Port Wakefield

History

The town was originally named Port Henry by William Hill. The name of the town was changed to Port Wakefield around 1849, after the Wakefield River. In 1848, the Patent Copper Company agreed to build and operate a smelter at Burra. Seeking to reduce cartage costs, a track was surveyed to its port, established at the mouth of the River Wakefield. By securing leases of the appropriate Crown Land, the company obtained a monopoly of the port. The Government declared the track the Great Western Road. A wharf was constructed along the bank of the river and cargo was transferred between the wharf and ships at anchor in the Gulf on lighters. With the opening of the railway from Adelaide to Gawler in 1857, the Copper Company's traffic came to a sudden end, leaving only pastoral produce to flow to the port. Mixed farming was established on lands opening up by the Government along the River in the mid-1860s, and this called for improvement in transport to the Port. William Hanson, Manager for Railways, selected a route for a horse-drawn tramway terminating at Hoyles Plains, later renamed Hoyleton. The enabling Act provided for a tramway of 28 miles 41 chains (45.9 km) in length to a gauge of 3 ft 6 in gauge railways|, the first line in South Australia built to that gauge. The Government agreed that the line should be operated by a private body. The successful tenderer was Paul Badcock who opened the line to traffic in January 1870. Horses were worked in three relays between the stations on the route. The choice of gauge was influenced by the argument that costs varied with the cube of the gauge. As this railway had its own port, it was not expected to link up with any broad gauge railways which avoided any break of gauge problems. Following a surrender of the lease,…

Most-observed species

• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  946
• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  765
• Pacific Gull

  Larus pacificus Latham, 1801 · Aves
  653
• Red-necked Stint

  Calidris ruficollis (Pallas, 1776) · Aves
  653
• Great Crested Tern

  Thalasseus bergii (M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  634
• Caspian Tern

  Hydroprogne caspia (Pallas, 1770) · Aves
  605
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  582
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  529

Most recent

• M 4.4 — 2020-05-14
  15 km WSW of Burra, Australia
• M 3.1 — 2008-12-04
  17 km ESE of Crystal Brook, Australia
• M 2.7 — 2007-08-03
  23 km SSE of Burra, Australia
• M 2.6 — 2004-08-02
  30 km N of Clare, Australia
• M 2.7 — 2004-08-02
  29 km N of Clare, Australia
• M 3.3 — 2004-05-23
  17 km NE of Nuriootpa, Australia