This engraving of Adelaide created by South Australian artist Thomas Peirce is the earliest known ‘bird’s eye’ view of the city. 

Zoom in to this aerial view of the City of Adelaide in 1876 for a wonderfully detailed, three dimensional picture of its buildings and surrounds. 

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.

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

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

Book Plan of South Adelaide. Courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B1578746 

Prior to the development of the suburbs of Adelaide, ‘South Adelaide’ was the name given to the city area bordered by North, South, East and West Terraces. ‘South Adelaide’ was distinguished from ‘North Adelaide’, located across the River Torrens. 

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

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

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.

Panorama of Adelaide, 1865. Photographer: Townsend Duryea. Courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B5099

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The Kingston Map of Adelaide of shows building development and the variety of construction just six years after colonial occupation of the site.

Light’s Plan of Adelaide as printed in 1840 gives the names of people who first bought land in the city and the title numbers of the town acres that they purchased.

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

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

The December 1836 proclamation at Holdfast Bay is South Australia’s best known historical event, despite it often being misunderstood

'A red letter day in the calendar of South Australia': welcoming home heroes

Crowds gathered on 22 April 1857 to watch Governor Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell open South Australia’s first fully elected parliament.

Before the poppy became the recognised flower for war memorials the violet, in South Australia, was the 'symbol of perpetual remembrance'.