Wreck Of The Loch Vennacher
26 February 1976 Wreck of the Loch Vennacher On 26 February 1976 a group of divers from the Society for Underwater Historical Research located the remains of the Loch Vennacher off Kangaroo Island, 71 years after she went down with the loss of all hands. The Loch Vennacher was a clipper ship, launched in August 1875, for the England – Australia run. Her last message was on 6 September 1905 when she reported to the Yongala that all was well. When she was obviously well overdue in Port Adelaide the Marine Board steamer, Governor Musgrave, was sent to search around the south-eastern end of Kangaroo Island but found nothing. In the meantime the Annie Watt picked up a reel of printing paper, part of the cargo the Loch Vennacher was carrying, 18 miles north-west of Port Adelaide. Wreckage was also found near Cape St. Albans and on the south coast of the island. The Governor Musgrave left for a second search, but to no avail, although more wreckage was being found along the south coast. A third attempt was made on 9 October, but again without success. On 26 November two men who were inspecting shelter huts around the south and west of the island found more wreckage and in West Bay the body of a youth. They buried him in the sandhills. Although the main part of the wreck has now been found the mystery of just what happened to the Loch Vennacher remains. G.D. Chapman, Kangaroo Island Shipwrecks, Roelbuck, Canberra, 1972, pp. 44-48. ociety for Underwater Historical Research.
Johnstons Oakbank Brewery
27 February 1853 Johnstons’ Oakbank Brewery When William Johnston died, on 27 February 1853, he left his sons to carry on the brewery they had established in Oakbank. He was 50 years old when he, his wife and six of his seven children emigrated to South Australia from Scotland in 1839. At first the family began farming on a Section of land near the Onkaparinga that they named Oakbank and in 1843 two of his sons, Wiiliam and James started a brewing business which they named the Oakbank Brewery. The excellent water available enabled them to brew beer for which they soon gained a good reputation the area. After William’s death the sons carried on and began purchasing hotels in the hills’ towns. James also bought an interest in the Lion Brewery at North Adelaide and with two others began a brewery in Broken Hill. By the 1890s the Oakbank Brewery was at its peak. After the deaths of Andrew in 1886 and James in 1891 the business was carried on by their sons who formed a limited company in 1901. At the time they held the freehold for 21 hotels and more were added. The brewery closed down its beer production in 1914, but continued making soft drinks until 1991 and still produce cordials. Jim Faull, Gordon Young, People, Places and Buildings, SACAE, 1986.
Pipelines Authority
28 February 1967 Pipelines Authority On 28 February 1967 the South Australian Premier, Frank Walsh, introduced legislation to establish the Natural Gas Pipelines Authority for the conveyance of gas from the gas field at Moomba in the far north of the state to Adelaide. This had come about because not only the Gas Company converted to the use of natural gas, but the Electricity Trust also wished to use this fuel for its production of electricity at the Torrens Island power station. The construction of the pipeline over a distance of 780 kilometres was a major engineering feat and it was completed in ten months, two months ahead of schedule, at a cost of $40 million. Under the terms of the legislation the Pipelines Authority was responsible for buying the gas from the producers and delivering it at three ‘city gates’: at Waterloo Corner, Taperoo, and Gepps Cross, to service the entire metropolitan area. Later, spur lines were taken to Port Pirie, Burra and Angaston. Peter Donovan, Noreen Kirkman, The Unquenchable Flame, Wakefield Press, 1986. pp. 268-270.
Roseworthy Agricultural College
3 February 1885 Roseworthy Agricultural College Roseworthy Agricultural College was opened on 3 February 1885 and the first residential students were admitted. The establishment of the college followed a series of recommendations by a commission on agricultural education formed in 1875, although it was not until 1882 that John Custance, appointed Professor of Agriculture, took up residence. Construction of the main building was begun in 1883. Today the college occupies approximately 1200 hectares of land most of which is used as a teaching and demonstration farm. About 500 hectares are sown to wheat, barley, oats, oilseed and medic crops and there are gardens, orchards and vineyards from which the college produces a range of good wines. The farm also carries sheep, Poll Shorthorn beef cattle, Jersey and Friesian dairy cattle, pigs, poultry, horses and Angora goats. The college has three faculties, Agriculture, Oenology and Natural Resources to train young people in the various aspects of life on the land. In the more than 100 years since the college was established much research has been carried out to improve the quality of crops and stock with some excellent results. In the mid 1970s the college began accepting women students which brought about a change in the inherent masculine identity of such institutions in the past. The college is now part of the University of Adelaide. Jeff Daniels (ed), Roseworthy Agricultural College: A Century of Service ,1983.
Murder At Government House
4 February 1862 Murder at Government House On 4 February 1862 an auction was held in the ballroom of Government House. The Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, was returning to England and the sale was of some of the household’s effects. Late in the afternoon a man entered the house, approached Inspector Richard Pettinger, who was in the lobby, and shot him in the head from short range with a pistol he had concealed under a black cloth. The Inspector, aged 32, died within a few minutes. The man was arrested outside the house shortly after; his wife was also charged with being an accessory before the fact. An inquest was conducted that evening in a room at Government House, with the body lying in an adjoining room, and was concluded the next day at the Gresham Hotel. At the trial, the following week, it was revealed that the accused had been in the police force for a period but had left and, at the time of the murder, both he and his wife were employed at Government House. The man obviously held a grudge against the Inspector and had visited his home, behind the Police Barracks on North Terrace, earlier on the day of the murder, but finding he was not there had gone to Government House. The jury found the wife not guilty of any offence and she was acquitted. The man was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Adelaide Gaol on 11 March 1862. Inspector Pettinger was buried at St Matthew’s at Kensington. Adelaide Observer , 8 February 1862, p. 2, 22 February 1862, p. 3, 15 March 1862
Adelaide Gaol
4 February 1988 Adelaide Gaol Adelaide Gaol was closed on 4 February 1988. At times it had held as many as 300 prisoners in a building which was originally designed for 140. In 1840 a decision was made to replace the first gaol in the colony. This consisted of two small temporary buildings which had room for eight but often held 30. When Governor Gawler authorised the building of the new radially designed prison, with the statement that it would be ‘folly to build a gaol too small’, he also had Government House under construction. The high costs of these two buildings contributed to the colony’s near bankruptcy in 1840 and Gawler’s replacement by George Grey in May 1841. During the building of the controversial prison Francis Dutton, a rather outspoken radical, made a scathing attack: A building upon which £34 000 has been thrown away, ornamented with a parcel of trumpery and useless towers each of which cost thousands, a building containing accommodation for 140 imaginary prisoners. … This jail is a libel on our free, industrious and well disposed population, it is a libel on a Colony proverbial for the security of both life and property. Unfortunately even in South Australia, free of the taint of convict transportation, there were still lawbreakers, and these had to be accommodated. The gaol was completed in stages, the first part for 48 prisoners, the second part in 1847, and ten years later major extensions added 92 separate cells, five solitary and a condemned cell next to the gallows. In all 40 men and one woman were hanged in the ‘hanging tower’ and buried in no-man’s land within the walls. Susan Marsden, Paul Stark, Patricia Sumerling (eds), Heritage of the City of Adelaide, Corporation of the City of Adelaide, 1990, pp. 236-239.
From Sunday School To Q Theatre
5 February 1882 From Sunday School to Q Theatre On 5 February 1882 new rooms at the Sunday School at 87-89 Halifax Street were opened. The rooms were added on to the three year old building owned by Stow Church to cope with the increased attendance. By 1890 477 children were taught religious instruction by 23 teachers. In the early 20th century the building became a centre for missionary work, particularly during the Depression. After World War II activities there gradually declined and from 1956 it was leased to various companies. In 1970 it took on an entirely new role, the one for which it is best remembered, for it was transformed into the Q Theatre by local actors Don and Betty Quin. Betty Quin worked in London for the BBC and commercial television as a scriptwriter and producer. Back in Adelaide she was a regular contributor to television shows as well as writing more than 30 full length and one-act plays. The theatre could seat 150 patrons on seats acquired from the old Theatre Royal. The Q opened on 29 April 1970 with Betty Quin’s prize-winning play ‘The Dinkum Bambino’. In 1972 Robert Stigwood, the well-known theatrical entrepreneur from Adelaide, sent seven large paintings of actors from the famous Garrick Theatre in London to decorate the foyer. With declining audiences later in the 1970s the theatre was forced to close in the early 1980s. Later it was revived by John Edmund as the John Edmund Theatre. Betty Quin died on 28 August 1993 at the age of 70. Susan Marsden, Paul Stark, Patricia Sumerling (eds), Heritage of the City of Adelaide, Corporation of the City of Adelaide, 1990, pp. 214-215. Expression Australasia, Volume 12 No 4, September 1973. Advertiser , 23 June 1972, p. 6. Advertiser, 31 August 1993, p. 16.
Jervois Bridge
6 February 1878 Jervois Bridge On 6 February 1878 the Jervois Bridge at Port Adelaide was opened by the Governor Sir William Jervois. This iron-swing bridge replaced an old wooden one which linked Le Fevre Peninsular to the Port at the Copper Company’s wharf. Although the new bridge was responsible for a quicker turn around of shipping it caused inconvenience elsewhere because gas and water mains had to be disconnected every time it was opened. To maintain these services on the peninsula, a water tower was built at Semaphore and a gasometer at Peterhead. The water tower closed when a 12 inch main was laid from Happy Valley reservoir and it was sold in 1936. In 1915 a fixed bridge for the railway was built half a mile south of the Jervois Bridge. After many deputations to the Commissioner of Public Works dating from the 1890s, procrastinations and delays, the second opening bridge, the bascule type Birkenhead Bridge was built and opened on 14 December 1940. It was the first of its type in Australia. Centenary History of Port Adelaide, 1956, pp. 51-52.
Free School Text Books
7 February 1967 Free school text books The State Government issued free text books to primary school students at both state and independent schools for the first time on 7 February 1967. Advertiser, 7 February 1967, p.6.
West Lakes
8 February 1968 West Lakes On 8 February 1968 the Advertiser reported that the Premier, Don Dunstan, had indicated the proposed new Western Lakes project would be almost entirely residential and that a Bill seeking to ratify the agreement between the government and the developers would be put before parliament soon. For years the problem of what to do with the swampy, mosquito infested area of the Old Port Reach had been talked about and put aside as too difficult. During World War II Premier Tom Playford suggested that the area should be reclaimed and used as a seaplane base and aerodrome, but the alternative site at West Beach was selected. In 1949 the Harbors Board included ideas for reclamation in its Greater Port Adelaide Plan, but this was far in the future, although by 1959 there was a tentative plan for a controlled tidal basin. By 1963 the plans had been modified with the scheme to be jointly developed by the Harbors Board and the Housing Trust, but in 1965 the government decided it could not afford it. In 1967 Premier Dunstan negotiated with a consortium of private developers and finally an agreement was reached with Development Finance Corporation to form West Lakes Limited to administer and develop the area. Work on the dredging of the lake and inlet from the sea began in 1970 and the lake was filled by October 1974; the first sales of sites were made in early 1971. Since that time West Lakes has become a most attractive suburb. The Advertiser , 8 February 1968. Susan Marsden, A History of Woodville, 1977, pp. 287-95.