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Port Elliot jetty and government store
Title : Port Elliot jetty and government store Port Elliot jetty and government store
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Source : B 45110, Port Elliot Collection
Date of creation : ca. 1880
Format : Photograph
Catalogue record
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Description :

Jetty and the old Government warehouse at Port Elliot


Jetty and the old Government warehouse at Port Elliot, photographed about 1880 a number of years after the port was closed.

When steam navigation on the River Murray opened in the early 1850s an outlet to the sea for shipping needed to be established as the Murray Mouth was unsuitable for larger shipping to navigate. Horseshoe Bay was selected as the nearest suitable location to Goolwa, the lowest port on the river. Port Elliot was proclaimed in August 1851; a railway was needed to connect these. Work commenced on the railway between Goolwa and Port Elliot in 1851, and large store sheds were built at each end of the line.

The first cargo was moved along the line in December 1853 and the railway was completed on 18 May 1854. A breakwater was built in 1852 to protect the jetty and the shipping in the bay, but was damaged by a storm several years later. A number of ships were wrecked or damaged in the bay and in 1864 the port facilities were moved to Victor Harbor.

Subjects
Period : 1852-1883
Place : Port Elliot
Region : Fleurieu Peninsula
Further reading :
Tolley, J. C. South coast story: a history of Goolwa, Port Elliot, Middleton and the Murray mouth Port Elliot, S. Aust.: District Council of Port Elliot, 1968
Thompson, Malcolm H. Rails and the river: a history of the southern railway system and the River Murray shipping, 1854-1885 Goolwa, SA: Alexandrina Council, 2004
Exhibitions and events :

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


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