aquilareen
Semaphore customs house
Built 1883. Previously a series of huts formed the customs & boarding station. Pilots, customs, health, signal station workers & newspaper reporters were based at Semaphore, as, until Outer Harbor opened 1908, passengers & mail were taken off ships at Semaphore Anchorage before the ship sailed into Port River to unload cargo.
“When vessels in 1835 began regularly to use the Port River, the Semaphore naturally became the anchorage, the signal sation [sic], the pilot station, and the Customs or boarding station. Arrivals at the Semaphore were there granted pratique by the health officer, and other business was transacted.” [The Mail 24 Jul 1937]
“The Collector of Customs and Architect-in-Chief visited the Semaphore on Monday to, point out the site of the new Customs Station, which has been projected for several years, but only recently contracted for. It is situated near the corner of the jetty, on the northern side, in a commanding position eminently suitable for the purpose.” [Register 20 Jun 1882]
“The West-terrace flagstaff is in process of removal to the front of the Semaphore Boarding Station.” [Register 28 Nov 1882]
“Customs Boarding Stations.— For very many years the quarters of the boarding officers at the Semaphore have been a combination of boxes, something larger than ordinary packing-cases; but the increase in the traffic having shown the necessity for additional accommodation; a more imposing structure has been built. It consists of a two-story house of rubble-stone and cement dressings, with ornamental portico facing the sea, and a large public room on the ground floor suitable for office and examining counter. The remainder of the building comprises a suite of rooms for the Tide Surveyor, who will thus be better able to supervise the operations of the boarding officers.” [Evening Journal 21 Dec 1882]
“Semaphore Boarding Station. — This building is now so nearly approaching completion as to bud out in Venetian blinds and iron fencing. The flagstaff on the esplanade in front is in slow progress, and the works at the pier are making headway.” [Evening Journal 20 Jan 1883]
“The neighborhood of the Semaphore is to be further improved as soon as the new flagstaff is completed by the removal of the unsightly boxes which have so long done duty as a boarding station.” [Express & Telegraph 30 Jan 1883]
“It was reported from Cape Jervis that the Penola had passed, and a sharp look out was kept up at the Semaphore boarding-stations, so as to clear her speedily and allow her to steam over the bar by daylight. A vessel was sighted, and the boarding launch party signalled her in the customary way, but meeting with no response, returned to the station with the reflection that coals and bluelights had been burned, and time wasted to no purpose. It was subsequently ascertained that the vessel which was so independent of Customs authorities and the frantic signalling of the boarding-launch was the [steamer] Governor Musgrave, which had just returned with the Treasurer on board from a cruise in the south-east.” [Weekly Chronicle 17 Nov 1883]
“The Board resolved to publish for general information that:— 1. The official boarding station for customs purposes is extreme of Semaphore jetty. . . 2. No pilot shall take any vessel arriving off Port Adelaide further than the recognised or chosen place of anchorage until the Health Officer has given directions whether the said vessel shall perform quarantine or not. . . 3. For quarantine, purposes the recognised anchorage is the Semaphore anchorage.” [Register 19 Mar 1909]
“few would envy the pilots at the Semaphore boarding station, who have to carry out their responsible duties under all weather conditions. With the large number of vessels moving in or out of Port Adelaide on Thursday morning all the pilots available were afloat at an early hour. One of them had the duty of bringing a ship out of the inner harbor and transferring at the roadstead, navigating another to a berth at the Outer Harbor before breakfast.” [Port Adelaide News 19 Oct 1923]
“Semaphore shipping Centre For Nearly a Century. . . “The boarding work is now done solely from the Outer Harbor, and a launch is rarely seen at the jetties.” [The Mail 24 Jul 1937]
Semaphore customs house
Built 1883. Previously a series of huts formed the customs & boarding station. Pilots, customs, health, signal station workers & newspaper reporters were based at Semaphore, as, until Outer Harbor opened 1908, passengers & mail were taken off ships at Semaphore Anchorage before the ship sailed into Port River to unload cargo.
“When vessels in 1835 began regularly to use the Port River, the Semaphore naturally became the anchorage, the signal sation [sic], the pilot station, and the Customs or boarding station. Arrivals at the Semaphore were there granted pratique by the health officer, and other business was transacted.” [The Mail 24 Jul 1937]
“The Collector of Customs and Architect-in-Chief visited the Semaphore on Monday to, point out the site of the new Customs Station, which has been projected for several years, but only recently contracted for. It is situated near the corner of the jetty, on the northern side, in a commanding position eminently suitable for the purpose.” [Register 20 Jun 1882]
“The West-terrace flagstaff is in process of removal to the front of the Semaphore Boarding Station.” [Register 28 Nov 1882]
“Customs Boarding Stations.— For very many years the quarters of the boarding officers at the Semaphore have been a combination of boxes, something larger than ordinary packing-cases; but the increase in the traffic having shown the necessity for additional accommodation; a more imposing structure has been built. It consists of a two-story house of rubble-stone and cement dressings, with ornamental portico facing the sea, and a large public room on the ground floor suitable for office and examining counter. The remainder of the building comprises a suite of rooms for the Tide Surveyor, who will thus be better able to supervise the operations of the boarding officers.” [Evening Journal 21 Dec 1882]
“Semaphore Boarding Station. — This building is now so nearly approaching completion as to bud out in Venetian blinds and iron fencing. The flagstaff on the esplanade in front is in slow progress, and the works at the pier are making headway.” [Evening Journal 20 Jan 1883]
“The neighborhood of the Semaphore is to be further improved as soon as the new flagstaff is completed by the removal of the unsightly boxes which have so long done duty as a boarding station.” [Express & Telegraph 30 Jan 1883]
“It was reported from Cape Jervis that the Penola had passed, and a sharp look out was kept up at the Semaphore boarding-stations, so as to clear her speedily and allow her to steam over the bar by daylight. A vessel was sighted, and the boarding launch party signalled her in the customary way, but meeting with no response, returned to the station with the reflection that coals and bluelights had been burned, and time wasted to no purpose. It was subsequently ascertained that the vessel which was so independent of Customs authorities and the frantic signalling of the boarding-launch was the [steamer] Governor Musgrave, which had just returned with the Treasurer on board from a cruise in the south-east.” [Weekly Chronicle 17 Nov 1883]
“The Board resolved to publish for general information that:— 1. The official boarding station for customs purposes is extreme of Semaphore jetty. . . 2. No pilot shall take any vessel arriving off Port Adelaide further than the recognised or chosen place of anchorage until the Health Officer has given directions whether the said vessel shall perform quarantine or not. . . 3. For quarantine, purposes the recognised anchorage is the Semaphore anchorage.” [Register 19 Mar 1909]
“few would envy the pilots at the Semaphore boarding station, who have to carry out their responsible duties under all weather conditions. With the large number of vessels moving in or out of Port Adelaide on Thursday morning all the pilots available were afloat at an early hour. One of them had the duty of bringing a ship out of the inner harbor and transferring at the roadstead, navigating another to a berth at the Outer Harbor before breakfast.” [Port Adelaide News 19 Oct 1923]
“Semaphore shipping Centre For Nearly a Century. . . “The boarding work is now done solely from the Outer Harbor, and a launch is rarely seen at the jetties.” [The Mail 24 Jul 1937]