Port Adelaide - Chad Cornes’ New Home: In the Adelaide Coast region of South Australia
Behind the Power surge to the top of the AFL table, there is more tradition than in the opening of parliament. They train on Alberton Oval, revered by old Magpie supporters and feared by the opposition. Wading into all this came young Chad Cornes, bearing a bit of history himself. He was a dyed-in-the-wool Glenelg boy, son of a Bay captain and former Crows coach, Graham.
He bursts games wide open for Port Adelaide, however, grabbing ‘speccies’ and kicking goals that have earned him a long contract. As a result, he has just moved into the district. How, then, can he acquire a sense of its rich character? I shared a Postcards tip with him…find locals who just love the place, and who’ve written a book! The timing was perfect, with a handsome ‘coffee-table’ edition just published by two fellow converts to the charms of the unique Port district. We met them on a sunny winter’s day at the outdoor tables of Lipson Café in the heritage precinct.
Christine Courtney is a Port recruit, with her Seawitch Antiques shop next door, in the heart of the old commercial area. Building a boat in an old Port shipyard, psychiatrist John Couper Smart fell in love with the area too - and the rest is history, which he wrote, with copious llustrations selected by Christine. The education of young Cornes was underway, starting right there in Lipson Street, named after the first Harbourmaster.
“This was the banking centre for the thriving Port”, explained Christine. “There were four banks along here, all in beautiful buildings like the one behind us. The old Commercial Bank is now the headquarters for the Maritime Museum”.
The 1850s Bondstores - now a treasure trove of our state’s shipping heritage - would have to wait, with Chad now armed with a handsome and encyclopaedic guide to the local landmarks. A quick browse, for instance, reveals that nearby Semaphore is steeped in the maritime beginnings of the region, with its name deriving from ship’s signals. Ask Chad, however, and he’ll tell you Semaphore means “beach of pain” to the Port Adelaide AFL squad. With their post-game Sunday morning recovery sessions involving waist-deep wading in the bracing briny, I asked Chad if was as bad as it looks.
“It’s worse”, he confessed.
“You’ll have to distract them with stories about the historic timeball tower”, I suggested, venturing the image of twenty or more sea captains waiting for the drop of the blackened ball down the pole at the top of the stone edifice. At 1.00pm precisely, an electric signal from the Adelaide Telegraph Office would release the ball, allowing the mariners to set the chronometers so vital in determining their exact position as they navigated their sailing ships back to Europe.
Not far away down Military Road, we located Glanville Hall, the grand home built by the legendary Captain John Hart, the whaler who helped Colonel Light find his way on the Adelaide Plain. He turned flour miller, and one of his major nineteenth century mills stands close to the Jervois Bridge, overlooking the old commercial wharves and shipbuilding yards that are now earmarked for transformation into waterside living that the old wharfies would have laughed off.
Captain Hart represented Port Adelaide in the young South Australian Parliament, becoming Premier three times over. His fine 14-roomed 1850s home with stone tower overlooked a very important side.
“So, if Glanville Hall was built on Buck’s Flat, then this has to be holy turf”, I surmised.
“It is hallowed ground”, agreed Chad Cornes who had just consulted the Port Adelaide history tome. ‘This is the site of Port’s first home game, when they played the Young Australians. Who got up?”
“Diplomacy suggested I shouldn’t mention that, but the report noted it was an unduly rough game”.
Apart from the Port Adelaide Football Club, the other big image immediately associated with the region has to be the lighthouse at Queen’s Wharf. Chad suggested, however, it has made more moves than Power Coach, Mark Williams. It started life as the Outer Harbour beacons until around 1900, when it moved to South Neptune Island off Port Lincoln. It was removed and refurbished in time to be erected at the end of Commercial Road for the State’s Jubilee 150 Celebrations in 1986. Open every day, it is now part of the Maritime Museum.
Past the rather sad but massive 1880s Customs House is the famous Black Diamond Corner intersection….and another Port Adelaide gem. Chad had done his homework on the 1860 landmark.
“This is a very important building”, he noted. “It was Police Station, Courthouse and Customs House all rolled into one”.
The attractively restored red brick building now houses the Port Adelaide Visitors Information Centre and Gallery. If you’re looking for heritage walks brochures, this is it. It’s where we learned about a pavement artwork out the front that stretches a long way, back to the original Kuarna people. Tauondi College staff developed the weaving pathway. Chad Cornes reminded us of how important the Aboriginal stars in the Power squad have been in taking them to the top of the ladder, and we agreed it was worth taking the time to get to know what the path’s images were all about.
Reaching the end of our introduction tour, Chad was keen to give the new Port Adelaide history a plug.
“I’ve learned so much”, he said. “I’m really looking forward to living here. Port Adelaide is such an important part of South Australia”.
“You had to say that didn’t you?” I chided.
“Yes, I did”, he grinned. “I’ve always been a Bay boy until now, but I really am looking forward to getting to know a lot more about my new home”.
If you want to join his quest for more Port Adelaide stories and images, the lavishly illustrated and presented book, “Tales from a Commodious Harbour” is available from the South Australian Maritime Museum at $80. All profits go to the cause.
South Australian Maritime Museum
126 Lipson Street
Port Adelaide, South Australia, 5015
Ph: (08) 8207 6255
