2010s

Image: sculpture of standing man in nineteenth century costume

Matthew Flinders Memorial

A statue to honour Matthew Flinders, the first explorer to circumnavigate Australia, was a long time coming in Adelaide

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1790s, 1800-1810, 1840s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1930s

Methodist Church

Several of the brands of Methodism introduced to colonial South Australia merged in 1977 to become the Uniting Church.

Historical Organisation | By Arnold D Hunt | Hindley Street | 1830s, 1840s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: zoom on blue and purple mural of rhinoceros' face, positioned on a brick wall

Mike Maka Mural

Mike Maka’s mural features a tired rhinocerous carrying the city of Adelaide on its back.

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

Image: Narisha Cash's Ngadlu Padninthi Kamanka mural (2017)

Ngadlu Padninthi Kamangka (We Walk Together) mural

Narisha Cash's mural acknowledges and celebrates the Kaurna people as the traditional owners and custodians of Adelaide and the Adelaide plains.

Historical Thing | By Catherine Barron, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 2010s, Aboriginal Country pre-contact, early twenty–first century

Image: steel quadrangle-shaped sculpture with rounded edges and a geometric hole in the middle

Owen Broughton Sculpture

This Owen Broughton work won the 1976 Rundle Mall sculpture contest alongside Bert Flugelman's Mall's Balls and John Dowie's Girl on a Slide.

Historical Thing | By Hannah Stewart, History Trust of South Australia | 1970s, 1980s, 2000-2010

Crumpled bronze bag on plinth with grass and plants nearby

Paper Bag

Michelle Nikou's bronze sculpture stands in almost comic contrast with the plinths that populate North Terrace further west.

Historical Thing | By Catherine Barron, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 2010s, early twenty–first century

Image: a long, narrow tourist boat with a canvas roof is moored at a concrete dock with a metal railing.

Popeye

'Popeye the Sailor' was a popular cartoon at the cinema in the 1930s when Gordon Watts introduced a tourist pleasure craft on the River Torrens

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | River Torrens | 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010

Presbyterian Church

The Presbyterian Church has a long history in South Australia, owing much to the early Scotish community.

Historical Organisation | By John Love | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010, 2010s

Image: protesters on King William Street

Radicalism has been inherent in South Australian history from its founding as a free settlement. Based upon the English radical liberal thought of its founders, the State's reputation grew as a progressive colony and the first to entirely separate church from state.

Historical Subject | By Brendan Moran | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s

Refugees

In general refugees have enriched and diversified South Australia’s religions, universities and schools, food, the arts, newspapers, clubs and sports.

Historical Subject | By Kate Walsh | 1830s, 1840s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Robert Burns Memorial

One of many around the world, this statue of Scottish poet Robert Burns was unveiled in 1894

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1880s, 1890s, 1930s, 1940s, 1990s

Image: bronze statue of smiling man leaning back with hands in pockets

Roy Rene Statue

The life size sculpture of Roy 'Mo' Rene on Hindley Street invites intimacy with his casual pose and expression of comic amusement.

Historical Thing | By Catherine Manning, History Trust of South Australia | Hindley Street | 2010s

Schools' Patriotic Fund

The Children's Patriotic Fund and Schools' Patriotic Fund were repsonsible for aiding the war effort on the homefront during the First and Second World War, respectively. They achieved this by mobilising school children across South Australia to contribute in any way they could towards the war effort.

Historical Organisation | By Jack Evans, History Trust of South Australia | 1910s, 1940s, First World War, Second World War

Blue background with yellow green and blue blow and dashed lines spiraling across the blue.

Serbians in South Australia

Serbians migrated to South Australia from the 1940s - 1990s to escape various forms of prosecution and have since established a wide community.

Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1990s, early twentieth century, Second World War

Image: sculpture of man on donkey carrying another man

Simpson and his Donkey

The iconic figure of of 'Simpson and his Donkey' looks over War Memorial Drive from the Angas Garden.

Historical Thing | By Catherine Manning, History Trust of South Australia | Parklands | 2010s

Bronze bust of Douglas Mawson by Adelaide sculptor John Dowie, 1981

Sir Douglas Mawson bust

The spirit of Antarctic explorer and professor of geology, Sir Douglas Mawson, is captured in the bust by John Dowie

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1880s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1980s

Sir Lawrence Bragg bust

The bust of Sir Lawrence Bragg commemorates a South Australian Nobel Laureate

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1970s, 2000-2010, 2010s

Sir Mark Oliphant bust

The bust of Sir Mark Oliphant on North Terrace honours an eminent scientist and the state’s first South Australian-born governor.

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1900-1910, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Second World War

Sir Mellis Napier bust

The bronze bust of Sir Mellis Napier, sculpted by eminent South Australian artist John Dowie, commemorates his distinguished community service, including to the law and legal profession in South Australia

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1880s, 1890s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s

Slovenians in South Australia

The first Slovenians arrived in South Australia in 1946. They emigrated as Displaced Persons from camps in Italy, Austria and Germany after Marshal Tito established a communist government in Yugoslavia in 1945.

Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1940s, early twenty–first century, mid twentieth century

South Australian Land Commission

Acquiring and developing land holdings in a coordinated way assists in orderly expansion and growth

Historical Organisation | By Judith Jeffery | 1970s, 1980s

Spheres

Balancing and still among the bustle of Rundle Mall, Spheres is among Adelaide's favourite public artworks

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Rundle Mall | 1970s

The Eternal Question

Word artist Richard Tipping prompts us to consider big ideas in his sculpture ‘The Eternal Question’

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Northwest corner | 1940s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010

The Second World War

This major international conflict officially began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 3 September 1939. It lasted for six years, gradually increasing in scope and intensity as it blazed through Europe into Africa and Asia and on into Pacific Asia and the Americas.

Historical Subject | By Carol Fort | 1930s, 1940s