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Pioneers of Port JuliaPrint Page 
07-November-2019
Photographs supplied by Michael Kuilboer
The plaque commemorates the pioneers who established Port Julia.
Port Julia was first known as Curramulka Harbour, for it was used as a port by that nearby town. Recognised in the district as one of the finest harbours between Port Vincent and Pine Point, the first ketch to regularly dock there around 1878 belonged to Louis Wurm of Stansbury. He suggested calling it Port Julia, for his wife, and the name persisted.
Wurm built a store near the port from which he exported grain and sold necessities to the locals. Whilst nearby Port Vincent was already established and had its own jetty, many grain dealers preferred dealing with Wurm, and so the port became quite busy, trading wheat and barley between Yorke Peninsula farmers and Port Adelaide.
With trade on the increase the need for a jetty became apparent, so when an 1883 appeal for Government funding fell on deaf ears, enterprising local John Kerr decided to build his own. In 1905 maintenance of this jetty was transferred to the local council, a goods shed was built nearby and doubled as a community hall. Whilst not ideal, the jetty served the community and its merchants until a better one took its place in 1913.
The town started to boom when in the late 1920s Yorke Peninsula Barley Producers built stacking sheds there. Scores of ketches - up to eight at a time - could be seen in the bay. By the 1950s road and rail transport, and the bulk shipping of grain out of Wallaroo led to the decline of trade in Port Julia, and by 1972 it ceased trading as a port altogether.
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Port Julia was first known as Curramulka Harbour, for it was used as a port by that nearby town. Recognised in the district as one of the finest harbours between Port Vincent and Pine Point, the first ketch to regularly dock there around 1878 belonged to Louis Wurm of Stansbury. He suggested calling it Port Julia, for his wife, and the name persisted.
Wurm built a store near the port from which he exported grain and sold necessities to the locals. Whilst nearby Port Vincent was already established and had its own jetty, many grain dealers preferred dealing with Wurm, and so the port became quite busy, trading wheat and barley between Yorke Peninsula farmers and Port Adelaide.
With trade on the increase the need for a jetty became apparent, so when an 1883 appeal for Government funding fell on deaf ears, enterprising local John Kerr decided to build his own. In 1905 maintenance of this jetty was transferred to the local council, a goods shed was built nearby and doubled as a community hall. Whilst not ideal, the jetty served the community and its merchants until a better one took its place in 1913.
The town started to boom when in the late 1920s Yorke Peninsula Barley Producers built stacking sheds there. Scores of ketches - up to eight at a time - could be seen in the bay. By the 1950s road and rail transport, and the bulk shipping of grain out of Wallaroo led to the decline of trade in Port Julia, and by 1972 it ceased trading as a port altogether.
Location
| Address: | Jetty Road, Port Julia , 5575 |
|---|---|
| State: | SA |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -34.665038 Long: 137.878721 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Plaque |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | Landscape |
| Sub-Theme: | Settlement |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 28th September, 1986 |
|---|
Front Inscription
Source: MA150
To honour the pioneers of the area who created Port Julia, the Harbour Master, Grain Agents, Lumpers and Ketches who kept it active from 1878 to 1967.
Port Julia was officially closed as a harbour and redeveloped as a recreation reserve in 1973
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Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au
