Port River - Settlement History

Settlement History

Prior to the 1836 settlement of South Australia, the river was a shallow and narrow tidal creek winding between mangrove swamps. The river was officially discovered in 1834 by Captain John Jones after an 1831 sighting by Captain Collet Barker. The initial landing place in Adelaide was some way north of the current port and had such poor conditions that for many years it was known as Port Misery. In 1837 a harbour was declared when harbourmaster Captain Thomas Lipson took up residence on the shore of the then named port creek with the first migrants landing in the same year and Mclaren wharf built in 1839. The current port location was opened in 1840 but, due to the shallow depth of the river, a new harbor was authorised for construction at Outer Harbor in 1902 and completed in 1908. This new harbour allowed the larger steamships that were then arriving at Adelaide to dock, with smaller steam vessels and sailboats able to use the old port facilities.

The river was first bridged in 1859 opening the Lefevre Peninsula to development and now is crossed by 3 road bridges including the Birkenhead bridge, the first bascule moving bridge in Australia.