New wharf scheme, Port Adelaide.

This photograph shows Number 1 Dock shortly after it was completed. In the distance to the left can be seen the large woolstores which were built on Santo Parade when the Port Dock was constructed in 1880. To the right are Dalgety's sheds.

Port Adelaide gradually evolved through the 19th century as private companies built their wharfs and storesheds. In 1840 the South Australian Company built McLaren Wharf at the end of what is now Commercial Road, adjacent to the Customs House. In 1857 the Company built the SA Company Basin to the east of McLaren Wharf and later in 1880 this Basin was extended further east with the building of the Port Dock. Access to the wharves north of the Company Basin and Port Dock was provided by two bridges Robinson's Bridge and the Fisher Bridge.

In 1913 an act of Parliament created the South Australian Harbors Board and in 1925 its powers were widened to enable it to take over the privately owned wharves and storesheds. At the same time channel deepening was underway and this revealed that some wharves were structurally unsound. McLaren Wharf was one of these. As part of its rebuilding it was moved back bringing it into alignment with the other wharves along North Parade. The Port Dock and Company Basin were at this time filled in and the area re-modelled as Number 1 Dock. The bridges were removed and access to the northern wharves was along Ocean Steamers Road.

Couper-Smartt, John Port Adelaide: tales from a "commodious harbour" Port Adelaide: Friends of the South Australian Maritime Museum, 2003

Parsons, Ronald, Southern passages: a maritime history of South Australia Netley, S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 1986

Mudflats to metropolis: Port Adelaide 1836-1986 [Port Adelaide, S. Aust.: B. & T. Publishers, 1986]

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. Wooden Walls and Iron Sides August 2004-