Port Lincoln, South Australia

Port Lincoln is a city in South Australia. It is a coastal city on Boston Bay at the southern end of the Eyre Peninsula. It is the largest city in the region. It is about 280 kilometres (straight line – 646 km by road) from the capital city Adelaide.

History
The first people to live in the area were the Barngarla (Parnkalla) people, who are Indigenous Australian people. The name they used to call this area was Galinyala.

European people settled in the area in 1836.

British Royal Navy explorer Matthew Flinders discovered the harbour in February 1802. He named it Port Lincoln rather than just Lincoln, where Flinders came from.

Fresh water 
Port Lincoln may have become the state capital of the future South Australia, but it did not have a good water supply.. Even as a small town, Port Lincoln could not get enough fresh water, which is now supplied mostly from the underground aquifers to the south of the city. Recently the water supply on the Eyre Peninsula has been connected to Murray River water through a link from Kimba to Whyalla to connect into the  Morgan to Whyalla pipeline water.

Demographics
About 14,245 people live in the Port Lincoln area as of 2006. Aboriginal people made up 5.4% of Port Lincoln's 2006 population.

Geography
Port Lincoln has different coastal areas, from sheltered waters and beaches, to surf beaches and rugged oceanic coastline.

Government
Port Lincoln and its suburbs comprise the City of Port Lincoln local government area. Port Lincoln is in the state electoral district of Flinders and the federal Division of Grey.

Economy
The economy is based on loading wheat onto ships. The port can handle over 337,500 tonnes) of wheat. There is also the canning and fish processing works, lambs, wool and beef, and tuna farming for the Japanese market. The port is home to a large commercial fishing fleet. There is also fish farming (aquaculture) of the following species: tuna, kingfish, abalone, mussels, oysters, and experimental farming in seahorses and spiny lobsters. Before the introduction of fish farming, the main fishing was for Southern bluefin tuna.

Port Lincoln is the end of an isolated  narrow gauge railway system to bring the wheat to port. Iron ore traffic may be added in the future, although this has been the topic of protest and debate in the community.

Tourism 
Tourism is becoming more important, thanks to the scenic beauty and coastal locality. Easy access to both Spencer Gulf and the Great Australian Bight make Port Lincoln a good place for yachting, scuba diving, shark cage diving and game fishing. The city also is the regional centre for government administration, corporate services and commerce to Eyre Peninsula. However, many State Government functions are gradually being closed as State Government becomes more centralised in Adelaide. During the past decade, there has been a big increase in building houses and commercial buildings.

Lincoln National Park, Coffin Bay National Park and Kellidie Bay Conservation Park are within easy driving distance.

Climate

Transport 
Port Lincoln is the port for the isolated narrow gauge () Eyre Peninsular Railway.

There is also a smaller port at Proper Bay which may be restored to use for iron ore traffic. The export of iron ore through Port Lincoln has been approved by the South Australian Government. (c. Oct 2009)

Port Lincoln Airport is located a few kilometers north of the city. Regional Express and Qantaslink provide several daily flights to the state capital of Adelaide.

Culture
The book Blue Fin by Colin Thiele was set in Port Lincoln. The movie of the same name was filmed in nearby Streaky Bay. Some of the shark scenes of Jaws and Anzac Cove scenes in Gallipoli, were also filmed near Port Lincoln. 

Australian Survivor, the Australian-produced series of the US television series, Survivor, was filmed at Whalers Way, south of Port Lincoln, in 2001.

Hearts Apart by Caitlin Jones was written on a farm in Port Lincoln.

Port Lincoln was visited in 1939 by English travel author Eric Newby, while he was crew in the four-masted barque Moshulu, which anchored off Boston Island. Moshulu had taken 82 days to sail to Port Lincoln from Belfast in ballast (a fast passage for a windjammer). But there was no grain to be had there, even though Moshulu waited at anchor for most of January. The crew was given shore leave in Port Lincoln, encountering large amounts of Australian wine. Moshulu finally sailed to Port Victoria for cargo.

During the 1939 season, Passat and Lawhill also went to Port Lincoln. Newby wrote about his round-trip from Ireland to South Australia in his book The Last Grain Race (1956). Several pictures of Port Lincoln in 1939 are in his photo-essay of his voyage, Learning the Ropes.

Media
Port Lincoln has two local commercial radio stations, 89.9 Magic FM and 765 AM 5CC. It is also served by ABC West Coast SA on 1485 AM. It also receives Triple J and ABC Radio National from Tumby Bay and satellite uplink from Melbourne respectively. ABC News Radio is available on 91.5FM. It also receives KIXFM 87.6.

Port Lincoln has one local newspaper, the Port Lincoln Times, a Rural Press publication. The Port Lincoln Times is published on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is printed in Murray Bridge at the high-tech Rural Press printing centre.

Free to air TV stations available in Port Lincoln are ABC, SBS, Southern Cross GTS/BKN (formerly Central Television) and Southern Cross Ten. Also available is Austar pay TV.

People from Port Lincoln

Olympic gold medal weightlifter Dean Lukin was a tuna fisherman who became famous as a weightlifter in the 1980s. He came back to run the family fishery business.

Many Australian Rules Football (AFL) players have come from Port Lincoln, including Graham Johncock, Peter Burgoyne, Shaun Burgoyne and Byron Pickett.

Tony Santic, the owner of Makybe Diva (the only horse to win the Melbourne Cup three times), is a tuna farmer in Port Lincoln. A life-sized bronze statue of the horse stands on the town's foreshore.

Australian Diamonds netball player Lauren Nourse began her career in Port Lincoln at age seven. In 2008 she was a member of the gold medal winning Australian side at the Auckland World Netball Championships.

References

Other websites 
 City of Port Lincoln
 Map 
 
 

Cities in South Australia