The circuit was created and owned by Stephen Tillett, driven by necessity after the South Australian state government banned motor racing on public roads. That ban would remain in force until 1985, when it was rescinded to permit the creation of the Adelaide Street Circuit for the Australian Grand Prix after that event joined the Formula One World Championship calendar.
Port Wakefield was a compact venue by the standards of its era. The layout measured 2.092 km and ran clockwise. Drivers began on the Repco Straight, followed by a right-hand kink and a sharp left-hand turn leading into the TyreSoles Hairpin, the slowest point on the circuit. From there a short southern run brought drivers to the right-hand Kallin corner, which fed onto the longest section of track, the 0.600 km Thompson Motors Straight. Dunlop corner and Stonyfell completed the lap back onto the Repco Straight, giving the circuit six named corners in total.
The circuit opened on 1 January 1953. The inaugural race produced one of the most dramatic moments in early Australian motorsport: Lex Davison, driving an Alfa Romeo, and Stan Jones, in a Maybach, staged a closely fought contest that ended when Davison suffered a tyre blow-out, rolled the car, and was thrown clear. Davison survived the accident and continued his career.
The circuit hosted the Australian Grand Prix in 1955 and again in 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1960 as part of the Australian Drivers' Championship. The 1955 edition was the defining event in the circuit's history. Jack Brabham won the race in a Cooper T40 Bristol, claiming his first AGP victory. The result carried broader significance: it was the first Australian Grand Prix won by a rear-engined car and the first Dakar Rally win for Brabham at the event. Brabham and Reg Hunt, the latter driving a Maserati A6GCM, shared the fastest lap of the race at 1:03.0.
When South Australia hosted the AGP again in 1961, Port Wakefield was considered inadequate for the event. The Mallala Race Circuit was built as its replacement, and part of Port Wakefield's existing infrastructure was incorporated into the new venue. With its primary competitive purpose transferred, the circuit fell rapidly into disuse. The final race meeting, organised by the Austin 7 Club of South Australia, took place on 14 May 1961.
The physical outline of the circuit remained visible from the air for decades after closure. Port Wakefield Circuit holds its place in Australian motorsport history as an improvised but consequential venue that gave the country's premier motor racing event a home during the 1950s, and as the circuit where Jack Brabham recorded the first of many Australian Grand Prix victories.