Robe is a town and

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

located in the

Limestone Coast The Limestone Coast is a name used since the early twenty-first century for a South Australian government region located in the south east of South Australia which immediately adjoins the continental coastline and the Victorian border. The ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

. The town's distinctive combination of historical buildings, ocean, fishing fleets, lakes and dense bush is widely appreciated. Robe lies on the southern shore of Guichen Bay, just off the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former alignments of the hi ...

. At the , Robe had a population of 998. Robe is the main town in the District Council of Robe

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

. It is in the state electorate of MacKillop and the federal

Division of Barker The Division of Barker is an Australian Electoral Division in the south-east of South Australia. The division was established on 2 October 1903, when South Australia's original single multi-member division was split into seven single-member div ...

History

Aboriginal use

European use

Robe, one of the oldest towns in South Australia, was founded by the colonial government as a seaport, administrative centre and village just ten years after the Province of South Australia was established. Robe was named after the fourth

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gen ...

, Major Frederick Robe, who chose the site as a port in 1845. The town was proclaimed as a port in 1847. It became South Australia's second-busiest (after

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

) international port in the 1850s. Robe's trade was drawn from a large hinterland that extended into western Victoria, and many roadside inns were built to cater for the bullock teamsters bringing down the wool, including the 'Bush Inn' still standing on the outskirts of Robe. Exports included horses and sheep skins and wool. The

Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

has been listed on the South Australian Heritage Register since 1980. A stone obelisk was built on Cape Dombey in 1852 to help ships navigate safely into the bay. Even so, there have been a number of shipwrecks along the coast in the area. An automatic

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

was built on higher ground in 1973. During the Victorian gold rushes around 1857, over 16,000 Chinese people landed at Robe to travel overland to the goldfields, as

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

introduced a landing tax of £10 per person (more than the cost of their voyage) to reduce the number of Chinese immigrants. The immigrants then walked the 200 miles (320 km) to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

and

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban populat ...

. Robe's importance decreased with the advent of

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

which did not come to the town. It became a local service centre for the surrounding rural areas. It is still home to a fleet of fishing boats. Especially important are the local

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

Heritage listings

Robe has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Burr Street: Robe Cemetery * Cape Dombey: Cape Dombey Obelisk * 1A Hagen Street: Robe House * 2 Hagen Street: The Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Chapel and Schoolroom * 7 Karatta Road: Karatta House * Main Road: Lakeside * Main Road: Lakeside Stables and Coach House * Main South Eastern Road: Richmond Park Homestead * Millicent Road: Bush Inn * 2 Mundy Terrace: Robe Post Office and Telegraph Station * Nora Creina Road: The Hermitage * Nora Creina Road: CSIRO Field Research Station * Nora Creina Road: Dingley Dell (dwelling) * Nora Creina Road:

Bellevue Homestead Bellevue Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead currently located in Coominya, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to . It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The Bellevue property was t ...

* Obelisk Road: Robe Gaol Ruins * Royal Circus: Royal Circus and Slipwall * 1 Royal Circus: Robe Customs House * Smillie Street: Robe Institute * Smillie Street: Criterion Hotel * 8 Smillie Street: Robe Courthouse, Police Station, Old Cells and Stables * 10 Smillie Street: Ormerod Cottages * 24 Smillie Street: Bank of South Australia Building * 26 Smillie Street: Campbell's Shop * 32 Smillie Street: Davison's Shop and Residence * 38 Smillie Street: Graymasts * 4-8 Sturt Street: Moorakyne House * 15 Sturt Street: Granny Banks' Cottage * 1 Victoria Street: Caledonian Inn * 5 Victoria Street: Wilson's Saddlery * 18 Victoria Street: Attic House

Environment

Climate

Robe experiences a

warm-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

( Köppen: ''Csb'', Trewartha: ''Csbl''), with warm, dry summers; mild, relatively dry springs and autumns; and mild winters with moderate precipitation.

References

External links

District Council of Robe
{{authority control Coastal towns in South Australia Limestone Coast Fishing communities in Australia