The Port River (officially known as the Port Adelaide River) is part of a tidal estuary located north of the Adelaide city centre in the Australian state of South Australia. It has been used as a shipping channel since the beginning of European settlement of South Australia in 1836, when Colonel Light selected the site to use as a port. Before colonisation, the Port River region and the estuary area were known as Yerta Bulti (or Yertabulti) by the Kaurna people, and used extensively as a source of food and plant materials to fashion artefacts used in daily life.
The Port River dolphins are a popular tourist attraction.
Geography
The Port River is the western branch of the largest tidal estuary on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent. The whole estuarine area, sometimes called the Port River estuary, includes Barker Inlet, Torrens Island, Garden Island, and to a greater or lesser extent touches the suburbs of St Kilda, Bolivar, Dry Creek, Port Adelaide, New Port, and (up the eastern flank of the Lefevre Peninsula), Taperoo, Osborne and Outer Harbor.
Sections of the river bank are variously developed for shipping, industrial and increasingly, residential use. The rich ecosystem of the river, which includes mangroves, seagrass, waterbirds, and abundant marine life, has been historically impacted by industrialisation and associated pollution. In the 21st century, reductions in pollution loads have allowed for environmental recovery aided by several restoration programs.
The estuary includes several overlapping protected areas, including the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary and the Gulf St Vincent Important Bird Area, a number of ships' graveyards and other places of heritage interest.
There are three road bridges and two railway bridges over the river. Its southern end abuts the West Lakes recreational body of water.
Naming
Before British colonisation of South Australia, the Kaurna people called the Port River region and estuary Yerta Bulti (also spelt Yertabulti meaning "land of sleep or death", while the Port Adelaide location was known as Yartapuulti.
History
Pre-colonial
Prior to the 1836 British colonisation of South Australia, the river was a shallow and narrow tidal creek winding between mangrove swamps.
The Kaurna people made use of the natural resources; for example, they used to trap and spear fish (kuya), lobsters (ngaultaltya) and birds (parriparu), and also gathered bird's eggs, black river mussels (kakirra, species Alathyria jacksoni), periwinkle (kulutunumi), river crawfish (kunggurla – probably common yabby), clams, native mud oysters and blue swimmer crabs.) were used for weaving baskets and nets – the latter used for not only fish, but game such as kangaroo and emu. Dolphins were known as yambo. The initial landing place in Adelaide, chosen by Colonel William Light in late November 1836, was south of the current port and is now part of West Lakes. and the port was opened at its current location (now Port Adelaide) in October 1840.
Course and features
Aerial view of the Port River estuary|thumb
Pleasure cruise, merchant ships and industry on the river|thumb
[[Torrens Island Power Station and transmission lines viewed from North Arm Creek|thumb]]
Before European settlement of Adelaide's western suburbs and the construction of various flood mitigation channels and levees, the Port River formed one of the outlets of the River Torrens. The Torrens used to flow north-west into the Port River, until sediment accumulated upstream built up, blocking the channels and forming a large area of marshland known as "the Reedbeds" across some of the present western suburbs. In 1937 a channel known as the Breakout Creek was constructed to take the Torrens westwards to the sea.
The Port River is the western branch of the largest tidal estuary on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent. It extends inland through the historic Inner Harbour of Port Adelaide, to the constructed salt-water West Lakes in the north-western suburbs of Adelaide. The lower reaches of the Port River flow between the Lefevre Peninsula, and the Section Banks and Torrens Island, and form the sea entrance to the port facilities of Adelaide.
Section Banks is artificial island made of seashell-grit, clay and sand, around long, created partly by natural processes but also by manmade construction, at the northern end of the Outer Harbor breakwater. It provides a nesting and breeding area for seabirds, and is known as Bird Island (or Northern Breakwater; see also below).
The Port River estuary connects to the Barker Inlet to the east via the North Arm to the south of Garden Island and Angas Inlet to its north. Light Passage lies between Pelican Point and Torrens Island.
Bridges
In 1878 the original Jervois Bridge opened, replacing the 1859 footbridge. It incorporated a swing bridge mechanism to allow ships to pass, but it fell into disrepair after the Birkenhead Bridge, which was the first bascule (moving) bridge in Australia, was opened in the 1940s. In 1966, the new Jervois Bridge opened, a steel bridge built a little way upstream of the original one. A railway bridge was constructed as part of the project.
Today the river is crossed by Mary MacKillop opening rail bridge, the Expressway bridge, the Birkenhead Bridge, the Jervois Bridge, and a railway bridge carrying the Outer Harbor railway line. Bower Road crosses the southern extremity of the river, with West Lakes on the other side.
Shipping and industrial use
The banks of the river are largely industrialised and have some of Adelaide's wharves, bulk cargo and container handling facilities. Large ship transport vessels use the river's main channel. Port Adelaide is a tidal port, with several shipping berths along the length of the estuary, from the western side of the Lefevre Peninsula, along Outer Harbor, Osborne, to its innermost berths at Inner Harbour.
The shipping channel has been dredged at various instances since the establishment of Port Adelaide to accommodate larger vessels. Dredging occurred most recently between June and September 2019. That dredging widened the basin and deepened the channel in order to accommodate Post-Panamax container ships and larger cruise ships to benefit the tourism industry.
ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation) has its construction and maintenance facility and dock at Osborne.
There is a heritage-listed former Quarantine Station on Torrens Island and a small timber jetty adjacent to it.
Torrens Island Power Station and the Pelican Point Power Station, draw seawater from the Port River for cooling purposes and return it at an elevated temperature.
The worst environmental disaster to occur in South Australian marine waters was the St Kilda salt fields brine spill, which killed of hectares of mangroves, samphires and other vegetation. As of 2022, elevated salinity levels in the estuary near the salt fields remain problematic.
Recreational use and attractions
There are some remnant mangroves in places along the estuary. One of its main attractions other than transport is the Port River dolphins, which are the only wild dolphins in the world that live within a city.
A fishing fleet operates out of the North Arm, which also has a speed boat club. Recreational boating marinas are located in the Angas Inlet and on the Lefevre Peninsula.
The Port Adelaide Rowing Club, established around 1877, and was situated at Inner Harbour until 1957, when it moved to Largs North. and the river was formerly a frequent venue for the Intervarsity eights race.
After water pollution levels were shown to have improved in December 2016, the annual "Long Swim" recommenced in the Inner Harbour, after a hiatus of some years. (See also History, above.)
Ships' graveyards
There are ships' graveyards at Angas Inlet and Broad Creek in the Barker Inlet.
Wreck of the Sunbeam in the Garden Island graveyard|thumb
Further up-river, with Ethelton on one side and Port Adelaide on the other, in a part of the river known as Port Creek, is the Jervois Basin Ships' Graveyard. Several wrecks lie in a "ship graveyard" between the Outer Harbor railway line bridge and the Jervois Bridge: the ketch Alert, barge Trafalgar, schooner Fides, the timber hulk Fitzjames (which was for some time a floating boys' reformatory, later relocated to Magill Reformatory), the Fish Market Pontoon, and the Unnamed Pontoon.
Tam O'Shanter Creek is on the Port Adelaide side of the river here, and further north on the Glanville side is Hawker Creek. The former iron barge, later paddleboat, known as Jupiter lies overgrown with mangroves towards the southern end of the park.
The North Arm contains another significant ships graveyard, now known as Garden Island Ships' Graveyard, which includes 25 identified wrecks. It was also used to house explosives stores from the 1880s. The remains of the iron and wooden ships that were abandoned between 1909 and 1945 are now bird roosts and a canoeing attraction. The ships in the graveyard were launched from 1856 to 1920 and include the Santiago and Dorothy H. Sterling, as well as other sailing ships, steamships and iron barges.
Spring tides are over , and at low tide, mudflats are exposed near the outlet of the river.
Since construction of the Breakout Creek outlet in 1937 to drain the Reedbeds (see above), The soda ash plant was a major ammonia pollution source.
Regular testing by the Environmental Protection Authority took place until 2008, after which only informal testing has occurred. In December 2016, SA Health testing showed very low counts of bacteria, enabling the annual "Long Swim" in the Inner Harbour to recommence after many decades of absence.), which had almost disappeared since European settlement. have expanded in recent years (to 2023). Near the outlet of the river, the mudflats are a breeding ground for blue swimmer crabs and other species.
The Hercules club mud whelk (Pyrazus ebeninus), which is most abundant in tropical or subtropical waters off Queensland and New South Wales, had not been detected in the Port River since the last ice age around 10,000 years ago. In 2023, recent sightings there were confirmed by researcher Brad Martin. Scientists surmise that they were seeded there by ballast water brought in by ships, and the razorfish and oyster beds provide a nursery for breeding. The Sydney cockle is another species which has only recently appeared in the Port River, resulting from warming temperatures.);
- Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve;
- St Kilda – Chapman Creek Aquatic Reserve; and
- Torrens Island Conservation Park.
The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary is a dolphin sanctuary which was enacted by the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act 2005, covering all of the Barker Inlet and the Port River. Bottlenose dolphins are often seen in the river, examining and following small boats and have become a well known tourist attraction with dolphin cruises departing from Queens Wharf. The industrialised nature of the Port River has led to concern for the welfare of the bottlenose dolphin population and studies have shown that some of the dolphins have very high heavy metal burdens in comparison to dolphins elsewhere.
Future environmental risks
Climate change is resulting in rising sea levels that threaten to cause erosion and further loss of the mudflats, salt-marsh and mangroves, exacerbated by land subsidence. The water level has been rising at around per year at Inner Harbour and at Outer Harbor. After the seawall at the Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve was breached by a huge storm in 2016, the area is now regularly flooded by the river. This will cause the samphires to die off and the mangroves to increase.