Port Lincoln is said to have more millionaires per capita than anywhere in Australia. The story of how that happened begins with a single, prized fish.
The richest small town in Australia
For a remote town at the bottom of a peninsula, Port Lincoln has an outsized reputation: it is regularly described as having more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country. The source of that wealth swims in the cold waters of the Great Australian Bight — the southern bluefin tuna.
From wild catch to sea cages
For decades the tuna were caught wild and canned. The transformation came in the 1990s, when local operators pioneered tuna ranching: young fish are caught, towed back to sea cages in sheltered waters and fattened for the premium Japanese sashimi market, where a single prized bluefin can sell for an astonishing sum.
Built by migrant families
The industry was built largely by Italian, Croatian and Greek fishing families who settled here in the postwar years, and their names still adorn the boats moored at Lincoln Cove Marina. Their gamble — on a fish, a method and a town at the edge of the map — paid off spectacularly.
The legacy today
That wealth shaped Port Lincoln, from the marina mansions to the festivals. Each January the town throws Tunarama in celebration, complete with the famous tuna-tossing competition — a slightly tongue-in-cheek tribute to the fish that made its fortune.
