OLD WOOL & GRAIN STORE: Beachport on the Limestone Coast in the South East of South Australia

Tucked away behind the headland protecting Rivoli Bay on South Australia's Limestone Coast is the popular beachside resort of Beachport. Now a thriving Cray Fishing and summer tourist town . . . Beachport has a varied and fickle past . . . One of the best places to learn about that history is the Old Wool and Grain Store - now the National Trust Museum.

Built in the 1870s from local stone, the building was originally used to store grain and wool downstairs while the manager resided upstairs. Nowadays, as a museum, it gives an insight into the early days of Beachport and its inextricable links with water.

“Well Ted, what's the start of whaling in Beachport? Well whaling started in the 1830s with the Henty Brother from Portland and they came in here mainly to get fresh water”.

By 1835 Edward Henty and his brother James had established a settlement at Portland Bay in Victoria. As well as running sheep throughout the South East . . . they diversified their interests into whaling. Rivoli Bay was a convenient landing place for the whalers to replenish their supplies of fresh water. A whaling station followed which was later to become Beachport.

The Wool and Grain Store gives a great insight into how tough the whaler's life must have been.

“Well they had boats similar to the boat over yonder - like a whaleboat as they called them and they used hand harpoons - there they are there - and you've still got them? Yes. The originals? Yes. And they'd use them - throw them off the whale boat? With a rope attached and then . . . they'd take off of course - as the whale went and eventually it would run itself out. They'd hope it wouldn't go too deep - because they didn't have submarines.”

There are also examples of how the whalers passed the time in between whale hunts . . . like the intricate scrimshaws on whale teeth - which they probably sold to buy rum.

Large boilers, used to extract the valuable oil from the blubber are brutal reminders of why the whaling industry was so important to a fledging Colony.

“That was the whole sum and substance of the exercise was to get that oil which was sold back to England. In those days they were using oil lamps so they needed the oil, it was before petroleum oil so that was the clue”.

Like most whaling ports the fortunes of Beachport changed over time. By the 1870s it was booming in a different way. A railway connected the bustling port with Mount Gambier, Penola and the rest of the southeast. Grain and wool were passing through the port in huge volumes.

The town was officially surveyed in 1878 and grand plans were drawn up to turn Beachport into the major port serving the entire south east of Australia. It was destined to become bigger than the Port of Portland.

The mammoth jetty reached out 900 metres and carried railway tracks directly from the wool and grain store. The dreams of Beachport becoming a southeast land and sea transport hub were being realised.

But there was one problem . . . the harbour wasn't deep enough to take bigger ships. So new plans were drawn up to extend the jetty further and dredge a deep-water channel. A mission was sent to the southeast to assess the proposal - but in a mighty bureaucratic bungle, Beachport's Rivoli Bay was confused with Guichen Bay at nearby Robe. The recommendation was that a deep-sea port was NOT suitable - the expansion plans were scuttled.

These days Beachport remains a busy port - not for ketches and streamers bringing coal for the railway and taking away wool and grain . . . but for a modern fishing fleet . . . and the beginnings of today's multi-million dollar industry aren't forgotten.

“This is actually a crayfish port. Crayfish were originally caught, the men got together and formed the SAFCOL - the South Australian fishermen's co-op because they thought they weren't getting the right price from the dealers in Adelaide and Melbourne. R'so they banded together - so they banded together and formed SAFCOL//0.20 and this is where they started in Beachport."

This tells the story of some of them uh, some of the old craypots they used. Yes, well these craypots show the improvement that the fishermen made. They started off with the slat pot and went to the stick pots as they call them. Then to these with the plastic mouth and stainless steel wire and so on”.

The marvels of some of the other accomplishments of the limestone coast are also evident . . . Like the sheer hard work of clearing the land for soldier settlement after world war two. And as recently as the 1960s, the determination and engineering persistence to drain the swamps which covered much of the surrounding land - to make way for stock.

Ironically, it was that fresh water that attracted the whalers to the area in the first place.

The Limestone Coast has a range of attractions and places to stay - like the Hillview Caravan Park at nearby Millicent. It offers a range of accommodation styles and prices - all in a friendly family environment. The ideal base to explore the rest of the South East.

The Old Wool & Grain Store and National Trust Museum is in Railway Terrace, Beachport. It's open every day except Thursday - from 10am til 5pm. Phone: (08) 8735 8013. If you have any further questions email info@postcards-sa.com.au