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Adelaide: supplement to the Illustrated Sydney News; 'A Capital View of the City of Adelaide'.  Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: ZMP 00290472, Public Domain 

In July 1876, the Illustrated Sydney News published a special supplement that included an early aerial view of the City of Adelaide, the River Torrens and portion of North Adelaide from a point on Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide. Although the map is not drawn to scale, the detail and oblique drawing technique give a fascinating impression of what Adelaide was like in the 1870s.

Many of the roads leading in and out of the city were little more than tracks. Businesses were concentrated along King William Street north of Victoria Square. The city still contained patches of open space, especially south of Victoria square. The layout of the Botanic Gardens and attached Botanic Park were evident by 1876. Row cottages housing workers and their families were concentrated in the southern and western portions of the city. The mansions of the wealthy clustered in the east and across the River Torrens in North Adelaide.

Identify particular sites using the key below. 

Adelaide 1876 Key

By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia

Uploaded 10 December 2013

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