Outer Harbor is a north-western industrial outer suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, located at the northern tip of the Lefevre Peninsula; administratively, it lies in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, 22 km from the Adelaide city centre. It is adjacent to Osborne, North Haven and Pelican Point. It is bounded to the south by Oliver Rogers and Victoria Roads, and in every other direction by Gulf St Vincent and the Port River.
Outer Harbor is essentially an industrial suburb, consisting mainly of shipping and transport related infrastructure.
Population
At the 2006 census 3 people, all female, were recorded as residing in Outer Harbor.
Transport
The primary form of public transport in Outer Harbor is the Outer Harbor railway line which connects the area to the centre of the City of Adelaide. The terminus of this line is the Outer Harbor station, situated next to the North Haven Golf Course and Overseas Passenger Terminal.
Until the 1970s Outer Harbor was a relatively isolated locality, separated from Largs Bay and Taperoo by several kilometres of sparsely occupied sand dunes and scrub. Apart from the railway, only a single loop road gave access to the port. Sections of that road presently bear four different names: Lady Gowrie Drive, Lady Ruthven Drive, Oliver Rodgers Road, and Victoria Road. Since the 1930s a singular feature of this road has been that it is bordered by an impressive avenue of Norfolk Pines.
One bus route services the area, the 330, a loop service connecting with other bus services in neighbouring North Haven. Services are provided by Adelaide Metro.
History
Outer Harbor was established at the beginning of the 20th Century, due to the increasing size of ships and the length of time it took to sail up the Port River to the inner harbour of Port Adelaide. The first ship to dock there was the RMS Oruba. on 16 January 1908. The shipping channel leading to the Outer Harbor was dredged to a depth of 14.2m to accommodate Panamax-sized ships with the work being completed in February 2006.
The Outer Harbor passenger terminal services an increasing number of cruise liners visiting Adelaide, with 27 arrivals in the 2012 cruise season.
The Outer Harbor Post Office opened on 9 May 1910 and closed in 1973.
Much of the extreme northern end of Lefevre Peninsula leading to Outer Harbor remained sand dunes until a housing and marina development named North Haven commenced in the 1970s. As a result, the entire peninsula is now merged into a single conurbation.
Politics
Outer Harbor is part of the state electoral district of Port Adelaide, which has been held since 2012 by Labor MP Susan Close. In federal politics, the suburb is part of the division of Port Adelaide, and has been represented by Labor MP Mark Butler since 2007. As there are no polling stations in the suburb, results shown here are from those in North Haven.
Both the state and federal seats of Port Adelaide, and their various incarnations in the past, have always been very safe Labor seats. The Liberal Party has never polled more than 40% of the primary vote, and Labor always wins these seats on first preferences.
Infrastructure and facilities
ASC Pty Ltd, (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation), is located near Outer Harbor, as is a freight railway line delivering goods to and from the shipping terminals. It is also the location of the #6 container berth, the Overseas Passenger Terminal, and the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron.
Other
Some light general aviation aircraft preparing to land at Parafield Airport pass over or near Outer Harbor.