Port Rickaby is a town on the
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...
coast of
Yorke Peninsula in
South Australia.
Port Rickaby is in the
Yorke Peninsula Council, the
state electoral district of Narungga and
federal
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Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
Division of Grey
The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who wa ...
.
History
In 1876 the port was established as a shipping place and named after Thomas Rickaby, an early pioneer from
Ireland. Thomas arrived in South Australia in 1858, joining the South Australian Mounted Police before resigning and settling on Yorke Peninsula, and was the first president of the Minlanton Agricultural Show.
The greater area served by the point is known as Koolywurtie, which has an Aboriginal translation of "Where rocks meet the sea".
In 1879 a jetty was constructed to a length of at a cost of £1,285. It was lengthened three times to a total length of in 1949.
The farmland served by the port was approximately . Bagged grain was brought in horse-drawn wagons, and later by motor truck to be weighed and stacked in large mouse-proof sheds and yards.
Much of the grain loaded into
ketches, such as the ''
Falie'', ''Waimana'', ''Coringle'' and ''Eva Lita'' was transferred into "
windjammers" with names such as the ''
Passat
The Volkswagen Passat is a series of large family cars manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and now in its eighth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Mago ...
'', ''
København
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
'' and ''
Pamir'' which were anchored off
Port Victoria. These ships then made the overseas voyage via Cape Horn to Europe. The last windjammer to leave Port Victoria was the ''Passat'', which departed on 2 June 1949. The last windjammer to visit Port Rickaby was the five masted ''Kobenhaven'' in 1924, carrying 65,000 bags of wheat (7,091 tonnes)
[Historical Marker/information sign in Port Rickaby]
The jetty was also used for the unloading of fencing materials, cement, stock, cornsacks, and all the necessary items needed for a new settlement.
In 1964 the government of the day shortened the jetty to save on repair costs.
Gallery
References
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Yorke Peninsula
Coastal towns in South Australia
Spencer Gulf