Beachport is a small coastal town 379 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, South Australia, located in the Wattle Range Council. Known for its 772 metres (2,533 ft) long jetty (the second longest in SA), Beachport is located on the northern end of Rivoli Bay. It has a large crayfish fishing fleet. The locality of Thornlea is wholly contained within Beachport.
History
Following the discovery and naming of Rivoli Bay in 1802 by French navigator Nicolas Baudin, a whaling station was established there in the 1830s. The whaling industry soon declined, to be followed in succeeding decades with European settlement of the hinterland by pastoralists. Whaling was then superseded by a booming wool export industry, leading to the necessity for a port. The town was named on 23 May 1878 for the then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn.
Beachport is also possibly the location of the first casualties of World War 2 on Australian soil. On 12 July 1941, a local fisherman discovered and towed to Beachport a German sea mine either laid by the raider Pinguin or the minelayer Passat. The following day, two Able Seamen, Thomas Todd and William Danswan, part of a three-man Rendering Mines Safe (REMS) team, were killed when a wave lifted the mine and caused it to explode on the beach while they were attempting to defuse it. A monument now stands in the town to honour them.
Transport
It was officially proclaimed a port on 21 November 1878. In the same year a lighthouse was erected close by on Penguin Island and a railway to Mount Gambier was completed. A wool and grain store was built in 1879, serviced by the railway, thereby providing a facility to link the export trade by rail and sea. The railway closed in 1956. The old wool and grain store has been preserved and today serves as a National Trust museum.
Environment
Popular recreational fishing spots include the Salmon Hole, jetty and 10 Mile Beach. Other attractions include the Salt Lake, Lake George and the rugged coastal views of the Scenic Drive. The nearby Beachport Conservation Park which includes 710 hectares (1,800 acres) of beaches, rocky headlands and boobialla scrub overlaps with the much larger Lake Hawdon System Important Bird Area. In the sandhills adjacent to Beachport is the Pool of Siloam, named in allusion to the Biblical Pool of Siloam. Said to be seven times saltier than the ocean, it is enjoyed by swimmers and has related amenities.