Largs Bay Jetty
Largs Pier Hotel
Semaphore Palais
Waterslide Complex
Carousel
Tourist Train
Semaphore Jetty
War Memorial Clock
Timeball Tower
Semaphore Hotels
Semaphore Library
Churches
Odeon Star Cinemas

The Largs Bay Jetty

Right-click here to save the podcast for this audio

The Largs Bay Jetty

We start our tour at the Largs Bay Jetty. Here are some things we would like to tell you about the history of the Largs Bay Jetty.

The Largs Bay Jetty and railway cost £60,000 originally to build. It started to be built on the 12 th of January 1882 and was opened on the 23 rd of December in 1882. The builders of the Largs Jetty were Baille, Davies and Wishardt. It was built by using timber.

The Largs Bay Jetty was built in competition with the Semaphore Jetty which was important for shipping and commerce. The Semaphore Jetty became less suitable for shipping because its construction had slowed down the tide movement and dropped sand, making it too shallow for large ships to come in. Then the Largs Bay Jetty was built but didn't last for very long as a port because the same thing happened.

The Honorable W. Everade opened the jetty and the Honorable W. Morgan gave a speech on the opening day. It was originally 640m long but got damaged in 1953 by a storm. The start of the jetty was 7.3m wide and the last 76m were 15m wide. It needed to be wide because the trains needed to get from one end to the other. In 1883 train tracks were put on the jetty. The railway line started at the end of the jetty and went onto Jetty Road and finished at Glanville Station. The railway part of the jetty was one of the quickest things to be built in Largs Bay .

After the jetty was damaged by the storm it got repaired in 1956 but it was only 137m long. Boats stopped at the deeper end of the jetty to deliver mail. The mail was put on the train and taken back to shore. A famous boat called the HMAS Protected was the only ship in the South Australian navy. In good weather the ship was moored to the Largs Bay Jetty but in bad weather it was moored at the Port River . This was an old ship built in 1883.

Should the jetty be built to its normal length? Here are some things to be considered:

Reasons for:

- Because boats can have a place to stop and passengers can eat.

- Because you could fish out in the deep with out sailing out there.

- It could be very popular and the people that saw it before the storm would and have lovely memories.

Reasons against:

-It could cost a lot of money to build.

-It could take up more space

-There could be a storm that could hit which could be a waste of money.

In conclusion we think that the Largs Bay Jetty should be rebuilt to its old state because it could be a place where many people could enjoy it and share a connection between the past and present.

Amber & Shaye