City of Port Lincoln

The City of Port Lincoln is a local government area located on the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It consists of one suburb - Port Lincoln. It is surrounded on land by the District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula, which also has offices in Port Lincoln.HistoryThe area was discovered and mapped by Matthew Flinders in 1802, who named the body of water Port Lincoln after his home county of Lincolnshire in England.The first white settlers in the area arrived in 1839, travelling from Port Adelaide on the Abeona. The settlement at Port Lincoln grew from 150 in the immediate aftermath of their arrival to 270 by 1840, and on 29 June 1839, Port Lincoln was designated as an official port for trade. The town experienced strong development, and by 1936 was regarded as "the principal seaport town of Eyre Peninsula, as well as being a "favourite holiday resort" with sea connections from Port Adelaide.The district first gained local government in 1880, when a district council was created for the Port Lincoln area, holding its first meeting in the Pier Hotel in July. It was variously referred to in period newspapers as either the "Port Lincoln" or "Lincoln" council, but the landmark District Councils Act 1887, which undertook a major reorganisation of South Australian local government, referred to it as the existing District Council of Lincoln.