Adelaide and suburbs

'Afghan' jacket

The jacket was given to Mr Frederick Budge of Farina, South Australia, by a Muslim (‘Afghan’) trader he knew who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, at some time in the 1890s.

Collection Item | Southwest corner | 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

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

apron

The apron was worn by Joan Mallen when she worked at the Cheer Up Hut on the banks of the Torrens, near the present Festival Theatre, during the Second World War.

Collection Item | Parklands | 1940s

Conversion of police ordnance building to Archives Department

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

Bottle

Bottle of herbal lotion sold by Mahomet Allum.

Collection Item | 1940s, 1950s

Image: silver cup with image of a woman on side

Cup

This cup was presented to the Art Gallery of South Australia by Queen Mary as part of Empire-wide celebrations for the Silver Jubilee of George V in 1935.

Collection Item | North Terrace | 1830s

Devotional Card

This devotional card, written by Queen Adelaide in 1841, quotes Psalms 100:5

Collection Item | North Terrace | 1840s

Image: a man sits cross legged on a chair, holding a newspaper

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

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

Image: Box showing image of rockets with the label 'jet plane'

Fire Cracker Box

Packaging and remnats from firecrackers stocked at Gordon Sym Choon's Union Street shop.

Collection Item | Rundle Street east | 1960s, 1970s

Image: A tall gum tree stands near the bank of a river, which is visible in the distant background. The trunk of the tree is adorned with several small signs showing the year in which a major flood occurred and its water level height

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

Image: Four men and a woman in university graduation attire sit on chairs and pose for a photograph

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

Image: view from above of man amongst large pipes

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

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

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

Image: several caucasian children sit around a wooden table playing with plasticine

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

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

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

Paint Box

This paint box is believed to have belonged to soldier, public servant and explorer, Captain Charles Sturt.

Collection Item | 1800-1810, 1830s, 1840s

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

Image: A two-storey octagonal stone tower set within a high wall with a crenellated parapet.

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

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

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

Slovaks in South Australia

The first known Slovak to arrive in Australia was Brother Jakub Longa, a Jesuit, who was sent to Australia in 1888 to help found an Aboriginal mission at Daly Waters in the Northern Territory

Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1880s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century