Plan of the town of Port Lincoln

Cadastral map of Port Lincoln and Happy Valley, South Australia, showing Kirton Bay, Kirton Point, Boston Bay and portion of Boston Island. The map was used to accompany a memo in 1905

Port Lincoln is one of the finest natural harbours in Australia and was favoured by Governor John Hindmarsh as the site for the capital of the new colony of South Australia, but because of the inadequate supplies of fresh water was discounted.

It was charted by Matthew Flinders in 1802 and in the years prior to the official settlement and proclamation of South Australia it was visited by sealers and whalers. Following settlement, in 1837 a whaling station was established in Sleaford Bay but the shore based station quickly became unprofitable and was abandoned in 1841.

The first settlers, numbering about 120, arrived in March 1839 and building began in an area called Happy Valley and at Kirton Point. Port Lincoln was proclaimed a port on 27 June 1839. Thirty stone houses had been built by 1840 and there were 3500 sheep and 120 cattle. Difficulties with the local Aboriginal people, the Parnkalla, led to stagnation in the population with only 128 people by 1842, but by 1846 population was again growing. The government built the first jetty in 1854 and more wells were sunk for water. With the jetty built a regular steamer service operated, connecting the town with Adelaide.

The District Council of Port Lincoln was formed in July 1880. It became a municipality in 1921 and was declared a city in 1971.

The building of bulk silos in 1959 and a deep water port in the early 1970s assured Port Lincoln's position as the leading town of the southern Eyre Peninsula. It is also the hub for the state's tuna industry.