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 The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strai ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Port Rickaby is in the

Yorke Peninsula Council The Yorke Peninsula Council is a local government area in South Australia. Its boundaries include most of the Yorke Peninsula. The council seat is at Maitland; the council also maintains branch offices at Minlaton and Yorketown. History It ca ...

, the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

electoral district of Narungga Narungga is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It was created by the redistribution of 2016, and was contested for the first time at the 2018 South Australian sta ...

and

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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 Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. 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

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

es, such as the ''

Falie ''Falie'' is a ketch that traded for many years in Australian waters. Originally built in 1919/1920 as a speculation by her builder, rigged as a schooner and named ''Hollands Trouw'' after the shipyard where she was built, she was purchased by ...

'', ''Waimana'', ''Coringle'' and ''Eva Lita'' was transferred into "

windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...

s" 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 ...

'', ''

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'' and ''

Pamir Pamir may refer to: Geographical features * Pamir Mountains, a mountain range in Central Asia ** Pamir-Alay, a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, part of the Pamir Mountains *A pamir (valley) is a high plateau or valley surro ...

'' 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

{{authority control Yorke Peninsula Coastal towns in South Australia Spencer Gulf