Heritage & History
Saints, shipwrecks & colonial ports
The best heritage & history in Robe
This is the country of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop, of grand colonial ports like Robe that once landed thousands of Chinese gold-seekers, and of lighthouses standing watch over a notorious shipwreck coast.
Few parts of South Australia wear their history as openly as the Limestone Coast. In Penola, the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre marks the spot where Australia's first saint co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph in 1866, while the Petticoat Lane precinct preserves the town's oldest cottages.
The coast tells a seafaring story of its own. Robe grew rich as a 19th-century port — its Customs House and clifftop Obelisk recall the days when thousands of Chinese miners landed here to walk to the Victorian goldfields. Lighthouses at Cape Banks and Cape Jaffa, and the deep human past recorded in the Naracoorte Caves, stretch the timeline back hundreds of thousands of years.
Most heritage sites cluster within walking distance in the historic town centres, making them easy to explore on foot. Interpretive centres and guided tours bring the stories to life, and many pair naturally with the region's wineries and coastal drives.
Browse heritage & history by area
5 places
Beacon Hill Lookout
$A coastal lookout above Robe crowned by an old navigation beacon, with sweeping views over Guichen Bay.
Robe
Historic seaside town
A beloved holiday town with a colonial port history, heritage main street, fresh crayfish and easy access to drive-on beaches.
Robe Customs House
An 1860s bluestone customs house on the Robe waterfront, now a museum of the town's busy port and goldfields history.
Robe Obelisk
FreeThe candy-striped landmark
Robe's iconic red-and-white striped obelisk, built in 1855 as a navigation marker on the cliffs of Cape Dombey.
Woakwine Cutting
A remarkable hand-dug drainage cutting between Robe and Beachport, an extraordinary one-man feat of 1950s engineering.