Port Lincoln

Town on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, 664 km/413 mi west of Adelaide; population (1996) 11,700. Industries include cereal crops, sheep, fishing, agricultural services, and transport. Historic buildings include St Thomas's Anglican Church (1850) and the Courthouse (1862).

The town was named after Lincolnshire in England. Boston Bay, on which Port Lincoln is situated, was first sighted by a European, the explorer Matthew Flinders, in 1802. Port Lincoln was considered as a site for South Australia's capital, but was rejected because the harbour was judged unsafe. The area was settled in 1839, and became an important agricultural district. The first jetty was built at Port Lincoln in 1875 to export agricultural produce and support the growing fishing industry. The fishing industry expanded further after the establishment of a cannery in the 1950s.