ROBE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
An historic port which today has become a popular holiday destination.
Location: 336 km south east of Adelaide on Guichen Bay.
Origin of name: named after Gov. Frederick Holt Robe who sailed into Guichen Bay in 1846 aboard the Government cutter, Lapwing in search of a site for the town. In 1846 it was surveyed by Thomas Burr. Governor Robe was one of South Australia's most unpopular governors. The bay had been named after Admiral De Guichen in 1802 by French explorer Nicholas Baudin as he sailed the South Australian coast.
Brief history: Guichen Bay became a popular entry point for new arrivals from Europe, particularly those seeking their fame and fortune on the Victorian goldfields and Robe became the third busiest port in South Australia after Port Adelaide and Port Macdonnell. In the late 1840s substantial numbers of Irish and Scottish immigrants reached the port. In 1857 the town gained widespread infamy when Chinese gold miners trying to avoid a £10 tax imposed at Victorian ports landed at Robe and walked to the Victorian goldfields. In that year some 20,000 Chinese miners landed at Robe so as to avoid paying the tax which was more than most had paid for their sea voyage to Australia. In the 1850s the area was providing the British Army in India with horses and the products of the local sheep industry - tallow, wool and hides - were being shipped to Europe in the boats which had brought the prospectors. Robe's importance as a port declined as the goldrush declined, after which it became established as a fishing port. A major swamp clearing project began in 1863 that turned previously useless marshy ground into rich wheat and barley farmland by the creation of an elaborate and deep drainage system. There are 1450 km of drains and 500 bridges in the area.
Natural features: Southern Ocean; Baudin Rocks Conservation Park (8 km north); Guichen Bay Conservation Park (8 km north); Little Dip Conservation Park (3 km south); Lake Fellmongery (fellmongery means woolwash); Cape Dombey; Doorway Rock; Little Dip Conservation Park (4 km south); Reedy Creek Conservation Park; Long Beach (17 km-long); Hawden Lakes North and South; Lake Eliza; Lake St Clair.
Built features: Cape Dombey lighthouse; Narraburra Woolshed; Koenig Cannon; Chinese Monument; Monument to Matthew Flinders; Drainage system; (constructed in stages since 1862 to the completion of major works in 1969, incorporating Lake Fox, Lake Nunan, Lake Battye, Lake Ling).
Heritage features: Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church (1859); Moorakyne House (1856); Karatta House (1860); Old Gaol ruins (1861); Court House (1855); The Bush Inn, Robetown (built 1852, licensed 1855); Historic Interpretative Centre; The Lodge and The Old Cottage (1850); Caledonian Inn (1859); Robe Hotel; former Telegraph Station and Post Office (1858); former Customs House (1863) and Signal Cannon; 'Grey Masts' Woolstore (1853); The Ormerond Cottages (former Barracks, c.1863); Obelisk on Cape Dombey (originally built to help shipping); 'Lakeside' and Stables (c.1881); Nora Creina Historic Reserve (Aboriginal middens)