Wallaroo port one of Australia's busiest in 19th Century, exporting South Australian copper and wheat in big loads
Sailing ships and steamers at the Wallaroo jetty, serviced by a narrow-guage rail line on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula,in the early 20th Century. When the local copper mining and smelting closed in the 1920s, Wallaroo was able to fall back on its other great export: wheat.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
Wallaroo on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula became one of Australia’s busiest port in the 19th Century from 1860 and remained viable with its deep water access through to the 21th Century.
As with other South Australian ports, Wallaroo began as a landing beach to export of wool from local pastoralists. A few years after the first wool shipment, copper was found at Wallaroo in 1859 and, shortly after, at nearby Moonta. A landing stage was built at Wallaroo to ship out the copper and, in 1861, the first jetty was constructed. Most copper was shipped to Newcastle in New South Wales and the return cargo was coal, mostly carried by the coastal ketches and barques of the Black Diamond Line, for the copper smelters.
The scope of Wallaroo exports had broadened from November 1861 when the Wallaroo's smelting works were constructed by the owners of the Wallaroo mine to process the ore from there and from the Moonta mine. The smelters began exporting ingots of a partially refined copper and later pure copper, as well as gold, silver and lead, were smelted on site. Wallaroo had a customs house built in 1862 when Australian colonies each operated their own check on exports/imports until federation in 1901.
The Wallaroo jetty was extended to 1,000 feet in 1864 for the increasing vessels trading through the port. Cargoes were not entirely copper (outwards) and coal (inwards). Small coasting vessels brought in explosives for the mines, timber for jetties and the mines, coal, potatoes and later superphosphate for the farms. Outwards goods included flour, wool and hides.
In 1874, Wallaroo proclaimed itself the second port of South Australia, beaten only by Port Adelaide, In 1880, another jetty was built, and extended again in 1902. This jetty accommodated the large sailing ships that, from the 1870s, had loaded between 29,000 and 30,000 bags of wheat at a time. Loading, and turnaround time, was quicker than nearby Port Victoria at Wallaroo with, long jetty and narrow gauge rail line.
Although a deep water port, Wallaroo had its dangers: most notably Tipara Reef. A lightship was moored over the reef before a permanent lighthouse in 1877. Navigation charts also had to deal with a magnetic disturbance in Spencer Gulf caused by large iron ore deposits on its western side at Iron Knob.
By the early 20th Century, steamers were increasingly active in Wallaroo port and Spencer Gulf. These carried copper ingots from the Wallaroo smelters to Port Adelaide for transshipment. Later the Adelaide Steamship Company's vessels Moonta and Morialta were prominent in South Australia's gulfs.
In the 1920s when the copper mines and smelters closed, Wallaroo fell back onto its other great export: wheat. Wheat continued to be shipped in bags from Wallaroo during the first half of the 20th Century. In 1917, for example, the large stacks of grain in the town had 2,500,000 bags.
Post World War II saw further expansion that ensured Wallaroo's future. Other important secondary industries were relocated to Spencer Gulf, including to Wallaroo, where fertiliser became a major export. Another jetty had been built in 1926 and, in 1958, the conveyor belt for bulk handling was added and the first block of grain silos was built on the shore. The size of the grain carriers increased dramatically. Dredging a channel allowed huge vessels to come into port.
In the 21st Century, Wallaroo still ranked among the seven major ports controlled by Flinders Ports. During 2005/06, 0.463 million tonnes of cargo was handled at Wallaroo.
In 2006, a new era for Wallaroo shipping opened when the passenger ferry linking Yorke and Eyre peninsulas began service. Operated by Sea SA, the ferry ran from Wallaroo to Lucky Bay (near Cowell) on Eyre Peninsula. It removed 350 kilometres from the road trip from Adelaide to the towns of the Eyre Peninsula.
