Victor Harbor, South Australia

On one of our days in Adelaide, we took a short 60 kilometre drive to Victor Harbor. It's a town with quite an interesting history, which all began at Encounter Bay. The bay that Victor Harbor sits on was first discovered by Matthew Finders in April 1802 while he was surveying the southern coast of Australia from the west. The most interesting part is he spotted French explorer Nicolas Baudin in Le Georgraphe near the Murray Mouth several kilometres away. The French and the English were at war during that time, both ships had documentation from each other's nation’s government stating they were not ships of war and were purely on scientific missions. The ships banked ashore and shared paperwork. From that day where they banked, it was named Encounter Bay by Matthew Flinders.

In 1837 Captain Richard Grozier anchored off Granite Island just across shallow waters of where the town is today. He named the isolated waters Victor Harbor, after his ship HMS Victor. Not long after, two whaling stations kicked off at Rosetta Head and Granite Island, putting South Australia on the map for whale oil exports. The town of Victor Harbor was laid out on the beach in 1863 after the horse drawn tram extended it’s services from Goolwa.

Hindmarsh Falls

​On the drive towards Victor Harbor, we pulled in for a look at the Hindmarsh falls. A short drive off the Hindmarsh - Tiers Road takes you to a hidden gem in the dry country. Dark green vegetation and running water make for a pleasant water fall. We made our way into Victor Harbor, parked up at the esplanade and went for a stroll around the town. Heritage listed buildings like the savings bank, telegraph office, cinema and railway stations aide you to imagine what the town was like back in those days. Its a tidy town and a breeze to walk around with its relaxed
atmosphere.

Granite Island

Horizon Figure 2009 by Greg Johns of SA

Blue Cylinder Revolution by Masayuki Sugiyama of Japan

Ocean Lace by Britt Mikkelsen of WA

We headed out for a walk across the bridge to Granite Island and were quite shocked to see the horse drawn cart still happening. This idea of transport worked great for back in times without electricity or internal combustion to transport granite and whale products. To be using this primitive idea now to move sloths across the bridge who couldn’t be bothered walking is completely impractical. The horse looks like it breaks it’s back towing the tram along the tracks, it wouldn’t be good to know how bad it was for them when they were dragging granite and other goods around. We walked around Granite island on the walking track. The leisurely stroll makes for splendid views across the waters of Victor Harbor back into the town. Some artworks on the way kept us entertained alongside some of the birdlife doing their daily routine. On the easterly side of the island was some more views out towards sea eventually bringing us back to the bridge. We also noticed a couple of penguin chirps on our walk, a colony used to beach on Granite Island, over the years the numbers have declined drastically to a growing New Zealand seal population and vandals. We finished off the day with a delicious sweet potato fritter from McLaren Vale and made our way back to Florence. We did enjoy parts of Victor Harbor, pleasant heritage buildings and a walkable island were certainly the highlights. A few of the tourist attractions seemed well past its prime, the penguin viewing area looked like it hasn’t been used for years and the Horse Drawn tram feels like Victor Harbor’s last tourism hope, which looked a little depressing. The easy going pace made for a relaxing day in Victor Harbor, not a bad place to visit, but not again.

Around Town