Photo by Tony Kearney

Significance of Place:

The Port of Adelaide was one of South Australia’s earliest settlements and is historically the major entry point for immigrants and supplies due to the State’s relative isolation with the first 100 years representing a period where almost everything that entered and left South Australia passed through the Port of Adelaide.  The various stages of development as a working port through the mid to late 1800s up to the present day are reflected in buildings, boats and objects that have no formal protection under the existing State Heritage Area, namely:

·        Searles’ boatyard and slips in an area that has built wooden boats since the 1840s.

·        The ‘Radio Shack,’ the only example of this type of building in Port Adelaide

·        The ‘Nelcebee’ that was for many years the oldest seagoing ship in Australia

·        The ‘Falie’ that is the last remaining ketch in the water in South Australia

·        The ‘Double Hook Level Luffing Electric Wharf Cranes 1 and 2 that are the last remaining examples of their type in Australia.

Description of Threat: 

The Port of Adelaide’s Maritime Heritage is at risk of losing essential physical elements of its history as a working port.  A residential redevelopment of 51 hectares of the former working waterfront in the Inner Harbour plans to save only three heritage (listed) structures, and with the majority of evidence that the Port was once a working port already destroyed or earmarked for destruction the remaining heritage values are at risk.  The recent re-aligning of heritage precinct boundaries and ongoing neglect exacerbates the effects of the redevelopment.  Of particular concern are important heritage sites such as the traditional boatyards and ‘Radio Shack,’ historic maritime vessels the Falie and Nelcebee, and equipment used by waterside workers such as the Double Hook Level Luffing Electric Wharf Cranes.

Action Required:

It is hoped that Searles’ boatyard and slips, the Radio Shack and the vessels the Falie and Nelcebee, and Cranes No. 1 and 2 be kept and conserved as visible reminders of the Port’s maritime heritage as a working port.  The State Government needs to embrace the social and historical reality of life in the port by offering these places, vessels and equipment formal heritage protection and a commitment of resources.