Port Adelaide - Port Road
The commencement of a road to the New Port is reported in the Southern
Australian,
29 May 1839 (supp.).
for the reminiscences of Francis Dutton see Register,
20 November 1911, page 6g.
"The Last Tollgate - How the Port Road Was Made" is in the Register,
10 January 1903, page 10a,
Observer,
17 January 1903, page 4c,
Register,
11 October 1909, page 4f,
16 January 1925, page 11d.
A description of a trip to Adelaide in a "Port Cart" is in Adelaide
Miscellany, pages 90-92.
The reminiscences of D.H. Weir are in the Observer,
30 April 1910, page 41d.
The trials and tribulations of a Port Road driver are recounted in the Observer,
13 January 1849, page 2b.
An interesting letter headed "The Port and the Port Road" is in the Register,
25 April 1849, page 2e,
Observer,
14 April 1849, page 2d,
Register,
3 July 1850.
A complaint about the condition of the road is in the South Australian,
10 July 1849, page 2d.
"Traffic Returns to Adelaide and the Port" is in the Adelaide Times,
8 November 1849, page 4a.
A complaint about traffic control is aired in the Register,
5 December 1849 (supp.), page 1d and a fine was suggested to be levied upon:
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All drays and vehicles running to and from the Port and to that gentry, bullock
and dray whips (who constantly take luncheon between the Port and Queen's
Town, where they regularly cause a halt to the no small inconvenience of
her Majesty's mail...) refuse to budge, but when solicited to move on, use
the most gross and abusive language...
An accident is reported in the Adelaide Times, 13 April 1850, page 3e:
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On Sunday evening a cart, full of men, women and children, was precipitated
into a "young well", three or four feet deep, and the whole cargo of human
beings were tumbled out head foremost.
"Man Traps" is in the Register,
8 November 1850, page 2c.
Some of the tribulations of "The Port Carrier" are discussed in the Register,
28 June 1854, page 3c,
Observer,
2 May 1868, page 9f.
A new omnibus is described in the Observer,
8 July 1854, page 3f.
Also see Port Adelaide - Transport
- Miscellany
"Repairs of the Port Road" is in the Observer,
2 August 1856, page 1g (supp.).
A public meeting called to discuss the poor condition of the road is reported
in the Register,
9 September 1857, page 3f,
Observer,
12 September 1857, page 4h (supp.).
A complaint is made in the Register,
3 May 1858, page 3d:
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The jibbing, pulling and tugging of the horses will go on; the splashing, dashing,
crashing and smashing of carts will abound; and such will be the effect on
said gullies that bye-and-bye the waters on either side will join and a boat
may be profitably employed in conveying foot-passengers, whilst several ferries
would pay handsomely from the traffic of butchers, grocers and the like,
who have to supply three of four thousand in Alberton and Queenstown with
the necessaries of life.
(Also see Register,
18 May 1858, page 3h,
2, 10 and 21 June 1858, pages 3e, 3d and 2g.)
"Port Road and the People" is in the Register,
5 April 1859, page 3b.
A public meeting called to "decide on the steps to be taken to keep it passable
through the winter" is reported in the Register,
10 May 1860, page 3d; also see
15 May 1860, page 3g,
29 June 1863, page 3e.
"How the Port Road was Made" is in the Register,
10 January 1903, page 10a; also see
21 November 1911, page 6g,
4 October 1913, page 19a.
Parliamentary Paper 64/1863 has a petition from residents complaining about the condition of the "centre-strip" of the Port Road:
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... When [it] was formed a strip of waste land was left unsold... extending
from Thebarton Bridge to Alberton [and] for several years [it] has become
a public nuisance... In summer, with only moderate winds... residents in
and about this property, are annoyed and injured by columns of dust... In
winter [it] is frequently converted into a dangerous bog...
"The Port Road" is in the Chronicle,
10 February 1866, page 1d (supp.),
"The Port Road and Port Carriers" in the Observer,
2 May 1868, page 9f,
"The Port Road and the Port Corporation" on
15 August 1868, page 5b,
"The Old Port Road" on
23 July 1870, page 6c,
Express,
23 July 1870, page 3d.
One traveller on the road offered the following humorous suggestion for the negotiation of the highway in winter:
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It is suggested in winter-time, when the now dust-filled holes ... are brimming
with water, a chart of the line showing shoals and mudbanks be furnished
to every driver, who should also be provided with lifebelts and a lead line
for taking soundings. No driver should be permitted to cruise... unless he
can exhibit a swimming certificate...
(See Register,
25 February 1873, page 5f,
25 July 1874, page 6d.)
Information on the Port Road is in the Observer,
8 March 1873, page 4a,
29 August 1874, page 12e.
"Port Road Conveyances" is in the Register,
10 March 1874, page 6e.
Also see Port Adelaide - Transport
- Miscellany
On 23 February 1875, page 5c a regular user of the road opines:
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... It would not be a bad plan if the Marine Board would lend the dredge to
remove some of those stony obstacles everywhere on the road. If something
of this kind is not done before winter sets in we shall want a signalman
to show us our courses up and down...
A few months later another disgruntled citizen proclaims:
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This beautiful sheet of water (with fowl on its surface) existing between Hindmarsh
and Bowden is now at its annual overflow, and may be viewed in all its grandeur
and magnificence. The late rainy profusion has so forced a chasm on its north-eastern
boundary that the rapids are gliding nimbly o'er.
(Register, 10 May 1875, page 6d.)
"Great Fight with a Cart on the Port Road" is in the Advertiser,
19 June 1875, page 3h.
On 23 January 1877 at page 5g the Register reported that "the Port Road in its relation to the Road Board always, to my mind, stands in a position of Oliver Twist ""asking for more""..." A poem follows which reads in part:
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A faithful servant in disgrace,
No voice is heard to plead my case;
Oppressed by undeserved neglect,
No saving help can I expect
From those who rule the roads;
I stand a relic of the past
To rack and ruin driving fast
Beneath hard, heavy loads.
"The dangerous practice of teamsters fastening their teams up at public houses
and allowing them to sprawl across the road" is recounted in the Register,
9 March 1877, page 4g; also see
4 April 1877, page 6c.
The Port Road is described in the Register,
17 March 1877, page 5b.
The road "is a disgrace to the colony" proclaims a correspondent to the Register,
15 and 20 June 1878, pages 7c and 7a:
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Only a day or two ago a poor milkman returning home with his pony and cart
was prevented (through the heavy jolting of his cart) from keeping his lamp
alight, for which offence he was brought before the police court and fined
ten shillings and costs, which was twice the poor man had earned that evening...
Every day you will find drays and trollies bogged at various stages on the
road...
(Also see Register,
20 June 1878, page 7a for details of a public meeting and
14 November 1878, page 5c.)
Should any of your correspondents suffer from an attack of bile and require
an amount of corporeal exercise of more than an ordinary nature in order
to eradicate same, you may with safety prescribe a journey to the Port by
road in any description of vehicle.
(Advertiser,
8 March 1878, page 7c; also see
14 March 1878, page 7b,
20 June 1878, page 6g.)
In the Register of 5 December 1883 (supp.), page 1f is a reference to a "number of pigs, geese, ducks, etc floundering about in many stagnant pools of water" on the road.
The reserve is discussed in the Observer,
29 July 1882, page 32b.
Tree plantations on the Port Road are described in the Register,
9 April 1885, page 5g; also see
Observer,
25 April 1885, page 11b.
Information on the Port Road reserves is in the Advertiser,
1 April 1912, page 8g,
A letter deploring the working conditions of drivers on the Port Road appears
in the Register,
21 April 1885, page 7d.
"The State of the Port Road" is in the Advertiser,
23 March 1888, page 7a.
"The Port Carriers" is in the Observer,
18 January 1890, page 32b.
Information on the Port Road Drivers' Association is in the Register,
22 and 24 February 1893, pages 7f and 7g.
"The Port Road - Conference of Councils" is in the Register,
25 August 1908, page 8i.
"The Port Road" is in the Register,
11 November 1909, page 7b.
"The Port Road - Steel Track Tried" is in the Register,
12 and 13 April 1910, pages 11a and 5e,
12 November 1910, page 12i; also see
Express,
3 and 24 April 1912, pages 2e and 4b.
It is still the same dusty old thoroughfare, a stretch of blinding white
fallow that links the metropolis to the chief sea port.
(Register,
11 February 1915, page 4d; also see
19 June 1915, page 9a.)
An article on the Port Road is in The Mail,
3 January 1914, page 19c.
"Muddle and Mud" is a derogatory heading of a discussion of the Port Road
in the Register,
2 September 1916, page 12a,
14 February 1917, page 9a.
A Fine Road - Woodblocking to Port Adelaide" on
17 November 1917, page 6h; also see
26 July 1923, page 8e,
2 July 1924, page 8f.
A proposal for a duplication of the Port road is reported on
15 June 1926, page 8e;
photographs are in the Observer,
30 October 1926, page 31.
A photograph of wood blocks ready to be sold as firewood is in the Chronicle,
8 February 1934, page 34.
"A Fearfully Bad Track"is in the Advertiser,
26 January 1914, page 10f.
"Gumeracha Wood Blocks [for the Port Road]" is in the Register,
26 October 1914, page 7a; also see
27 November 1914, page 8c.
"A Deplorable Condition" is in the Express,
5 September 1922, page 4g.
"Port Road Congestion" is in The News,
15 February 1924, page 1f,
"New Track Along Port Road" on
14 January 1926, page 11a.
A photograph of flooding is in the Chronicle,
15 November 1934, page 35.
"Revival of Project to Improve Port Road" is in The News,
28 September 1935, page 4d.
