times when individual colonies collected customs duties, is typical of many heritage-listed places in Robe built of local limestone
Early history Robe is situated on the ancestral lands of the
Buandig and
Ngarrindjeri peoples. Europeans founded the town of Robe on 19 March 1846, ten years after the
Province of South Australia was established, as a seaport, administrative centre, and
township. Robe was named after the fourth
Governor of South Australia,
Major Frederick Robe,
"Robe Walk" During the Victorian
gold rushes after the discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851, the government of the
colony of Victoria introduced a landing
tax of £10 per person to deter Chinese immigrants more than the cost of their voyage. To bypass the tax, more than 16,000
Chinese people landed at Robe to walk overland for to the
goldfields, mainly at
Ballarat and
Bendigo. The walk became known as the "Robe Walk". •
Phaeton – 2 February 1857 •
Sultana – 27 April 1857 •
Alma 15 December 1861 •
Livingstone – 16 December 1861 •
SS Admella – 6 August 1859 •
Koning Willem II – 30 June 1857, on Long Beach around east of Robe A stone
obelisk was built on Cape Dombey in 1852 to help ships navigate safely into the bay, and an automatic
lighthouse was built on higher ground in 1973.
Decline in economic importance Robe's importance decreased with the building of
railways in the 19th century to
Kingston and
Beachport, about respectively to its north and south. == Heritage listings ==