Port Elliot Cliff Top Walk with Ron in the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia
Port Elliot has been one of South Australia's premier holiday destinations for well over a century. But the place has had a chequered past with the seemingly calm Horseshoe Bay having been the site of many maritime disasters.
According to local historian, Colin Sibly, one of the most notable now gives its name to the popular cafe and restaurant on the waterfront.
"When the Fying Fish took on a mixed cargo bound for the eastern states in December in 1860 she struck a storm," he said. "For three days she struggled on the rocks out in the middle of Horseshoe Bay.'
On the third day her moorings broke and she slammed into the rocks at Commodore Point. Things were looking grim until a local lad came to the rescue.
"Agen Dent made it out to the wreck." Explained Colin. "They brought a bigger line out and everyone was saved. He became an instant hero. When he went back to the shore after he'd saved all the people on the Flying Fish the captain said to him, 'Agen, you're a hero'. These days we'd call him a legend.
"The captain asked him if he'd like something. He looked back into the surf and there was a little piglet that had been washed up off the ship. He said sir would you mind if I take that home for my family?
"He did and a month later he got a bill from the insurance agent to say that he removed a piglet from the wreck of the flying fish. Can you believe it?"
Colin says for the early merchants, the wreck of the Flying Fish was the last straw.
"As a failed port it was a disaster. A total of seven ships were wrecked here. Four of them in 1856 alone. So it was an utter and total disaster of national proportions." Said Colin.
The breakwater from Freemen's Knob out towards Pullen Island is proof that the early merchants were keen to make a go of this as a sea port for produce shipped down the Murray by paddlesteamer to Goolwa. But the goldrush in Victoria lead to a labor shortage and the breakwater would go no further.
You can take in sweeping views of the Breakwater and Pullen Island from the Cliff Walk which starts near the SurfLife Saving Club and the old jetty. Today the jetty is a great place to drop a line but in its heyday the jetty was used to unload all sorts of cargo into the old Barn, which sadly was demolished in the 1890s. It harks back to a time when a horse drawn tram hauled goods and people from the bay to The Strand and the Port Elliot Hotel.
But the demise of this place as a seaport coincided with its rise as a holiday town.
"They booked the place out and they found that the sort of balmy zephyrs that came off the ocean here were so much more agreeable than the shimmering plains of Adelaide in mid summer." said Colin.
Over the years the Cliff Top walk has become a feature of Port Elliot with the late Keith Dodd and the Lions Club planting succulents around Freeman's Knob.
"The bluestone was the result of the paths which took the first tourists on their walks around the headlands to enjoy the cooling breezes. This was constructed in the 1930s and finished off by volunteers as late as 1949."
From here we take a quick detour to one of the hidden gems of Port Elliot - Lady Bay.
From the 1880s to the 1930s it was the ladies bathing beach. A collection of huts secured with bolts rammed into granite boulders served as women's changing rooms.
"In those days it wasn't seemly for the women to swim in the same bay as the men. That was certainly not permitted.
But despite all the precautions Port Elliot was embroiled in a topless bathing scandal - with a difference.
"The Governor of the time would have observed those people who were going around with their bathers rolled down to the waist. So there were editorials written about topless bathing and how unseemly it was in those times.
"Of course, it was the men who were bearing their torsos and were becoming, if you like. the speedo surf bathers that we would see in the 1950s."
The day we were out on Lady Bay there was not a swimmer to be seen apart from the breakwater's resident seal that was feasting on a school of mullet.
After your Cliff Top Walk why not drop into the old Registry in the Strand for a Devonshire tea? The cafe has an interesting selection of old photos of the port and town. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Port Elliot Cliff Top Walk
Starts near Surf Life Saving Club
Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot
