Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, 223 km (139 mi)[4] north of the state capital, Adelaide.

Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia.

[citation needed] The first European to see the location was Matthew Flinders in 1802, as he explored the Spencer Gulf by boat.

In 1848, Matthew Smith and Emanuel Solomon bought 85 acres (34 ha) and subdivided it as a township to be known as Port Pirie.

[11] With the discovery of rich ore bearing silver, lead and zinc at Broken Hill in 1883, and the completion of a narrow gauge railway from Port Pirie to close to the Broken Hill field in 1888, the economic activities of the town underwent profound change.

By this date, there were 62 boarding houses to cater for the labour demands at the smelter, and the increasingly busy waterfront.

[15] During World War II (1941-1943), a Bombing and Gunnery school (2BAGS) was established by the Royal Air Force at Port Pirie.

[18] Heritage-listed sites include: In the 2021 census, the population of the Port Pirie urban area was 13,896 people.

In 2021, the most popular industries for employment were copper, silver, lead and zinc smelting and refining (11.0%), non-psychiatric hospitals (6.0%), residential aged care (4.3%), other social assistance services (4.2%) and supermarket and grocery stores (3.9%).

It is approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) inland, on the Pirie River, which is a tidal saltwater inlet from Spencer Gulf.

Port Pirie has a semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh), with hot, dry summers and cool, somewhat wetter winters.

The owner since 2007, Nyrstar, is the city's main employer.,[7] and high blood lead levels in the local population are an ongoing concern.

[6] In 2006 Zinifex formed a joint venture with Umicore to create Nyrstar, which owns the smelter, with the intention that it would eventually be an entity separate from the parent companies.

[49][needs update] Nyrstar plans to progressively reduce lead in blood levels such that ultimately 95% of all children meet the national goal of 10 micrograms per decilitre.

[50] The Port Pirie smelter conducted a project to reduce lead levels in children to less than 10 micrograms per decilitre by the end of 2010.

[citation needed] A play by actress and playwright Elena Carapetis, The Gods of Strangers, set in Port Pirie, is based on the oral histories of Greek, Cypriot and Italian people who migrated to regional South Australia after World War II.

[62] The town's main newspaper, The Recorder, was first published 21 March 1885 as The Port Pirie Advocate and Areas News.

[63] The Recorder, which is still in print today (Tuesdays and Thursdays), has recently changed to a morning paper, after being delivered at around 3:00 pm.

[65] A further publication was the short-lived Saturday Times (6 December 1913 – 15 August 1914), printed by Roy Harold Butler and closed at the start of the Great War.

Port Pirie is part of the federal division of Grey, and has been represented by Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey since 2007.

The city is part of the state electoral district of Frome, which had been held since 1993 by former Liberal Premier, Rob Kerin, with a margin of 3.4%.

Although the region is generally Liberal-leaning because of its agricultural base, Port Pirie is an industrial centre that is favourable to the Australian Labor Party.

Port Pirie mayor Geoff Brock announced his candidacy as an independent, and subsequently took the seat from the Liberals at the 2009 Frome by-election.

[70][71] State Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith (Liberal Party) claimed victory, prematurely.