Broughton was built at Port Adelaide in 1873 as a wooden single screw steamship for Captain Dale of Broughton. It was intended that the vessel would trade between Port Broughton and Port Pirie. It was built by J Lowen & Son of Port Adelaide and launched October 1873.

In November 1874 it was converted to a two masted schooner of 46 tons; later the vessel was ketch rigged and in 1915 an auxiliary engine was installed. The vessel had a number of owners and was well known in both the South Australian gulfs. In April 1932 she was sunk at Wallaroo but later raised and continued trading for several more years.

A number of small shipbuilding and repair yards were found in Port Adelaide, the majority being on the Birkenhead side of the Port River. Lowen is recorded as the builder of the ketch Active, a replica of which stands as a major exhibit at the South Australian Maritime Museum.

Ketches and schooners made up the mosquito fleet of coastal traders which were vital to the development of South Australia, carrying vital supplies and carrying out cargoes from the many small and otherwise isolated communities along the South Australian coast.

Bullers, Rick. Quality assured: shipbuilding in colonial South Australia and Tasmania [Bedford Park, S. Aust.]: Flinders University, Department of Archaeology, 2006

Gillespie, James, Captain. Traders under sail: the cutters, ketches and schooners of South Australia Largs Bay, S. Aust.: J. Gillespie, 1994

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