Photos

Lipson Street was colonial Port Adelaide's financial centre. In the late 1800s four Victorian banks were located along the section between St Vincent and Divett Streets, with another (the Bank of Australasia) on the north-west corner of Lipson and Divett Streets. These former bank buildings have now been adapted for other uses and serve as dwellings or offices – the former Commercial Bank at No.119 (the yellow building pictured), for example, is the main office of the South Australian Maritime Museum.

Henry Weman was one of Port Adelaide's early sailmakers. He arrived in South Australia on the Challenger in April 1854, and opened a sailmaking and ships' chandler business in Lipson Street ten years later - This building is located on the left of the photo. The sailmakers shop and chandlery, built during the 1870s-1880s, is a unique early shop building and remarkably original. The shopfront, with 9-paned windows each side of a recessed doorway, is virtually unchanged from 1887.

Port Adelaide represents South Australia's first State Heritage Area. It is the historic maritime heart of South Australia and was one of the State's earliest settlements. The Port became the principal gateway to the colony for immigrants and supplies and developed rapidly as a shipping, transport and industrial hub. The many substantial government and commercial buildings that remain are evidence of the centre's prosperity and importance during the mid and late 1800s.