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Adelaide: Supplement to the Australasian Sketcher. Courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B1452
The ‘bird’s eye’ view of Adelaide reproduced in a supplement to the Australasian Sketcher on 10 July 1875 was created by South Australian artist Thomas Peirce. Peirce used an oblique pictorial drawing technique to give a three dimensional impression to his detailed portrayal of the city.
The Australasian Sketcher (1873-1889) was an early illustrated Victorian newspaper, based in Melbourne. It was published by Hugh George for Wilson and McKinnon of the Melbourne Argus. From 26 December 1874, the Illustrated Adelaide Post, founded by Adelaide artist and educator William Anderson Cawthorne, was incorporated into the Sketcher.
The inclusion of the view of Adelaide and other material relating to South Australia in the Sketcher reflects Cawthorne’s keen interest in colonial life and the local Kaurna people. William Cawthorne went on to found the monthly Illustrated Adelaide Post, South Australia’s first fully illustrated newspaper, in 1867.
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Great pic.
By my bearing [if this image is meant to be a accurate? or semi?] then the Glenside Hospital [freshly built 1870 & then named 'Parkside Lunatic Asylum' a few years before this image time] is that white walled /dark roofed structure 3/4 a way up the right edge of the image , at the Hospitals usual bearing of the SthEast diagonal of the city, i.e. as you can still sight it from that city edge now. Glen Osmond Road traveling to it right to off image.
I also see the rural nature of the land then of my current SthEast suburb house. I have found original old, thick, robust built nails as they were formed in that era, in my garden.
Great pic, ta.
Thanks Timothy, you have better eyes than me!
I am most interested in the original lie of the land and the foliage.
The hills in the distance are depicted as quite treeless - does anyone know what the original 'natural' surface of the western face of the Adelaide Hills was?
I can also see that the Torrens valley was extremely bare, probably as a regular floodway, and that many trees had been cleared to the East and South of the city, but West of West Terrace appears to be quite dense foliage and trees - but this may just be an artists impression..
I also note that Pirie Street appears to continue into William Street, Norwood, through to Portrush Road, with the angled streets of Kent Town, perpendicular to Dequetteville Terrace, yet to be established.
It would be interesting to learn more about the evolution of the city through this period, and these old maps and drawing can tell us so much.
Hi Craig, For a good description of the Adelaide plains and hills prior to British settlement the best source is possibly “The Biggest Estate on Earth – How Aboriginal people made Australia” by Bill Gammage, published late in 2011. He describes the lower foothills as fairly bare due to land management by Aboriginal people. You should be able to find the book at various libraries. There is a book on Pre-European vegetation of Adelaide by Darrell N Kraehenbuehl also that you might be interested in. You can also find some descriptions in this study: file:///C:/Users/cmanning/Downloads/understanding_pre-european_adelaide_plains_and_foothills_vegetation_associations.pdf Hope these help!
Amazing I had Great Great Grandparents who were in Adelaide at this time in history Beautiful city even back then thankyou.
Great to hear your thoughts Geniene. If you have information on your family history related to any of our articles please consider sharing them by clicking on the 'contribute' button in the top right of the articles. We'd love to read your stories and see your photos.
Thanks for the feedback Kate Power. The maps are beautiful aren't they! Stay tuned on Adelaidia for the release of more digital resources like this in the future.
What else can I say but - fabulous! Thankyou for such easy access to this beautiful map, when ever I want.