As you wander around Port Adelaide and in particular the area around the National Maritime Museum you could be forgiven for asking yourself if the buildings have at some stage sunk into the ground as you see tops of windows jutting out just above the current street level. Continue reading “Have The Buildings Really Sunk?”
Located on Timpson Street just in from the Port River are two memorials to seafarers which were formerly located elsewhere in Port Adelaide – the older Merchant Navy Memorial and the more recent SS Admella Memorial – The Navigator. Continue reading “Seafarers’ Memorials”
Port Adelaide has, since the 1830s when Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of the Colony of South Australia and designer of Adelaide, decided that it and Adelaide should be distinct separate entities, always been a blue collar or working class area. The gentry resided in Adelaide. This division, by and large, remains to this day.
Outside socialist countries one rarely comes across grand or tasteful monuments or memorials to the working classes. It was thus somewhat of a surprise when I came across this memorial and determined that it was to the working man (and indeed woman). Continue reading “Workers Memorial”
I really hate it when I come across something of interest and am unable to find out any information about it. Continue reading “Does Anyone Know Mildred?”
Now the rather grand entrance arch for a municipal car park, this majestic structure was formally the bridge-keeper’s gantry on the 1875-1966 version of the Jevois Bridge, a bridge which bridged the swampy estuary between Port Adelaide and Semaphore on the Lefevre Peninsula – the point where overseas mail was by then being discharged. Continue reading “A Grand Entrance for a Car Park”
When I came across the object in the attached picture – an oversized traffic cone in the local football team’s (the Port Adelaide Magpies) colours of black and white – its general shape and demeanour
lead me to suspect that it was some form of traffic control device.
As Port Adelaide developed so too did traffic congestion. This was particularly so between the World Wars and post WWII. Continue reading “The Port’s Silent Cop”
Standing prominently at the end of Commercial Road by the Port River, and visible for quite some distance if you enter the Port via this road, is the Port Adelaide lighthouse which has now become an icon for the area.
The Port Adelaide lighthouse, prefabricated in England and shipped to Australia in pieces, was first lit on January 1st 1869 (though the first light was replaced in 1874 by a much stronger one) and originally stood at the entrance to the Port River where it replaced a former lightship – the Fitzjames. Continue reading “Port Adelaide Lighthouse”
If you have even a passing interest trains this is a must visit place. If you love trains well … what can I say … you’ll be in heaven.
Unlike a lot of “train museums” I have been to, this one is all about the trains – real trains. Continue reading “National Railway Museum – Train Leaving-All Aboard”
Getting to Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is approximately 15kms from Adelaide city centre.
Unless you are driving yourself – bus or train services are convenient and recommended. Bus and train services are run by Adelaide Metro. For fares etc please refer to my ‘Bus, Tram, Train – Tickets and Routes’ review. For maps and timetables http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/Timetables-Maps. Continue reading “Getting to and around Port Adelaide”
There is a saying – ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ and this certainly applies to me in terms of “the Port” as it referred to locally. For more than a decade now I have spent every Christmas within a couple of kilometres of Port Adelaide and visit it regularity – to such an extent that I became oblivious to its attractions. Many readers will be familiar with this condition.
On reflection, there is much to see and do here and I would certainly recommend a full day – spending the evening in nearby Semaphore, if time is tight. Indeed, if you visit Adelaide a visit to the Port is a must do – if only to visit the National Railway Museum which I rank as one of the best railway museums in the world – and yes, I am a railway buff! Continue reading “The Historic Maritime Heart of South Australia – Introduction”
The Rambling Wombat 