1. Adelaide Festival of the Arts

   This festival is widely recognised as one of the great international arts festivals, while its accompanying Writers’ Week is the largest literary event of its kind.

    

   Historical Event | By Lance Campbell | 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, 2000-2010

2. 

   Adelaide Hospital Row

   A long-running dispute over a senior nursing appointment culminated with a medical officers’ strike and the temporary loss of medical teaching at the Adelaide Hospital

   Historical Subject | By Donald Simpson | 1890s, 1900-1910

3. 

   Archives

   Archives in South Australia have grown and changed in the years since Professor Henderson's 1915 report to the South Australian government.

   Historical Subject | By Peter J Crush | North Terrace | early twentieth century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

4. 

   Armistice Day 1918

   Huge crowds gathered on the streets of Adelaide on 11 November 1918 to celebrate the armistice of the First World War.

   Historical Event | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | North Terrace | 1910s

5. 

   Beaches

   With their carnivals and regattas, bathing-beauty competitions, amusements, sea and sand, beaches were one of the key gathering places for South Australians from the 1870s to the 1950s. 

   Historical Subject | By Marie Boland | 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s

6. 

   Beef Riot

   In January 1931, during the Great Depression, more than 1000 unemployed men clashed with police in protest at the replacement of beef with mutton on their ration tickets

   Historical Event | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | North Terrace, Southwest corner | 1930s

7. 

   Centenary Celebrations 1936

   From sporting events to flower festivals and patriotic displays presented by thousands of children, South Australia's Centenary Celebrations emphasised the positive.

   Historical Event | By Margaret Anderson, History Trust of South Australia | 1930s

8. 

   Christmas Pageant

   One of the largest pageants in the world, come one, come all to Adelaide’s famous Christmas Pageant!

   Historical Event | By Anne Burrows | North Terrace | 1930s, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

9. Duncan Case

   George Ian Ogilvie Duncan, a lecturer in law at the University of Adelaide, drowned on 10 May after being thrown into the River Torrens. Rumours spread that officers from the vice squad engaged in ‘poofter bashing’ had killed Duncan.

   Historical Event | By Tim Reeves | River Torrens | 1970s, 1980s, 1990s

10. 

    Elder Family

    Elder Family of Scots merchants and ship owners saw the infant South Australia as an opportunity to expand their business interests. Alexander Lang Elder (1815–1885), the pioneer, arrived in 1839 and established a trading business. 

    Historical Subject | By Carol Fort | North Terrace | 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

11. 

    Federation

    Throughout the 1890s South Australia was at the forefront of the Federation movement that created the Commonwealth of Australia from six British colonies.

    Historical Event | By John Bannon | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

12. 

    Film

    In October 1896, within one year of the Lumière brothers’ first public screening of film in Paris, the first public film screening in South Australia occurred at the Theatre Royal in Hindley Street

    Historical Subject | By Dylan Walker | 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010, 2010s

13. 

    First aerial ascent

    American aeronaut Thomas Gale made South Australia’s first successful aerial ascent in June 1871

    Historical Event | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | North Terrace | 1870s

14. 

    Floods

    Paradoxically, the only parts of South Australia to experience occasional serious disruption of by flooding are the far distant sparsely populated deserts around Lake Eyre

    Historical Subject | By CR Twidale, University of Adelaide | River Torrens | 1840s, 1860s, 1870s, 1890s, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 2010s

15. 

    Flower Day

    Every year between 1938 and 1975 Adelaidians showed pride in their city by beautifying it with mass displays of flowers on National Flower Day.

    Historical Event | By John Davis | North Terrace | 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s

16. 

    Henley-on-Torrens Regatta

    In 1910 thousands of people lined the Torrens to see the carnival of lavishly decorated boats in the first Henley-on-Torrens Regatta

    Historical Event | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | Parklands, River Torrens | 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010, 2010s

17. 

    Higher education

    Higher education has expanded to provide a range of benefits to all.

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

18. 

    Hindley Street riot

    Violence and election irregularities marred the process when, in 1855, South Australians got their first chance to elect politicians drawn from, and responsible to, the people.

    Historical Event | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | Hindley Street | 1850s

19. 

    Improved sewerage system for Adelaide

    In 1881 Adelaide became the first Australian capital city to be connected to a water-borne sewerage system. 

    Historical Subject | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

20. 

    Islamic Festivals in 1890s Adelaide

    The Adelaide Mosque, the oldest in Australia, has been the centre of Islamic festivals since the 1890s

    Historical Event | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Southwest corner | 1890s

21. 

    Kaurna language (Kaurna warra)

    Kaurna, the original language of Adelaide and the Adelaide Plains, is once again being heard.

    Historical Subject | By Rob Amery | Aboriginal Country pre-contact, early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century

22. 

    Kaurna People

    The original people of the Adelaide Plains are still here - and once again speaking the Kaurna language.

    Historical Subject | By Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien & Mandy Paul | Aboriginal Country pre-contact, early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

23. 

    Kindergartens

    Based on the philosophy and understanding of child development of the German educator and philosopher Friedrich Froebel, kindergartens in South Australia began for both educational and humanitarian reasons.

    Historical Subject | By Dr Helen Jones | early twentieth century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

24. Magazines

    The first South Australian magazine to focus on local content was the South Australian Magazine, first published in 1841. Other magazines published during the nineteenth century include: Illustrated Adelaide Post, Pictorial Australian, Observer Miscellany, Adelaide Punch, Lantern, and Quiz.South Australian magazines published in the twentieth century include: Pheonix, Chapbook, and Angry Penguins. ‘Street press’, free newsprint magazines, began appearing in the last decades of the twentieth century with such titles as dB and Rip It Up . 

    Historical Subject | By Anthony Laube | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century

25. 

    Marriage and divorce

    Marriage and divorce rates have fluctuated according to social mores and legislative imposts. 

    Historical Subject | By Margaret Allen | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

26. 

    Philanthropy

    ‘South Australia’, wrote the early twentieth-century author of The Cyclopedia of South Australia, ‘owes its existence to a movement which had its origins in philanthropy’. 

    Historical Subject | By Rob Linn | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

27. 

    Prisons

    Although South Australia was proclaimed a free settlement, colonial officials soon found they needed a gaol to house lawbreakers. 

    Historical Subject | By Patricia Sumerling | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

28. 

    Proud Parade

    Adelaide’s very first Gay Pride March took place on Saturday 15 September 1973. 

    Historical Event | By Will Sergeant | Central Market, River Torrens, Rundle Mall, Rundle Street east | 1970s

29. 

    Responsible Government

    South Australia gained a radical, and democratic, Constitution on 24 October 1856.

    Historical Subject | By Craig Middleton, Centre of Democracy | North Terrace | 1850s

30. 

    Royal Adelaide Show

    The Royal Adelaide Show has become the annual meeting place for country and city. 

    Historical Event | By Rob Linn | early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

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