |
It was in 1869 that plans commenced to build Port Gawler at the mouth of the Gawler River estuary.
An old map in the South Australian Lands Department dated 23 March 1869, signed on behalf of the surveyor-general, Mr George W. Goyder (of Goyder's Line fame) and his Excellency Sir James Fergusson, Governor of South Australia, shows Port Gawler subdivided into allotments with streets named after the Spanish campaign of General Wellington (of Waterloo fame): Badajos, Salamanca, Busaco, Vittoria and Nive Streets.
The 'Lisbon' wharf and Waterloo Road were built in 1869 with a grant of £6,000 made to the District Council of Port Gawler.
Cargoes of grain and other produce were loaded onto the ketches that were able to come into the wharf at high tide.
From December 1874 to November 1875 some 295 boats were loaded at this port and in 1876 it was reported that 95 boats had called, and a further 5,000 bags of wheat and flour were awaiting shipment.
The ketches were able to cross the sand bar at the mouth of the creek at high tide; the creek always had plenty of water depth at all times.
In the early 1900s the Government established an area nearby for the mooring of an explosives barge. Some of the piles remain today, but out of sight of landlubbers.
The final cargo to leave the port was a shipment of strainer posts to the Peninsula in 1920.
A house was erected on Lisbon Wharf for guards and officials but this was destroyed by fire together with most of the wharf in 1920.
The coming of the railway had made its use obsolete.
The township blocks were sold to hopeful speculators and the majority of them reverted to the Crown due to unpaid taxes.
The final 'freehold' blocks were held until 1960. Little trace now remains of what was once an essential part of the local transport network.
Related Articles |
Sources
- Life around the Light: A history of the Mallala District Council area
- compiled by Two Wells
- Mallala and District History Book Committee
- Community Development Board of the Council District of Mallala (Mallala. S. Aust.) 1985.
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