Things

Image: black words on a white surface as part of a poetry/art mural on a wall

'Street Art Poetry Project' Location 3

Mark Niehus' four-part series cemented his status as a prominent poet and artist in Adelaide.

Historical Thing | By Hannah Stewart, History Trust of South Australia | 2010s

Image: bronze sculpture of pad in an apron pocket

'The Apron' by Karen Genoff

The Minister for Housing & Urban Development commissionned this work by Karen Genoff, an Adelaide local.

Historical Thing | East Terrace | 1990s

Image: sculpture of black stone with water

14 Pieces

Recalling the ancient Ichthyosaur, this sculpture invites interaction

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 2000-2010

14 Pieces Fountain- South Australian Museum

14 Pieces is a sculpture fountain based on the opalised fossilised vertebrae of the Ichthyosaur in the South Australian Museum.

Historical Thing | By South Australian School for Vision Impaired (SASVI) | North Terrace | 2000-2010

Taking Caudle, (baby, midwifery), Richard Dagley caricature, 1821.

19th Century Childbirth

When men and women married in the 1830s they generally assumed that children would follow promptly and regularly.

Historical Subject | By Margaret Anderson, History Trust of South Australia | early nineteenth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

A Day Out

Pigs and people in Rundle Mall

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Rundle Mall | 1990s

Image: bronze sculpture of man and woman in uniform

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial

Australia’s first memorial to recognise the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was unveiled in Adelaide on 10 November 2013.

Historical Thing | By Mandy Paul, History Trust of South Australia | River Torrens | early twenty–first century

Image: flag with black top, red bottom and large yellow circle in the middle

Aboriginal flag

The Aboriginal flag flies high over its birthplace, Tarntanyangga/Victoria Square, a symbol of Aboriginal pride, rights and identity.

Historical Thing | By Mandy Paul, History Trust of South Australia | 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010, 2010s

Image: group of stone buildings in outback

Aboriginal Land Rights

The 1834 British statute authorising the establishment of the colony of South Australia described the region as ‘waste and unoccupied’, making no mention of the Indigenous owners of the land.

Historical Subject | By Robert Foster | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Aboriginal Policy and Administration

South Australia’s Foundation Act, passed by the British parliament in 1834, made no reference to the Aboriginal peoples who owned and occupied the land that was being annexed from the other side of the world.

Historical Subject | By Robert Foster | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: Group of men standing in front of corrugated iron building

Aboriginal Ration Depots

The distribution of government rations to Aboriginal people, begun in the earliest days of European settlement, continued well into the twentieth century.

Historical Subject | By Robert Foster | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Adelaide

The city of Adelaide refers here to the area within the outer boundary of the parklands; that is, the ‘square mile’ of the commercial centre, plus North Adelaide, the city’s first suburb.

Historical Place | By Peter Morton | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Adelaide City Council plaques

Adelaide City Council plaques promote the city’s heritage and some South Australian identities.

Historical Thing | By Bernard O'Neil, History Trust of South Australia | Hindley Street, North Terrace | 1980s, early twenty–first century

Alice

Who, or what, is following Alice in Rymill Park?

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Parklands | 1950s, 1960s

Image: head and shoulders portrait of a man with a beard

Tennant, Mr. Andrew

Andrew Tennant was the son of a Scottish shepherd who became a pastoralist and counted mining and the Adelaide Steamship Co. among his business investments.

Historical Person | By Dirk van Dissel | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

Image: head and shoulders portrait of a man with sideburns

Angas Family

George Fife Angas (1789–1879), described by his biographer Edwin Hodder, who was attracted to Angas’s nonconformist piety, as ‘one of the Fathers and Founders of South Australia’, helped shape South Australia’s institutions

Historical Subject | By Carol Fort | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

August Wilhelm Pelzer Plaque

A plaque to the 'City Gardener' is now obscured in a city garden

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 2000-2010

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a middle-aged man wearing a suit and wire-rimmed spectacles

Barr Smith Family

Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), the son of a Scottish clergyman and his wife Marjory, née Barr, migrated to Melbourne in 1854. Moving to Adelaide just as Thomas Elder’s brothers were leaving South Australia, he threw in his lot with Elder.

Historical Subject | By Carol Fort | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Babbage, Benjamin

Benjamin Herschel Babbage (1815–1878), an English engineer who superintended construction of the first Port Adelaide railway line, was employed by the South Australian Government in 1851 to search for gold. He led two official expeditions (1856 and 1858) that found no gold but surveyed the Flinders Ranges and Far North and established the extent of Lakes Eyre and Torrens.

Historical Person | By Carol Fort | early nineteenth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

Image: 3D sculpture of Kangaroo grass against black gridded wall

Bent Street Mural

Tony Rosella and Ash Rundle's environmentally and historically inspired artwork on the South Australian Police Building on Grenfell Street.

Historical Thing | By Hannah Stewart, History Trust of South Australia | 2010s

Bill's Fountain- State Library of South Australia

This fountain is a memorial to William Faulding Scammell, AO, CBE who was Chancellor of Adelaide University from 1991 to 1998.

Historical Thing | North Terrace | 2000-2010

West End Brewery fronting the south side of Hindley Street, Adelaide, 1925

Breweries and beer

How did Lion and Coopers come to be South Australia’s only major brewers of beer today?

Historical Subject | By Alison Painter | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: stone statue of man with hand up to shade his eyes while gazing out

Captain Charles Sturt Memorial

Leaning forward and shielding his eyes from the sun, this bronze figure of Sturt looks over Victoria Square, not the land he explored

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | 1830s, 1840s, 1900-1910, 1910s

Bronze sculpture, Catherine Helen Spence by Ieva Porcius, 1986

Catherine Helen Spence statue

The powerful sculpture of Catherine Helen Spence in Light Square, Adelaide celebrates the life and work of a formidable South Australian.

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Northwest corner | 1850s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1980s

Charles Cameron Kingston Memorial

A remarkable and feisty South Australian attorney-general and premier, a father of federation and the first Australian Minster for Trade and Customs is commemorated by this statue

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | 1850s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s

Childhood

The history of childhood in South Australia has been characterised by the assimilation policies practised by the state and the Christian churches throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and also changes in infant mortality, and the introduction of compulsory schooling.

Historical Subject | By Ian Davey | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century