Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, UBD South Australia and Northern Territory Country Road Atlas, 6th Edition, 2005. Universal Publishers Pty Ltd. north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South Australia, and is currently the second most important and second busiest port in SA.
At the 2021 Census, Port Pirie had a population of 13,896. Port Pirie is the eighth most populous city in South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Gawler, Mount Barker, Whyalla, Murray Bridge and Port Lincoln.
The city's economy is dominated by one of the world's largest lead smelters,Port Pirie's lead smelter at risk of breaching licence to operate due to spike in lead levels ABC News, 8 November 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2019. operated by Nyrstar. It also produces refined silver, copper, acid, gold and various other by-products.
In 2014, the smelter underwent a $650 million upgrade, of which $291 million was underwritten by the state government to replace some of the old existing plant and to reduce airborne lead emissions drastically.Port Pirie smelter could reopen old high-polluting sinter plant after new infrastructure damaged ABC News, 13 August 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2021. Regardless of these upgrades, blood lead levels in young children continue to rise. In 2021 a report from the South Australian Health Department found an average blood level of 7.3 μg/dL in young children, compared to a finding of 5.3 μg/dL in 2014, and an upward trend of airborne lead levels.Port Pirie lead levels in two-year-olds hit 10-year high after Nyrstar's EPA licence breach ABC News, 22 February 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
History Prior to British settlement, the location that became Port Pirie was occupied by the Nukunu Aboriginal people, who called it Tarparrie, suspected to mean "Muddy Creek". The first European to see the location was Matthew Flinders in 1802, as he explored the Spencer Gulf by boat. The first land discovery of the location by a European was by the explorer Edward Eyre, who explored regions around Port Augusta. John Horrocks also discovered a pass through the Flinders Ranges to the coast, now named Horrocks Pass.
The town was originally called Samuel's Creek after the discovery of Muddy Creek by Samuel Germein. In 1846, Port Pirie Creek was named by Governor Robe after the , which, while transporting sheep from Bowman's Run near Crystal Brook, became the first vessel to navigate the creek. In 1848, Matthew Smith and Emanuel Solomon bought and subdivided it into the township to be known as Port Pirie. Little development occurred on site, and, by the late 1860s, there were only three woolsheds on the riverfront.Erik Eklund, Mining Towns: making a living, making a life, New South Publishing, Sydney, 2012, p. 137
The locality was surveyed as a government town in December 1871 by Charles Hope Harris. The thoroughfares and streets were named after the family of George Goyder, Surveyor General of South Australia. In 1873, the land of Solomon and Smith was re-surveyed and named Solomontown. On 28 September 1876, with a population of 947, Port Pirie was declared a municipality.
With the discovery of rich ore bearing silver, lead and zinc at Broken Hill in 1883, and the completion of a narrow gauge railway allowing transit from Port Pirie to the Broken Hill field in 1888, the economic activities of the town underwent profound change. In 1889, a lead smelter was built by the British Blocks company to treat the Broken Hill ore. BHP initially leased the smelter from British Blocks, but began constructing its own smelter from 1892. In 1913, the Russian consul-general Alexander Abaza reported that Port Pirie had a population of more than 500 Russians, mostly Ossetians, who had come to work at the smelter. At that time the town supported a Russian-language school and library.
In 1915, the smelter was taken over by Broken Hill Associated Smelters (BHAS) – a joint venture of companies operating in Broken Hill. Led by the Collins House Group, by 1934 BHAS became the biggest lead smelter in the world.Eklund, Mining Towns, pp. 137-138. The smelter gradually passed to Pasminco, then Zinifex, and since 2007 has been operated by Nyrstar.
By 1921, the town's population had grown to 9,801, living in 2,308 occupied dwellings, including 62 boarding houses to cater for the labour demands at both the smelter and the increasingly busy waterfront.Eklund, Mining Towns, pp. 143-144.
During World War II (1941–1943), a Bombing and Gunnery school (2BAGS) was established by the Royal Air Force at Port Pirie. 22 men lost their lives there during training exercises. It was re-designated the 3 Aerial Observers School (3AOS) in December 1943.
In August 1955, the purpose-built Port Pirie Uranium Treatment Complex, operated by the state government under a contract signed by the Commonwealth and SA Governments with the Combined Development Agency of the UK and US, began operations. It processed uranium ore, mostly from the Radium Hill mine east of the Flinders Ranges, and also from Myponga (Wild Dog Hill), south of Adelaide. Sulphuric acid leaching was used on the ore to dissolve the uranium, which eventually emerged as yellowcake after further processing. There were four thickening tanks, used to separated the uranium solids from the waste material, and the thickened solids were pumped into the tailings dams. The plant produced over 860 tonnes of yellowcake, which was sold to the governments of the UK and US. Radium Hill mine closed in December 1961, and with the expiry of the CDA contract at on 31 December 1961, the Port Pirie uranium treatment complex was closed in February 1962.
Heritage listings
The city is characterised by an attractive main street and some interesting and unusual historic buildings."Port Pirie", Travel section, smh.com.au, 17 February 2005. Retrieved on 28 June 2008. Heritage-listed sites include:
1 Alexander Street: Barrier Chambers Offices 32 Ellen Street: Adelaide Steamship Company Building 64–68 Ellen Street: Sampson's Butcher Shop 69–71 Ellen Street: Port Pirie Customs House 73–77 Ellen Street: Port Pirie (Ellen Street) railway station 79–81 Ellen Street: Port Pirie Post Office 85 Ellen Street: Development Board Building 94 Ellen Street: Sample Rooms, rear of Portside Tavern 134 Ellen Street: Family Hotel 32 Florence Street: Carn Brae 50–52 Florence Street: Waterside Workers' Federation Building 105 Gertrude Street: Good Samaritan Catholic Convent School Memorial Drive: Second World War Memorial Gates 5 Norman Street: AMP Society Building, Port Pirie
Demographics In the , the population of the Port Pirie urban area was 13,896. Approximately 51.0% of the population were female, 85.9% were Australian born, and 5.2% were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
Port Pirie has significant Italian and Greek communities.
In 2021, the most popular industries for employment were copper, silver, lead and zinc smelting and refining (11.0%), non-psychiatric hospitals (6.0%), residential aged care (4.3%), other social assistance services (4.2%) and supermarket and grocery stores (3.9%). The unemployment rate was 7.7%. The median weekly household income was A$1044 per week. 48.5% of the population identified with no religion, while 21.0% identified themselves as Catholic.
Geography Port Pirie is at an elevation of 4 metres above sea level. It is approximately inland, on the Pirie River, which is a tidal saltwater inlet from Spencer Gulf. It is on the coastal plain between Spencer Gulf to the west, and the Flinders Ranges to the east.
Climate Port Pirie has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh), with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, somewhat wetter winters. The town is above Goyder's Line, and is surrounded by mallee scrub. Maximum temperatures range from in January to in July, and minima from in February to in July. Annual rainfall is low, averaging , with a maximum in winter. There are 78.3 precipitation days, 125 clear days and 100 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 4 January 1979 to on 27 June 1958.
Transport Port Pirie is off the Augusta Highway. It is serviced by Port Pirie Airport, six kilometres south of the city.
Railways The first railway in Port Pirie opened in 1875 when the South Australian Railways gauge Port Pirie-Cockburn line opened to Gladstone, ultimately being extended to Broken Hill.Wilson, John, Port Pirie - The Narrow Gauge Era (1873–1935), Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, March 1970, pp. 49–62 The original Ellen Street station was located on the street with the track running down the middle.Bakewell, Guy and Wilson, John, Farewell to Ellen Street, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin September 1968, pp. 210–213 The station today is occupied by the Port Pirie National Trust Museum.Port Pirie National Trust Museum Explore South Australia
In 1937, it became a break-of-gauge station when the broad gauge Adelaide-Redhill line was extended to Port Pirie. At the same time the Commonwealth Railways standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway was extended south from Port Augusta to terminate at the new Port Pirie Junction station where it met the broad gauge line, in the suburb of Solomontown.Solomontown Railway Station Adelaide Advertiser 14 July 1937Port Pirie National Railway Museum
As far back as 1943, a plan existed to build a new station to remove trains from Ellen Street.Council Wants No Trains in Ellen Street The Recorder 31 March 1943 As part of the gauge conversion of the Port Pirie to Broken Hill line, Mary Elie Street station was built to replace both Ellen Street and Port Pirie Junction stations.The Planning & Evaluation of Rail Standardisation Projects in Australia GR Webb 1976
When opened, the new station was the meeting point for the Commonwealth Railways and South Australian Railways networks with through trains changing locomotives and crews, so the disadvantages were not as notable. However, after both became part of Australian National in July 1975 and trains began to operate in and out with the same locomotives, trains began to operate via Coonamia station on the outskirts of the city.
Mary Ellie Street station was eventually closed in the 1990s and in 2009 was redeveloped as the city's library. Until 2012, a GM class locomotive and three carriages were stabled at the platform.Port Pirie Marie Elie Street Display Western Langford Railway Photography
A freight line continues to operate into Port Pirie, feeding the metals plant with raw materials from Broken Hill, and transporting the processed material to Adelaide. This line is managed by Bowmans Rail.
Sea transport
Port Pirie's marine facilities, managed by Flinders Ports, handle up to 100 ship visits annually, up to Handymax size, for commodities such as mineral concentrates, refined lead and zinc, coal, grain, and general cargo.Access to Prime Infrastructure Port Pirie Regional Council. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
Bridge to nowhere
John Pirie Bridge, locally known as "the bridge to nowhere", was built in the 1970s to encourage development of industry on the other side of Port Pirie Creek. Construction cost $410,000 and lasted 26 weeks. It was officially named the John Pirie Bridge in 1980. The land across the bridge remains undeveloped.
Economy The main industries are the smelting of metals, and the operation of silos to hold grain.