Chowilla Dam Project
21 April 1960 Chowilla Dam project On 21 April 1960 Premier Tom Playford announced plans for a huge water storage dam on the River Murray, 37 miles upstream from Renmark, to be known as Chowilla. The dam was to have an earth bank 3.3 miles long and 41 feet high, with a 1000 foot concrete section built in a channel excavated across a bend in the river. The concrete section would incorporate a shipping lock and 18 flood gates each 41 feet high and 40 feet wide. The lake formed would be 60 miles long, with an average width of 7 miles, and in all would cover 400 square miles – 195 in New South Wales, 160 in Victoria and 45 in South Australia. The estimated cost of the project was approximately £9 million ($18 million). Later estimates suggested that the water would cover 530 square miles at a depth of up to 55 feet. In 1969 the River Murray Commission recommended that an alternative dam be built at Dartmouth in Victoria. Legislation ratifying this agreement was passed in the Australian, NSW and Victorian parliaments in 1970 and in the South Australian parliament in 1971. The Dartmouth dam was built in the mid 1970s and the Chowilla project was shelved. The Advertiser, 21 April 1960, pp. 1, 15. 14 Facts about Chowilla, Premier’s Department, c1970. South Australian Year Book, 1975, p. 373.
United Labor Party Elected To Legislati
9 May 1891 United Labor Party elected to Legislative Council At the election held on 9 May 1891 three candidates of the United Labor Party were elected to the Legislative Council. The three men, D.M. Charleston, R.S. Guthrie and A.A. Kirkpatrick, were the first Labor men in Australia to be elected to parliament. Charleston was a Cornishman and a craft unionist; Guthrie, a Scot, represented seamen, waterside workers, mill workers and labourers; Kirkpatrick was a member of the Typographical Society and was dedicated to the broader objectives of the industrial and political labor movement. The ULP platform included protection, progressive land tax, industrial legislation, electoral reform and other social improvements for workers and small farmers. The energetic campaign conducted on these issues helped to get them elected. The Labor group grew stronger over the next decade and in 1905 Tom Price, the leader of the party, became the first Labor Premier of the State. Jim Moss, The Sound of Trumpets , Wakefield Press, 1985, pp. 164-165.
New Australia In Paraguay
29 May 1893 ‘New Australia’ in Paraguay A number of South Australians bound for the ‘New Australia’ in Paraguay left Adelaide by rail for Sydney on 29 May 1893. William Lane of Queensland recruited people from the colonies to join him in his experimental venture in Utopian Socialism in South America. Paraguay was described as a land of running waters, with unparalleled fertility, and a stable and progressive government. Among the group from South Australia was George Birks who sold the family chemist shop in Rundle Street. Other people also sold their homes and possessions and contributed to a communal fund. In Sydney they joined with other followers and sailed for South America on the Royal Tar to establish an ideal communist settlement. The ideal was not to be. Differences arose during the voyage and these continued when the emigrants reached their destination. There they encountered many hardships, and further problems resulted in the settlers splitting into separate groups. In the meantime the Royal Tar returned to Australia to pick up more passengers, including twelve who joined the ship at Port Adelaide in December 1893. A further nine people left during the year. Letters sent to South Australia over the next three years spoke of Lane’s autocracy and the divisions which resulted. Disillusionment set in, the ideal slowly died and some people returned to Australia. Some remained and their descendants are still in Paraguay. J.H. Mellowship, New Australia: A South Australian Chapter, BA Honours Thesis, University of Adelaide, 1960. The Register, 3 January 1893, p. 7, 3 January 1895, p. 7, 29 August, 1896 p. 6.
Martindale Hall
3 May 1879 Martindale Hall The foundation stone of Martindale Hall at Mintaro was laid by Edmund Bowman on 3 May 1879, but it was two years before the Italianate style house was completed. All the furnishings, from carpets and wallpapers to dinner services and crystal, came from England, along with a housekeeper. At the time Edmund was a single man, but in January 1884 he married Annie Cowle in St Peter’s Cathedral and, after a honeymoon in New Zealand, took her to live in the opulence of Martindale Hall. In the 1880s the Bowmans fell on lean times, and in 1890 Elder Smith advertised the property for sale. On 16 March 1891 W.T. Mortlock paid £33,000 to the Bowman family for the Hall. When Mortlock died in 1950 he left the house, after the death of his widow, jointly to the University of Adelaide for the Waite Institute, and the Libraries Board of South Australia. In 1974 it was used as Mrs Appleyard’s College for Young Ladies in the film Picnic at Hanging Rock. Elizabeth Warburton, The Bowmans of Martindale Hall, Department of Continuing Education, University of Adelaide, 1979.
Sa Gas Company
30 May 1863 SA Gas Company The furnaces of the gas works at Brompton were fired for the first time on 30 May 1863. This followed two years of work to get the South Australian Gas Company established. The prospectus of the company was issued in May 1861, but by July only 943 of the original 6000 shares had been sold. However, the promoters, who included some of Adelaide’s leading businessmen, among them Henry Ayers, Arthur Blyth, and G.P. Harris, were confident that the venture would be a success and decided to proceed with plans. In fact Adelaide lagged behind the eastern cities in the provision of this utility, for Sydney had gas lighting as early as 1841, Melbourne turned on the lights on 1 January 1856, and Hobart in 1854. The next step was to gain the approval of Parliament and this was achieved on 29 November, despite the opposition of George Fife Angas who apparently disliked the use of gas. Land was acquired at Brompton, and on 23 December 1862 the foundation stone of the ‘great’ chimney was laid by Ayers who must have changed his mind. Regular gas services to customers began on 22 June 1863 and by 20 July 209 buildings, including Parliament House, were lit by gas. The City Council was reluctant to use gas to light the streets and it was some years before agreement was reached for the Company to install 273 lamps in the city. The contract expired in December 1868 and was not renewed until early in 1871. Even then the streets were only lit from half an hour after sunset until 1 am, except on the seven nights about the full moon, when the city returned to relying on nature to provide some illumination. Peter Donovan, Noreen Kirkman, The Unquenchable Flame, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 1986, pp. 12,17-40.
South Australian Cricket Association
31 May 1871 South Australian Cricket Association The South Australian Cricket Association came into being on 31 May 1871 at a meeting held at the Prince Alfred Hotel (now part of the Town Hall). The first recorded cricket match was played at Thebarton on 28 October 1839. In 1859 six acres of the north park lands were leased. By the the early 1870s there were three clubs in Adelaide: North Adelaide, the Young Men of Kent, and the South Australian. With the formation of SACA the Adelaide Oval was leased in June 1872. A grandstand, which became the basis of the George Giffen Stand, was constructed in 1882 and was first used when England played South Australia that year. The mound was built in 1884 ready for the first Test Match between England and Australia which was played on 12 December. Further stands were added over the years, the last being the Sir Donald Bradman stand opened in 1990. The scoreboard, designed by F. Kenneth Milne, was built in 1911 at a cost of over £1400. The Annual Report that year claimed that it would be one of the finest in the southern hemisphere and would give more information than boards on any other ground. It remains one of the features of the beautiful Adelaide Oval. Susan Marsden, Paul Stark, Patricia Sumerling (eds), Heritage of the City of Adelaide, Corporation of the City of Adelaide, 1990, pp. 242-243.
West Terrace Crematorium
4 May 1903 West Terrace Crematorium The first cremation in Adelaide took place on 4 May 1903 at the newly constructed crematorium at the West Terrace Cemetery. The building, erected by the Cremation Society of Australia, was the first properly constructed crematorium in Australia. The chapel was 32 feet by 19 feet, and the furnace room 24 feet x 18 feet, with a single cremating chamber. Heat was obtained by the use of gas coke and mallee firewood. The building was closed on 1 November 1959 and demolished in 1970. West Terrace Cemetery comprises an area of about 66 acres with separate burial areas for different religious groups, and also a Soldiers Cemetery which was the first of its kind in Australia. There is an ordinary section and a leased area for burials. A fire destroyed many of the early records, but a headstone just south of the entrance shows an interment in November 1837. A conspicuous and handsome building in the Roman Catholic section is the Smyth Memorial Chapel built to the memory of the Vicar-General of Adelaide in the 1860s. City of Adelaide Year Book, 1971/74, pp. 266-268.
Kate Cocks Mbe
5 May 1875 Kate Cocks MBE Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks was born at Moonta on 5 May 1875. After experiencing hardships in her childhood when her father fell on hard times she was sent to relatives in Victoria and at 25 became a teacher there. A year later she applied for, and was appointed, sub-matron and teacher at the State Children Department’s Edwardstown Industrial School. After transfer to the State Children’s Council as a clerk she was appointed Juvenile Court probation officer. At 40 years of age, in 1915, she was offered the position of Principal Police Matron. This followed a government decision that women should be employed as police constables on equal terms with men. Kate Cocks and Annie Ross, who commenced duty on 1 December 1915, were the first women police officers in the British Empire. Working mainly with women and children they were an immediate success and in 1916 another woman was appointed, then in 1917 two more. Kate Cocks continued in her position until she retired in May 1935 and was made an MBE for her pioneering work. With the assistance of the Methodist Church she set up the Kate Cocks Babies Home at Brighton for unmarried mothers. She died on 20 August 1954 and her epitaph reads: ‘Everybody’s Friend’. Patricia Higgs, Christine Bettess, To Walk a Fair Beat, Past & Present Women’s Police Association, 1987.
Coopers Brewery
6 May 1862 Coopers Brewery The first recorded brew of Thomas Cooper’s now famous Sparkling Ale was made on 6 May 1862. Thomas, a shoemaker by trade, emigrated from Yorkshire to South Australia, with his family, in 1852. For the first decade in Adelaide he worked at his trade and then as a stonemason. In 1862 he began brewing some ale using his wife’s recipe, for she was an innkeeper’s daughter. At first the ale, produced in the backyard of their home in George Street, Norwood, was sold to the neighbours, but as the reputation of the ale grew the business expanded. However, all Australian brewers had trouble in brewing in a hot climate and Thomas Cooper was no exception. For a time he was in great difficulties but eventually overcame the worst of his problems. In 1881 he built the brewery in Statenborough Street, Upper Kensington (now Leabrook). After his death in 1897 the business was carried on by his sons and continued to grow. For many years the Coopers only produced top fermented ale and stout, but in 1968 began brewing lager beers as well. In recent years the company has diversified into producing home brew kits, malt extract and also honey. They now have their own maltings at Dry Creek. Five generations of Coopers have been involved in the brewery which remains under the family’s control Alison Painter, Jolly Good Ale and Old The History of Coopers Brewery 1852-1987, 1987.
Infant Mortality
7 May 1877 Infant Mortality The Register of 7 May 1877 reported that ‘infant mortality was alarmingly high’ in Adelaide. The number of deaths of infants under one year was 1228 which was more than one-third of the total of 3550 deaths for the year. The next highest mortality was children between the ages of one and two years, and the next highest, rather strangely, was persons between 35 and 40 years. High on the list of killer diseases was scarlatina which was followed by diarrhoea, phthisis (pulmonary consumption), convulsions, and bronchitis. The death rate of 26.8 per 1000 population in Adelaide was high by comparison with comparable English towns. Poor housing and conditions in parts of the city were blamed for this sad state. The Register wrote of the ‘vile stenches which pervade our streets, the utter want of drainage … foul slaughterhouses and ruinous overcrowded habitations reeking with pestilence which are to be found in Adelaide’. It was feared that until these conditions were improved the city would continue to be an unhealthy place to live. The South Australian Register, 7 May 1877, p. 4.