Port Augusta : leisure and tourism : gulf trip

The Gulf trip featured prominently in the holiday planning of South Australians between 1906-1955.  The fare of 6 pounds for 6 days enabled many South Australians to experience the romance of a sea cruise.

The Adelaide Steamship Company by 1900 was running a weekly service between Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Wallaroo, Port Hughes, Cowell, Tumby Bay and Port Victoria.

Trade was booming with the introduction of superphosphate for sandy soil improvement and sea travel for holidays was becoming popular. The Adelaide Steamship Company ordered a passenger/cargo ship especially for the Spencer Gulf trade. The first of the Gulf trip vessels was the Rupara built in 1906. The popularity of the 6-day trip which took in Port Lincoln, Tumby Bay, Wallaroo, Cowell and Arno Bay saw the Adelaide Steamship Company order another ship, the Paringa, in 1908.  Her 6-day itinerary saw her take in Port Pirie and Port Augusta.

Sadly, the boom times predicted for the Spencer Gulf region did not eventuate due largely to chronic water shortages and in 1912 Rupara and then in 1916 Paringa were removed from the Spencer Gulf run, partly to cover the service gaps the war requisitioning of Adelaide Steamship Company's larger ships had created.

Paringa returned to the Gulf trip in 1920 until May 1930, and the service was replaced with the MV Moonta in 1931.  Her 6-day itinerary  was: depart Port Adelaide on Saturday and call at Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, and Port Lincoln again with visits as required to Kingscote, Whyalla or Port Hughes returning to Adelaide on Friday morning. An advertisement in the History of Port Augusta page 38, indicates that the Moonta called regularly on a Tuesday at Port Augusta.

Other vessels served the Spencer Gulf ports but the three Gulf trip vessels were Rupara, Paringa and Moonta with the first gulf trip commencing on 3 September 1906 and the last finishing 4 February 1955.   

Further reading:

Jessop, Dieuwke (Ed)  The Gulf trip, Port Adelaide, S. Aust.: S.A. Maritime Museum, 1988

Anderson, R. J. Solid town: the history of Port Augusta, [Port Augusta, S. Aust.]: R.J. Anderson, 1988

Websites:

SA Memory: Wooden walls and iron sides select South Australian shipping lines: Adelaide Steamship Company