At Port Lincoln people gather on the wharf watching the arrival of SS Morialta. The Adelaide Steamship Company had ordered this ship which arrived in late 1912. It was to service the west coast of the state; boom years were anticipated for Eyre Peninsula.

Port Lincoln was described as the finest natural harbour in Australia by Matthew Flinders when he discovered it in 1802. In 1836 Colonel William Light had discounted it as the site for the principal town of the new colony of South Australia because it lacked adequate freshwater supplies. The first settlers arrived in March 1839 and in November of that year the first vessel to be built at Port Lincoln, the cutter Alice sailed to Adelaide, with three bales of wool and a load of fish. Port Lincoln was proclaimed a port on 27 June 1839 and in that year was visited by the British ship Recovery with a cargo of 1,600 sheep and some horses from Holdfast Bay.

In 1854 money was allocated by the South Australian government for digging wells and building a jetty which was completed in 1857 and was the first on Eyre Peninsula. It was extended several times before being replaced by other jetties. It still stands and is used as the recreational Town Jetty.

Additional facilities were built by BHP in Proper Bay in 1966 for transporting lime sand for its smelters. In 1969 Port Lincoln was designated the Eyre Peninsula Deep Sea Port and its faciltiies were enhanced to enable it to handle vessels up to 100,000 tons dead weight. Main commodities handled are grain, petroleum products and fertilizers. In addition live sheep and frozen fish are exported.