Unidentified Sailing vessels at Port Germein jetty

Port Germein jetty was the longest jetty in South Australia and at one time the southern hemisphere. It was essential to build the long jetty in order to reach deep water for the large windjammers that called at the port to load wheat.

It was built in 1881, with a length at that time of 1,512 metres; extensions were sought almost immediately and by 1883 the jetty was 1,664 metres long, although there are several variant measurements. The depth at the far end of the jetty was 3.65 metres at low water spring tides.

Dredging was necessary on the east side of the jetty; after 1932 this was carried out by the district council when the Harbors Board refused to continue doing so. A lighthouse was built at the end of the jetty in 1894 but became inactive after 1917. It was relocated in 1975 to the entrance of the jetty.

Port Germein jetty was heavily visited during the period of the wheat harvest between 1881 to 1934. The jetty was long enough to accommodate the world's largest windjammer Kobenhaven, 393 feet long and able to load 58,000 bags of wheat. The last of the large windjammers called at the port in 1939: this was the Archibald Russell and the jetty was last used for shipping in 1947.

Storm damage since then has reduced the jetty's length to 1,284 metres. Today the jetty at Port Bonython, built in 1983, is the longest in the state at 2.4 kilometres, or 2,400 metres.

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