The area now known as Port Adelaide was traditionally inhabited by the Kaurna people, who also occupied the Adelaide Plains, the Barossa Valley, the western side of the Fleurieu Peninsula, and northwards past Snowtown. The Kaurna people called the Port Adelaide area Yartapuulti, and the estuarine area Yertabulti, which means ‘land of sleep or death’. Port Adelaide was founded by European settlers January 6th, 1837, although it was originally known by the title Port Creek Settlement. Shipping began one month after foundation although at that time it was unsuitable for large ships who had to instead land at Holdfast Bay until the port was chartered.

The Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary is one of the gems of met­ro­pol­i­tan Ade­laide. Locat­ed only 20 min­utes from Ade­laide, this marine park is home to around 30 res­i­dent bot­tlenose dol­phins, with anoth­er 400 tran­sient dol­phins that vis­it at var­i­ous times. These wild dol­phins come here to feed, play, socialize and nurse their calves. Inside the Sanc­tu­ary you will find a 10,000 year-old man­grove for­est, as well as sea­grass, salt­marsh, tidal flats and tidal creeks, which all pro­vide habi­tat and food for the dol­phins. The Sanc­tu­ary is a part of South Aus­trali­a’s largest port, and has a num­ber of Abo­rig­i­nal and Euro­pean cul­tur­al and his­tor­i­cal places of interest. The area is also a pop­u­lar bird watch­ing site and shares most of its north­ern coastal habi­tat with the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary.

The Clipper Ship City of Adelaide is the world's oldest clipper ship. Built in Sunderland, England, and launched on 7 May 1864. City of Adelaide was built by William Pile, Hay and Co. for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia. Between 1864 and 1887 the ship made 23 annual return voyages from London and Plymouth to Adelaide, South Australia. During this period she played an important part in the immigration of Australia. On the return voyages she carried passengers, wool, and copper from Adelaide and Port Augusta to London.

The Osborne Naval Shipyard is a multi-user facility at Osborne on the Lefevre Peninsula in South Australia. It was established in 1987 for the Australian Submarine Corporation, and the first products of the facility were the six Collins-Class submarines.