mid nineteenth century

Gibb, Sir Claude

Irascible yet open-minded engineer, industrialist, and ideas man Sir Claude Gibb was responsible for the design of the Centurion tank.

Historical Person | By Gwenyth Moxham | North Terrace | early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Mawson, Sir Douglas

Sir Douglas Mawson became famous as an Antarctic explorer, but the geology of South Australia was his life’s work.

Historical Person | By Dr Simon Cameron | North Terrace | early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Hayward, Sir Edward

Known as ‘Bill’, Sir Edward Hayward was a businessman, patron of the arts and the originator of the Adelaide Christmas pageant.

Historical Person | By Hon Christopher Legoe | early twenty–first century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Image: A group of middle-aged Caucasian men dressed in early twentieth century suits and fedora hats stand in front of a brick building. A late-1920s model car is parked immediately behind the group

Holden, Sir Edward

Motor car manufacturer and industrialist Sir Edward Holden gave his name to a car, albeit posthumously.

Historical Person | By June Donovan | North Terrace, Southeast corner | early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a young Caucasian man wearing a late-Victorian era suit and sporting a very large handlebar moustache

Stirling, Sir Edward

Sir Edward Stirling was (among other things) a surgeon, scientist, educationist, curator, lecturer and parliamentarian; in short, a Renaissance Man.

Historical Person | By Anna Stirling Pope | North Terrace | 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s

Kingston, Sir George

By turns architect, engineer, surveyor and parliamentarian, Sir George Kingston was also Speaker of the House of Assembly for almost two decades.

Historical Person | By Dr Simon Cameron | North Terrace | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a clean-shaven man wearing a turtleneck sweater and tweed jacket

Heysen, Sir Wilhelm

Sir Hans Heysen was a masterly artist, the immortaliser of the gum tree on canvas, and a dedicated conservationist.

Historical Person | By Peter Heysen | North Terrace | 1960s, early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Ayers, Sir Henry

A businessman, banker and parliamentarian, Henry Ayers was astute, hard-headed and politically adroit.

Historical Person | By Robyn Taylor | North Terrace | 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

Dumas, Sir Frederick

At the end of his long life, newspaperman Sir Lloyd Dumas described himself as simply ‘the luckiest man in the world’.

Historical Person | By Jim Loudon | North Terrace | early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Oliphant, Sir Mark

Best known as a governor of South Australia, Sir Mark Oliphant was also a pioneering nuclear physicist, who became an outspoken anti-nuclear campaigner.

Historical Person | By Dr Simon Cameron | North Terrace | late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a man in suit and tie sporting a large handlebar moustache. The frame surrounding the portrait identifies the man as Richard Chaffey Baker

Baker, Sir Richard

An influential conservative politician and a supporter of Federation, Sir Richard Baker was the first President of the Senate.

Historical Person | By Rob van den Hoorn | North Terrace | 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

Image: A man in stage make-up and costume dances on a stage with arms outstretched

Helpmann, Sir Robert

His versatility as actor, dancer, producer and choreographer, coupled with flamboyance and wit, made Sir Robert Helpmann a household name.

Historical Person | By Meg Denton | North Terrace, Parklands | early twentieth century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Image: A lithographic portrait of a middle-aged balding man with a large, full beard. He is wearing mid-Victorian attire, including an overcoat, waistcoat, and pocket watch chain with fob

Torrens, Sir Robert

Land titles reformer Sir Robert Richard Torrens reformed, amended and even radicalised the land trade system.

Historical Person | By Peter Moore | North Terrace | 1840s, 1850s, 1860s

Jacobs, Sir Roland

Jacobs was a businessman, but also a warm and generous philanthropist with no interest in personal wealth.

Historical Person | By The Hon S.J. Jacobs | North Terrace | 1970s, early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

Image: A man with a chin-beard and wearing mid-Victorian era attire poses for a photograph. He stands next to a bannister and is holding a stove-pipe hat

Davenport, Sir Samuel

Davenport was a liberal-minded and literate parliamentarian and a promoter of industry, especially in the fields of horticulture and viniculture

Historical Person | By Dr Geoffrey Bishop | North Terrace | late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a white-haired man with goatee. He is wearing a suit and is standing with his arms crossed

Kidman, Sir Sidney

Abstemious but easy-going, Sir Sidney Kidman was a pastoralist and philanthropist who made friends easily.

Historical Person | By Rob Linn | North Terrace | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century

Image: A photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of a middle-aged bearded man wearing a cravat and overcoat

Hughes, Sir Walter

A pastoralist and mine-owner once accused of fraud, Hughes stated shortly before his death: ‘I have been a sinner all my life’.

Historical Person | By Patricia Sumerling | North Terrace | 1840s, mid nineteenth century

Image: black and white picture of poster stuck on glass

Six o'clock Swill

From 1915 to 1967 bars and hotels in South Australia closed at 6pm in the evening.

Historical Subject | By Michelle Toft, History Trust of South Australia | early twentieth century, mid twentieth century

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

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

The first Slovenians arrived in South Australia in 1946. They emigrated as Displaced Persons from camps in Italy, Austria and Germany after Marshal Tito established a communist government in Yugoslavia in 1945.

Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1940s, early twenty–first century, mid twentieth century

Social structure

Social structure and class are more than income and wealth and involve status, religion and ethnicity too

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

Spiritualism

Spiritualism began as a nineteenth-century radical cause and survives to the present as a spiritual option.

Historical Subject | By Helen Bartley and Jill Roe | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century

Taiwanese in South Australia

The indigenous people of Taiwan make up roughly 2 per cent of the population.

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

Temperance

The temperance movement saw the abolition of alcohol as a cure for society’s ills – and also believed it was an achievable goal.

Historical Subject | By Judith Raftery | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: Printed document headed ’Proclamation’

The Proclamation

South Australia’s first vice-regal proclamation was read at Holdfast Bay on 28 December 1836

Historical Subject | By Margaret Anderson, History Trust of South Australia | 1830s

Theatre

South Australia’s theatrical beginnings were commercial and entrepreneurial: trade as much as art drove public houses and performance together.

Historical Subject | By Gus Worby | early nineteenth century, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Image: man sitting on rocky outcrop overlooking township

Strehlow, Theodor

Theodor George Henry Strehlow (1908–1978) was brought up by his parents, Carl and Frieda Strehlow at the Hermannsburg Mission near Alice Springs. His work as linguist and ethnologist contributed extensively to white understanding of Aboriginal culture and music, but provoked ongoing dispute between settler and Indigenous cultures.

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

Image: stacks of wine bottles and large wine barrels with signs reading Hardy's

Hardy, Thomas

Thomas Hardy lectured and wrote on the wine business and olive growing, was a member of the Phylloxera Board, Wine Growers’ Association, South Australian Agricultural and Horticultural Society and the Chamber of Manufactures, judged local horticultural shows, published regularly in the local press and wrote two books, Notes on Vineyards in America and Europe (1885) and A Vigneron Abroad, Trip to South Africa (1899).

Historical Person | By Dr Geoffrey Bishop | late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century

Image: Photographic portrait of a middle-aged Caucasian man in the clothing of a Christian minister. He is sitting in an high-backed chair and has his right hand resting on a book--possibly a bible

Stow, Thomas

Founder of the Congregational Church in South Australia, Thomas Stow was a strenuous minister and a dedicated opponent of state aid to religion.

Historical Person | By Brian Jones | North Terrace | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s

Image: Black and white photo of an old observatory building.

Time

Within a year of settlement, Adelaide's residents were synchronising their timepieces by a bell rung in North Terrace near West Terrace at local noon.

Historical Subject | By Bill Stacy | early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

Adelaidia