late nineteenth century

Image: women in dress with hat sitting down next to man in suit and top hat

Tennyson , Audrey

Audrey Tennyson (1854-1916), wife of South Australian governor Hallam Tennyson, took a particular interest in the conditions of South Australia’s poor and sick.

Historical Person | By Dirk van Dissel | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

Image: Sepia photograph of bald man standing in front of a chair and table

Short, Augustus

The energetic Augustus Short, South Australia’s first Anglican bishop, laid firm foundations for the growth of the Anglican Church in the new colony.

Historical Person | By David Hilliard | 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s

Image: horse drawn vehicles travel down a dirt road lined with terraced shops

Austral Hotel

Constructed from east to west in January 1880, Adelaide’s most distinctive commercial complex of14 shops and hotel, heading west along Rundle Street, was built for The South Australian Company.

Historical Place | By Hannah Stewart, History Trust of South Australia | Rundle Street east | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Australian Rules Football

The structure of local Aussie Rules football competitions has changed over time, just as the game itself has continued to evolve

Historical Subject | By Bernard Whimpress | early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

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

Austrians in South Australia

The first Austrians to arrive in South Australia were two Jesuit priests, Fathers Aloysius Kranewitter and Maximilian Klinkowstroem on December 8, 1848.

Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Ayers House

Acquired and extended on the back of copper mining from the mid 1840s, Ayers House has had three main occupancies since the early twentieth century

Historical Place | By Peter Bell | North Terrace | early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a middle-aged man wearing a suit and wire-rimmed spectacles

Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), the son of a Scottish clergyman and his wife Marjory, née Barr, migrated to Melbourne in 1854. Moving to Adelaide just as Thomas Elder’s brothers were leaving South Australia, he threw in his lot with Elder.

Historical Subject | By Carol Fort | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Babbage, Benjamin

Benjamin Herschel Babbage (1815–1878), an English engineer who superintended construction of the first Port Adelaide railway line, was employed by the South Australian Government in 1851 to search for gold. He led two official expeditions (1856 and 1858) that found no gold but surveyed the Flinders Ranges and Far North and established the extent of Lakes Eyre and Torrens.

Historical Person | By Carol Fort | early nineteenth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

Image: man in a top hat and suit riding a velocipede with wooden wheels

Bicycles

From 'boneshakers' to penny-farthings to mountain bikes, bicycles have certainly changed since the 1860s.

Historical Subject | By Dieuwke Jessop | early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Boarding Out Society

The origins of foster care for disadvantaged children

Historical Organisation | By Mary-Louise Geyer | 1860s, 1870s, 1880s

Bonython Family

Bonython Family is distinguished by a capacity for hard work, a leaning towards public service and significant benefaction to the institutions and people of Adelaide.

Historical Subject | By Carol Fort & Wilfred Prest | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: woman driving horse and buggy in park

Botanic Park

Botanic Park has blossomed as a place for informal family gatherings and a venue for public events

Historical Place | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Parklands | 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010, 2010s, 2020s, Aboriginal Country pre-contact

Image: bearded man poses for portrait photograph

Finniss, Boyle

South Australia’s first premier was born at sea off the Cape of Good Hope and educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Historical Person | By Carol Fort | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1880s

West End Brewery fronting the south side of Hindley Street, Adelaide, 1925

Breweries and beer

How did Lion and Coopers come to be South Australia’s only major brewers of beer today?

Historical Subject | By Alison Painter | 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 corner hotel with 1960s era cars parked on the street outside.

Brown Street

Brown Street, running from South Terrace to Grote Street, morphed into Morphett Street in 1967 but the area retains its out-of-the-way feel

Historical Place | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Southwest corner | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, early twenty–first century

Image: A painted portrait of a middle-aged Caucasian man in mid-nineteenth century attire. He is clean-shaven and wearing a dark neck cravat

Sturt, Captain Charles

A soldier and explorer, Captain Charles Sturt was first to chart the River Murray.

Historical Person | By Valerie Sitters | North Terrace | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s

Spence, Catherine Helen

Writer and social reformer Catherine Helen Spence was also the first woman to write a novel about Australia.

Historical Person | By Susan Magarey | 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910

Bronze sculpture, Catherine Helen Spence by Ieva Porcius, 1986

Catherine Helen Spence statue

The powerful sculpture of Catherine Helen Spence in Light Square, Adelaide celebrates the life and work of a formidable South Australian.

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | Northwest corner | 1850s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1980s

Image: A large brick building with archway windows and a square turret at one end. Cars drive by on a busy street in the foreground

Central Market

The Central Market is a distinctively Adelaide institution, renowned for fine food and produce and a bustling cosmopolitan atmosphere

Historical Place | By Peter Bell | Central Market | 1860s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Image: three cars parked outside stone church

Chalmers Church Free Church of Scotland

The second oldest remaining church in Adelaide, Scots Church is still in use today.

Historical Place | By Hannah Stewart, History Trust of South Australia | North Terrace | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, early twentieth century

Charles Cameron Kingston Memorial

A remarkable and feisty South Australian attorney-general and premier, a father of federation and the first Australian Minster for Trade and Customs is commemorated by this statue

Historical Thing | By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia | 1850s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s

Image: black and white photograph of a seated man, dressed in black and holding a cane

Kingston PC QC, Charles

Though dogged by scandal, Charles Kingston was a lawyer, parliamentarian and Federalist who steered many reforms through the South Australian Parliament and helped draft Australia’s Constitution.

Historical Person | By The Hon Dr John Bannon, AO | North Terrace, Northwest corner, Southwest corner | 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910

Cawthorne, Charles

Cawthorne was a dynamic music seller and concert manager, and is remembered as a genial raconteur.

Historical Person | By Joyce Gibberd | Rundle Street east | 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, 1910s, 1920s

Childhood

The history of childhood in South Australia has been characterised by the assimilation policies practised by the state and the Christian churches throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and also changes in infant mortality, and the introduction of compulsory schooling.

Historical Subject | By Ian Davey | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century