Port Germein Travel Guide

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Even though Port Germein only has a permanent population of 200 people, there are two Hotels.
Both are historic, built in the 1880's.
The Pier Hotel was up for sale when I was there. This was once a famous local pub where sailors, local farmers and wharfies used to meet. It is claimed that one seaman was murdered in the pub during a brawl. At one time, it was the general store but it has recently been restored to its original hotel appearance.

The other old Hotel is the Port Germain Hotel, well worth a look at as it still is quite original.

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Port Germein is quite well known in South Australia because of its long jetty. It is believed to be either the longest or near longest in the southern hemisphere.

Be warned, it's a long walk there and back, 1532 metres one way to be exact! It is nice to stroll along though, and we have caught King George whiting from the jetty.

It was opened for business in 1881, only to be too short for the large sailing ships to berth and collect produce, so it was extended to 1680 metres in 1883.
Then it was used for the loading of grain onto sailing ships from all over the world. Bagged wheat came from the local area, the eastern side of the Southern Flinders Ranges via Port Germein Gorge and from the West coast in smaller boats. About 100,000 bags of wheat were loaded per year.

At the start of the jetty is the warehouse shed, quite unique and not many left around these days.
There's also the old lighthouse erected at the end of the jetty in 1894, replacing the Port Germein Lightship. It was moved to its present site in 1975. The clock-face tide gauge, which indicated the depth of water, was restored and relocated in 1989. It was originally near the entrance to the Port Pirie shipping channel.