The First Dunstan Labor Government
16 April 1968 The first Dunstan Labor Government Don Dunstan’s first term as Premier of South Australia came to an end on 16 April 1968 when he lost the election to the Liberals under Steele Hall. This only came about after a delay of six weeks from the election in March. Both parties won 19 seats and it was left to the one Independent, Tom Stott, who, as Speaker, cast the deciding vote in favour of the Liberals at the first sitting of Parliament. However, Dunstan’s period in opposition only lasted two years as the Labor Party was re-elected to Government on 2 June 1970 ushering in what has come to be known as the Dunstan Decade. This only ended when the Premier was forced to resign through ill health on 15 February 1979. In their periods of office the Labor Government was responsible for many legislative changes in SA. Before he assumed the leadership of the party in the late 1960s Dunstan, as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, introduced several pieces of legislation which gave Aborigines control over their land and other rights previously denied them. Some controversial reforms included the extension of liquor trading hours, the Land Commission, the establishment of a statutory authority to plan Monarto as a satellite city and the MATS plan. Other controversial issues in this period included the Dartmouth/ Chowilla Dam fiasco, the Vietnam moratorium marches, and the sacking of Police Commissioner Harold Salisbury. It was a lively period after the conservative Playford era. Andrew Parkin, ‘Transition, Innovation, Consolidation, Readjustment: The Political History of South Australia since 1965’, Dean Jaensch (ed), The Flinders History of South Australia Political History, 1986, pp. 293-320.
John Ridley
17 April 1840 John Ridley John Ridley arrived in South Australia on 17 April 1840 bringing with him a steam-mill. He built a flour mill at Hindmarsh and the first wheat harvested in the colony was ground into flour with his mill. In 1843 he developed an invention by J.W. Bull, building it up into the first stripper which stripped the ears of the standing wheat and threshed it. In one week late in the year he reaped 70 acres of wheat near Wayville at a cost of 5s per acre. With the help of John Dunn and John Stokes Bagshaw the machine was perfected in 1844 and in 1845 seven more were built. By 1850 James Martin was involved in building the machines and 50 were operating in South Australia or had been exported to other colonies. The invention was never patented, but was the forerunner of the modern harvester. Ridley returned to England in 1853 and died there in 1887. The Ridley Gates at the Showground are his memorial in South Australia. D.A. Cumming, G. Moxham, They Built South Australia, Adelaide, 1986, p.160.
Oakbank Races
17 April 1876 Oakbank Races Easter week-end in South Australia is the time for the Oakbank Races, with the feature race the Great Eastern Steeplechase run on Easter Monday. In the 1870s a group of horse lovers formed an association called the Woodside Club. Wishing to have a site for their sports meeting they looked over several areas until one of their members riding over a paddock owned by the Johnstons of Oakbank thought it would be ideal for their purposes. The Johnstons agreed to a course being set, and on walking around the paddock the group discovered a fallen tree which it was decided should remain to form one of the jumps. Although that particular tree trunk has been replaced the jump remains an integral part of the Great Eastern Steeplechase run over the same course. The first race meeting was held on 17 April 1876 with a prize for the steeple of 20 sovereigns; it is now worth over $100,000 for the winner. Over the years the club grew in strength and the Easter picnic race meeting is now an event attracting many thousands to the picturesque course. Oakbank and its Origin, The Advertiser, 14 March 1934, Newspaper Cuttings Book, Volume 2, p. 21. SLSA.
Townsend Duryea
18 April 1875 Townsend Duryea On 18 April 1875 fire destroyed the photographic studio of Townsend Duryea. His entire collection of 50,000 negatives was destroyed – a tragic loss for him and for South Australia. Duryea was born in America in 1823 and emigrated to Melbourne in 1852. In 1854 he moved to Adelaide and opened a daguerrotype studio over Prince’s store, on the corner of King William and Grenfell Streets, where he worked in partnership with his brother, Sanford. Within a couple of years the brothers had visited and photographed Auburn, Burra, Clare, Kapunda, Goolwa, Milang, Port Elliot and their near-by villages. By 1863 Duryea’s studio was the most popular in Adelaide and was patronised by the Governor and leading citizens. He was the official photographer when the Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1867, accompanying the vice-regal party in a horse-drawn, mobile dark room. After the disastrous fire Duryea moved to New South Wales where he took up a selection. He was later crippled by a stroke and died after a buggy accident in December 1888. His panoramic view of Adelaide was a feature exhibit at Old Parliament House Museum on North Terrace. Douglas Pike (ed), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, p. 120.
Daisy Bates
18 April 1951 Daisy Bates On 18 April 1951 Daisy Bates died, aged 91, at a Prospect nursing home. She was born in Ireland in 1860 and came to Australia in the 1880s because of a weak chest. After ten years she returned to London where she worked as a journalist. Later she came back to Perth and from there travelled 1200 miles to Port Hedland to investigate allegations of brutality against Aborigines by pastoralists. After six months travelling around she reported that the claims were unfounded. Back in Perth she mixed again in society circles, but also did some work amongst the Aborigines in the south-west. By the first World War period she was committed to helping the Aborigines and by 1919 she had set herself up in a tent at Ooldea siding in the far west of South Australia on the transcontinental railway line. Her distinctive Victorian dress, which she continued to wear even in the heat and dust of the desert area, and her style of living made her appear eccentric. In her 70s she retired to Adelaide and in collaboration with noted Australian writer, Ernestine Hill, wrote a book, The Passing of the Aborigines , which, despite all her good work with the Aboriginal people, was considered at times to be ill-informed and demeaning. Although she had married earlier in her life she spent most of her career as a lone woman. Max Brown, ‘Dame Daisy Bates’, 100 Famous Australian Lives, Paul Hamlyn, 1969, pp. 202-206.
Pioneer Womens Memorial Garden
19 April 1941 Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden On 19 April 1941 Lady Muriel Barclay-Harvey, wife of the Governor, unveiled the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Statue in the Garden of Remembrance just below Government House. The inscription on the pedestal of the statue reads: This Garden of Remembrance and the Flying Doctor Base at Alice Springs were established in the Centenary Year of 1936 by the women of South Australia as a tribute to the pioneer women of the State. Money for the Garden and the Flying Doctor Base was raised through various activities conducted by women of the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Trust, set up in 1935. The land for the Garden was donated by the City Council and the statue, in Waikerie limestone, was sculpted by Ola (Carola) Cohn of Melbourne. Also on the pedestal is a sun dial, designed by George Dodwell, who was Government Astronomer, and the words ‘The hours vanish yet are they recorded’. M. Broughton, Chronicle Cameos, Nadjuri, 1977, pp. 19-23.
Strike At Moonta Mines
2 April 1874 Strike at Moonta Mines On 2 April 1874 Captain Henry Hancock at the Moonta Mines posted a notice which read, in part: ‘The Directors resolve that all wages at Moonta Mines shall be reduced’. This drastic action was brought about through the downturn in the price of copper on world markets. The notice led to the first serious industrial unrest since the strike of 1864. The miners decided to strike; meetings were held nearly every day and fully reported in the local press. The miners in Wallaroo also decided to strike and on 9 April a joint meeting was held at Bald Hill, about halfway between the two towns, complete with bands and suitable sustenance. A delegation was sent to Adelaide to confront the directors. As a result the directors relented and on 15 April advised the Mines office that they would continue to pay at the old rate for two months, after which, unless the market improved, a reduction would take place. The men returned to work on 21 April. This action on the part of the miners led to the formation of the United Tradesmen’s Society which later became the Labor League of South Australia. Jim Faull, Cornish Heritage A Miner’s Story, 1980, pp. 70-71. Yorke Peninsula Advertiser, 10, 14, 17, 21 April 1874.
The Hanging Of Michael Magee
2 May 1838 The Hanging of Michael Magee The first person to be executed in South Australia was Michael Magee who was hanged on 2 May 1838. He was tried on 12 April and found guilty of shooting at Sam Smart, the Sheriff, with intent to kill. It was stated that he was an escaped convict who had found work with the South Australian Company on Kangaroo Island. Magee admitted his guilt and the justice of the sentence, but denied that he was a runaway convict and declared that he was as free as any colonist. During his removal to the place of execution, a large tree 100 yards from the iron stores at North Adelaide, he was seen to be in fervent prayer and seemed resigned to his fate. The authorities had had difficulty in finding a hangman and had eventually persuaded the cook of the South Australian Company, an acquaintance of Magee, to do the job, suitably hooded. The hanging did not go well and the victim was able to grab the rope and lift himself, whereupon the executioner grabbed him by the legs and hung with him until he was dead. There were cries of ‘murder’ from some of the 500 witnesses present and the hangman was rushed from the scene under police escort. The South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register, 19 May 1838. Robert Clyne, Colonial Blue, Wakefield Press, 1987, p. 18.
Launch Of The Eurimbla
20 April 1921 Launch of the Eurimbla An immense crowd gathered at the shipyards of Poole and Steel at Osborne on the Port River to witness the launching of the Eurimbla by Lady Weigall, wife of the Governor, on 20 April 1921. The cargo carrier with a capacity of 6000 tons dead weight, was 341 feet long, and was the first large vessel to be built in South Australia. She was commissioned by the Commonwealth Government and was named Eurimbla after a town in New South Wales. Such was the interest in the launching that special trains ran to Port Adelaide and local schoolchildren were given a half holiday to celebrate the event. The Advertiser, 21 April 1921, p. 7.
The Sinking Of The Norma
21 April 1907 The sinking of the Norma About 2 a.m. on 21 April 1907 the four masted iron barque, Norma, of 2122 tons, loaded with 31,045 bags of wheat, was lying off Semaphore waiting for favourable winds. The Ardencraig , and iron ship of 2153 tons, inward bound from London came to the anchorage, shortened sails and prepared to drop anchor. The captain saw the light on the Norma , thought it was the pilot coming, and only realised it was another ship at anchor when it was too late. The Ardencraig rammed the Norma on the port side well below the waterline. The crew abandoned ship, one man was lost and the Norma heeled over and sank. This was the official version of the accident given to the Marine Enquiry. Another version given by a seaman from the Ardencraig was a little different: as the ship was coming to the anchorage the mallet used to knock the pin out of the anchor chain could not be found and as she closed in on the Norma the captain was on the deck yelling ‘let go that ••• anchor’. To add insult to injury, a little later in the morning, the coastal steamer, Jessie Darling, of 289 tons, bound for Port Adelaide with 2250 bags of wheat, was passing the anchorage when she saw a spar in the water near where the Ardencraig was anchored and headed towards it only to come to a sudden halt. She had run into the submerged Norma, the crew abandoned ship and within five minutes the Jessie Darling had settled on top of the Norma with only her masts showing. Captain Thomas of the Ardencraig was found guilty of negligence and suspended for six months. In January 1908 the Jessie Darling was re-floated and the Norma was dynamited as she was a navigational hazard. Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, No 6, 1979, pp. 9-11.