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Port River (34°45′S 138°30′E) is a river that runs through Port Adelaide, a part of the capital of South Australia, Adelaide. The River separates the Le Fevre Peninsula, Adelaide’s suburbs and Torrens Island, and is the sea entrance to the port facilities of Adelaide. The Port River does not flow from any significant source but is largely a tidal inlet from Gulf Saint Vincent. It drains the constructed saltwater lakes of the West Lakes district in the western suburbs of Adelaide and connects to the Barker Inlet via the north arm and angas inlet which surround Garden Island.

The banks of the river are largely industrialised and have most of Adelaide’s wharves, bulk cargo and container handling facilities although there are some remanent mangroves. One of its main attractions other than transport is the Port River dolphins, who are the only wild dolphins in the world that live within a city. ^[1]

Contents 1 Modern uses 2 Environment 3 Settlement history 3.1 Ships graveyard 4 References

Apart from ship transport using the river’s main channel, a fishing fleet operates out of the north arm which also has a speed boat club and boating marina. The Australian Submarine Corporation has it’s maintenance facility and dock at Osborne, there is a Quarantine Station on Torrens island and Torrens Island, Pelican Point and Osborne power stations adjacent to the river. The Port Adelaide Rowing Club has rowed out of its shed at Snowdens Beach for well over one hundred years, and the river was formerly a frequent venue for the Intervarsity eights race.

There are some mangroves (avicennia marina var resinifera) remaining from the pre-settlement forests along torrens island, the north arm of the river and north of the Submarnine Corporation near ‘’mutton cove’’. Spring tides are over 2½ metres and at low tide mudflats are exposed near the outlet of the river, forming a breeding ground for blue swimmer crabs and other species. A 118km² Dolphin sanctuary^[2] was enacted by the 2005 Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act^[3] and covers all of the Barker Inlet and Port River. Bottlenose dolphins are often seen in the river, examine and follow small boats and have become a well known tourist attraction with dolphin cruises departing from Queens Wharf.

Prior to the 1836 settlement of South Australia, the river was a shallow and narrow tidal creek winding between mangrove swamps. The river was officially discovered in 1834 by Captain John Jones after an 1831 sighting by Captain Collet Barker. ^[4] The initial landing place in Adelaide was some way north of the current port and had such poor conditions that for many years it was known as Port Misery.^[5] In 1837 a harbour was declared when harbourmaster Captain Thomas Lipson took up residence on the shore of the then named port creek with the first migrants landing in the same year and Mclaren wharf built in 1839.^[6] The current port location was opened in 1840 but, due to the shallow depth of the river, a new harbor was authorised for construction at Outer Harbour in 1902 and completed in 1908.^[5] This new harbour allowed the larger steamships that were then arriving at Adelaide to dock, with smaller steam vessels and sailboats able to use the old port facilities.

The river was first bridged in 1859 opening the Lefeve Peninsula to development and now is crossed by 3 road bridges including the Birkenhead bridge, the first bascule moving bridge in Australia.

The North Arm contains a significant ships graveyard with 25 identified wrecks and was also used to house explosives stores from the 1880s. ^[7] The remains of the iron and wooden ships that were abandoned between 1909 and 1945 are now bird roosts and a canoeing attraction. ^[8][5] The ships in the graveyard were launched from 1857 to 1920 and include United States built oregon pine sailing ships, steamships and unnamed iron barges.^[5]