1. Image: Inside Adelaide Hospital in 1890

    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

  2. Image: Christmas card front showing steamship

    Allinga Menu

    Menu produced for the Adelaide Steamship Co. Ltd. SS Allinga for Christmas 1901. 

    Collection Item | 1900-1910

  3. Auditor-General

    Independent auditing of Government is established in the position of the colonies first auditor general

    Historical Subject | By Brendan Moran | 1830s, 1840s, 1930s

  4. Image: crowds on jetty

    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

  5. Image: handwritten card

    Devotional Card

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

    Collection Item | North Terrace | 1840s

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

    Elder Family

    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

  7. Image: A group of Caucasian men with film equipment observe a conversation between two other men, one of whom is elderly and dressed in Afghan attire

    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

  8. 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

  9. Image: man in formal regalia

    Freemasonry

    The first South Australian Freemasons lodge formed in England, before the colony of South Australia was settled. 

    Historical Subject | By David Hilliard | North Terrace | 1830s, 1840s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

  10. Image: male doll in colourful costume

    Hungarian Doll

    A colourfully dressed Hungarian gentleman. 

    Collection Item | mid twentieth century

  11. Image: Collection of seven tin and stone cottages at Murtho, South Australia

    Labour Settlements

    Labour settlements were created during the 1890s to trial collective ownership, new farming technology and the high unemployment created by the Depression.

    Historical Subject | By Brendan Moran | 1850s, 1890s

  12. Image: Seven bewigged and robed supreme court judges, seated and posing for photograph, 1915

    Legal Profession

    The evolving profession in South Australia retained some centuries-old practices.

    Historical Subject | By Peter Moore | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1980s

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

    Lithuanians in South Australia

    Lithuanian migrants came to South Australia as early as the 1840s, numbers expanded significantly following the Second World War. 

    Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1840s, 1930s, mid twentieth century

  14. Image: cane chairs and table

    Miniature Furniture Set

    Miniature furniture brought across the seas for Australian children. 

    Collection Item | 1900-1910

  15. Image: wooden box with two open drawers

    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

  16. Image: protesters on King William Street

    Radicalism

    Radicalism has been inherent in South Australian history from its founding as a free settlement.  Based upon the English radical liberal thought of its founders, the State's reputation grew as a progressive colony and the first to entirely separate church from state.

    Historical Subject | By Brendan Moran | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s

  17. Image: two bumper stickers

    Refugees

    In general refugees have enriched and diversified South Australia’s religions, universities and schools, food, the arts, newspapers, clubs and sports.

    Historical Subject | By Kate Walsh | 1830s, 1840s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

  18. Image: large stone building

    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

  19. Image: Blue and gold embroidered smoking cap

    Smoking Cap

    Smoking cap owned and worn by John McDouall Stuart.

    Collection Item | 1850s

  20. Torrens Title

    The Torrens title system for land ownership was inaugurated in South Australia  has led the world in the computerisation of real property title information.

    Historical Subject | By Peter Moore | 1830s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s

  21. Image: People walking and others fishing with hand rods from a wooden jetty

    Tourism

    The South Australian Tourism Commission, established in 1993, focuses on marketing South Australia as a tourist destination to interstate and overseas markets.

    Historical Subject | By Lyn Leader-Elliot | North Terrace, Parklands | 1880s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010

  22. Image: toy boat made of metal and painted red, blue and cream

    Toy Boat

    Model - Speed Boat with Motor.

    Collection Item | 1920s

  23. Image: brown and green tin toy train

    Toy Train

    A collectable toy with a moving story.

    Collection Item | mid twentieth century

  24. Image: Red metal bike with three wheels

    Tricycle

    Tricycle, painted red and white.

    Collection Item | 1950s

  25. Image: Hellenic vase shaped bronze urn on square base

    Urn

    Urn made by Henry Tijou and carried in Queen Adelaide's funeral procession. 

    Collection Item | North Terrace | 1840s