Port MacDonnell - Culture and History

Prior to European settlement the area was the home to the Bungandidj Aborigines who lived largely on the produce from the sea. Like Mount Gambier, which is only 28 km inland, Port MacDonnell was first sighted by a European when Lieutenant James Grant, sailing the HMS Lady Nelson down the coast on 3 December 1800, observed the coastline. It was at this time that he named Cape Northumberland and Mount Gambier.

Like many places in South Australia the name, MacDonnell, comes from Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell who was the Governor of South Australia from 1855-1862. The town was officially became a port on 4 April 1860. For the next twenty years, servicing the local district, it gained a reputation as one of the state's busiest ports (second only to Port Adelaide) shipping the wheat and wool from the local area around the world. Clippers arrived to carry the wheat and wool to England. In the 1880s the port became so important that the jetty was extended so it reached 1700 feet into the harbour.

Port MacDonnell would be much more important today if it had become the major rail centre on the south-east coast but the rail went to Beachport and it declined. Today Port MacDonnell is famous for its lobsters. It has South Australia's largest lobster fishing fleet.