This photograph shows a distant view of a fleet of grain ships at Ardrossan jetty, South Australia in about 1919. This jetty was built in 1877 and extended several years later. When BHP Billiton built a jetty two kilometres to the south of this one in 1951 and which incorporated bulk loading facilities for dolomite and grain, the old jetty became the town's fishing jetty.

Ardrossan was proclaimed in 1873, and in addition to its grain exports was noted for the development and manufacture of the stump jump plough which was also exported. As Ardrossan was never connected to the state's rail network, its port facilities were vital to the development of the town and the nearby region. The building of the bulk handling and storage facilities at Ardrossan were the first in the state and would ultimately lead to the demise of other smaller ports on Yorke Peninsula.