The Colonial Sugar Refinery's new wharf at Port Adelaide was made of reinforced concrete and was the first of its type in South Australia.

In 1891 Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) established its refinery at Glanville with a wharf on the Port River adjacent to the Jervois Bridge. By 1906 the company was considering building a new wharf and decided upon a reinforced concrete wharf. This would be built by the South Australian Reinforced Concrete Co and one plan at least was drawn up by John Monash (later Sir John Monash, engineer and soldier).

This wharf was finally completed in July 1909, the first of its type in South Australia. Made entirely of reinforced concrete but with wooden fenders added to reduce the impact on ships tying up to the wharf, it was considered particularly strong. Each pile weighed 6 tons, was 45 feet long and 48 inches square; the piles were driven 20 feet deep. At the same time the anchorage was deepened to 22 feet at low water.

Many wharves in Port Adelaide were privately owned prior to the resumption of all wharves by the government from 1916 and were generally known by the company name or by the type of vessel using the wharf. CSR's wharf as expected was known as the 'Sugar wharf'. The refinery was closed in 1991 and demolished two years later.

Colonial Sugar Refining Co. Ltd

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

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

South Australia. Royal Commission on Wharves and Water Frontages Report of the Royal Commission on Wharves and water frontages together with minutes of proceedings, evidence and appendices Adelaide: R.E.E. Rogers, Govt. Printer, 1911 South Australian Parliamentary Paper no. 59, 1911

John Monash: engineering enterprise prior to WW1. Reinforced concrete wharf, Port Adelaide, South Australia

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