Queen Elizabeth Visited Elizabeth
21 February 1963 Queen Elizabeth visited Elizabeth On 21 February 1963 Queen Elizabeth II visited the new town of Elizabeth, established to the north of Adelaide, which was named after her. This planned satellite town was first announced by the Premier, Tom Playford, on 4 May 1950 when 3000 acres of open farmland near Salisbury were purchased by the South Australian Housing Trust. With increasing immigration it was realised that moderately priced public housing was needed and with its broad acres Tom Playford hoped to attract industry to the area as well. The Housing Trust could no longer build large, rental housing estates on land closer to Adelaide, and so planned a new town instead, close to employment at the weapons Research Establishment and in the direction Adelaide’s suburbs were likely to expand. The town was officially inaugurated by the Premier on 16 November 1955. The next day the first families moved into their new homes. With encouragement from the Housing Trust industry began to move to the area, and in May 1958 General Motors Holdens poured the foundations for its new factory. Over the years the town has grown into a city and with its many sportsgrounds, reserves, parks and gardens, and the thousands of trees which have been planted, it is a far more attractive place than the treeless, dusty plain of the 1950s which greeted the eyes of its first inhabitants who were genuine twentieth century pioneers. Margaret Galbraith and Gillian Pearson, Elizabeth The Garden City, Corporation of Elizabeth, 1982. usan Marsden, Business, Charity and Sentiment: the South Australian Housing Trust 1936-1986, Adelaide, 1986, Chapter 5.
Memory Cove
22 February 1802 Memory Cove In February 1802 Captain Matthew Flinders in his ship Investigator was hard at work charting the coast of South Australia. The ship was charting the whole Southern Australian coastline from west to east. Flinders found the entrance to a large gulf which he named Spencer’s Gulf after Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty in Britain. On 22 February Flinders anchored in a cove near the entrance of Spencer’s Gulf. There, on 24 February he erected a tablet in memory of John Thistle, the master, William Taylor, midshipman, and six of the crew who, as Flinders wrote, were ‘unfortunately drowned near this place from being upset in a boat. The wreck of the boat was found but their bodies were not recovered’. Flinders named the cove, Memory Cove, and the nearby cape, Cape Catastrophe. He had erected South Australia’s first memorial which was an engraved sheet of copper attached to a stout post. Replacement plates were mounted at Memory Cove in 1897 and again in 1924. R.M. Gibbs, A History of South Australia, Balara Books, Adelaide, 1969, p.12 Brian Samuels, South Australian Memorials 1802-1935, Leaflet No. 5, Community History Unit, History Trust of SA, Adelaide,1992.
Holy Trinity Church
26 January 1838 Holy Trinity Church North Terrace The contract to build Trinity Church on North Terrace was let to John White early in the new year of 1838 and the foundation stone was laid on 26 January by the Governor, John Hindmarsh. The first service was held on 21 July when Mr Howard, the colony’s first chaplain, baptised the daughter of Mr Foster, and two children of Dr Cotter. By October the building was considered too small and it was enlarged by adding a transept and vestry, which, at a cost of £1300, was more than the original building cost of £1000. The church’s finances were only just recovering when, in 1844, it was found that the walls and tower were cracked. The church was closed for repairs from December 1844 to August 1845. Holy Trinity was consecrated in July 1848. Since then the church has been altered and enlarged several times. The walls were raised, a chancel and wooden ceiling put in, the tower was made higher and the distinctive pinnacles added. The clock was made in 1836 by Vulliamy, clockmaker to William IV. As the oldest church in South Australia it served as the Governor’s church and pro-cathedral until St Peter’s was built in the 1870s. Brian Dickey, Holy Trinity Adelaide 1836-1988 , Adelaide, 1988
Walter Duffield
27 January 1876 Walter Duffield On 27 January 1876, for the third time in nine years, the flour mill of Walter Duffield in Gawler burnt to the ground. In 1842 Duffield bought the Victoria Mill in Jacob Street from Stephen King, enlarged it in 1849 and again in 1853. He prospered in the 1850s when the gold rush in Victoria pushed the price of flour up from £12 a ton to £37. On 23 June 1867 the mill caught fire and was burnt out. Duffield immediately decided to rebuild on a new site; the foundation stone was laid on 20 September and the new mill was working by Christmas. By the end of 1868 that mill also burnt to the ground, but the indomitable Duffield rebuilt yet again, only to see the property destroyed by fire early in 1876. It was 13 months before he opened his fourth mill in Gawler, although by this time he had other mills in Wallaroo, Snowtown and Port Pirie. His other interests included pastoral properties in the mid-north, south-east and in New South Wales. He was an MHA and MLC for a total of 18 years. In 1862 he built the Georgian style mansion, ‘Para Para’, which features a ballroom with an impressive circular cedar gallery above. The Duke of Edinburgh was entertained there on his visit in 1867 and was served wine made from grapes grown on the property. Duffield died on 5 November 1882 and the town of Gawler closed down for his funeral. ‘Para Para’ remained in the family until 1924, after which it fell into disrepair until 1940 when it was purchased and carefully restored. Further restoration has been done recently by the new owners. Judith Brown, Country Life in Pioneer South Australia, Rigby, 1977, pp. 109-124
Sir James Hurtle Fisher
28 January 1875 Sir James Hurtle Fisher Sir James Hurtle Fisher died on 28 January 1875. In 1836 he was appointed Resident Commissioner of South Australia under the South Australian Act. He was second only to the Governor in the hierarchy of the new colony, although their spheres of influence were separate. He had the power to dispose of public lands, the proceeds of which were to finance emigration to the colony. Fisher arrived on the Buffalo with the Governor, John Hindmarsh, in December 1836. Even on the voyage out the two men were in dispute over their respective powers and the disagreements continued on arrival in the colony. They argued over the site of the city and the slowness of the survey of lands. This dissension went on until Hindmarsh returned to England in July 1838. With the arrival of Governor Gawler later that year, Fisher ceased to act as Resident Commissioner and returned to his profession of law, becoming leader of the South Australian Bar. In October 1840 he was elected the first mayor of Adelaide, a position he held again from 1852-54. He was a Member of the Legislative Council in 1853, speaker in 1855-56 and president from 1857-1865 when he retired from politics. In 1860 he was knighted, the first resident South Australian to receive the honour. He was associated with many public institutions: amongst others he was president of the SA Jockey Club and one of the founders of St Peter’s College. Douglas Pike (ed), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, pp. 379-380
Robert Thomas
4 January 1837 Robert Thomas On 4 January 1837 Robert Thomas, who arrived in South Australia aboard the Africaine in November 1836, was appointed the Government printer. The Thomas family, like most others, lived in a tent, but Robert had brought with him a Stanhope printing press which shared their temporary home. With the Proclamation of the colony on the 28 December 1836 Governor Hindmarsh ordered 100 copies of the document to be printed which Thomas did on the press now housed in a rush hut. The press can now be found in the Mortlock Library Reading Room. In June 1837 the Thomas family moved to their town acre in Hindley Street but continued to live under canvas until a building, constructed of mud and boards, to contain both the family and the printing press, was finished in September. The first South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register was printed in Fleet Street, London, on 26 June 1836 and the second was done in Adelaide, on 3 June 1837. Thomas’ partner was George Stevenson who was also editor. The paper became a weekly by 1838 and was later called the South Australian Register , after Thomas lost the government business in 1840 for criticising some of Governor Gawler’s actions. Despite a protest to the British Government about his dismissal the decision stood as he had no written proof of the appointment. In 1842 Thomas was insolvent and sold the Register to James Allen for £600. From 1845-52 he was Inspector of Weights and Measures for the Government. He died on 1 July 1860 at his home in Hindley Street. Bede Nairn (ed), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, p. 264.
Captain Samuel Sweet
5 January 1886 Captain Samuel Sweet On 5 January 1886 the South Australian Register carried an editorial tribute to Captain Samuel Sweet who had died suddenly at Riverton the day before. The Editor described him as a man of ‘kindly disposition …. [who] devoted all his time and great skill to the development of landscape photography …’. It is not certain when he began his interest in photography, but he was accomplished in the new technique before coming to Australia. Sweet arrived in South Australia in 1866 after spending some time in Queensland and in Sydney. He worked full time as a photographer for three years from 1866-69, before going back to sea. He was a very experienced seaman having joined the Royal Navy in 1844, serving in China and later, in the Merchant Service, in South America. In 1869 he was appointed Captain of the Gulnare which was to carry men and supplies to the new settlement at Port Darwin. While in Port Darwin he took many photographs of the area and presented an illustrated lecture of his trip on his return to Adelaide. He made three more trips to the Territory over two years, taking photographs each time, but on the fifth trip the Gulnare was lost. In May 1875 Captain Sweet was master of the barque Wallaroo which ran aground at Port Wallaroo after colliding with a sister ship, the Kadina. A Marine Board inquiry into the incident found that the loss of the barque ‘was attributable to an error of judgment’ on Captain Sweet’s part and he was censured for ‘neglect’. While his seafaring days were at an end he continued as a photographer until his death. His visual records of Adelaide and the Northern Territory are invaluable. Philip Pike, Julian Moore, Captain Sweet’s Adelaide, Adelaide, 1983.
Bishop Augustus Short
6 January 1882 Bishop Augustus Short When the Right Reverend Augustus Short DD left for England on 6 January 1882 he had served as Bishop of Adelaide for 34 years. He was consecrated a bishop on 29 June 1847 and appointed to the See of Adelaide. He arrived in South Australia in December that year. He was installed as Bishop of Adelaide at Holy Trinity Church on 28 December. During his incumbency he was involved in the controversy over the cathedral acre in Victoria Square. Armed with a formal land grant under the seal of the Governor he claimed the land for the church, but local authorities rejected the claim and after lengthy legal proceedings the Supreme Court decreed, in 1855, that the claim was not enforceable. A new site in North Adelaide was chosen instead and the foundation stone of St. Peter’s Cathedral was laid on 29 June 1869. The first portion was consecrated on 1 January 1878. With a grant of £2000 from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and donations from others, the Bishop was instrumental in establishing St Peter’s College in 1869 and later the formation of St Barnabas’ Theological College. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide and later Chancellor. For a time he lived at Beaumont House until Bishop’s Court in North Adelaide was completed. George Loyau, The Representative Men of South Australia , Adelaide, 1883, p. 213.
John Stokes Bagshaw 2
7 January 1888 John Stokes Bagshaw John Stokes Bagshaw died on 7 January 1888 at his home in Franklin Street, Adelaide. Bagshaw, a millwright and engineer, arrived in South Australia on 24 June 1838. He settled south of Adelaide where he was employed on the construction of flour mills at Noarlunga, Port Noarlunga and Encounter Bay. By 1839 he had established an agricultural implement workshop in Adelaide and there manufactured horse ploughs, chaffcutters and corncrushers. He won public recognition by building John Ridley’s first harvesting machine. He designed and produced the first winnowing machine in Australia and this became his speciality. He produced more than 200 machines, selling for £17, under the trade name ‘Champion’. His son John, also a skilful engineer and inventor, joined the business followed by a younger son Thomas. In 1912 the company bought a site at Mile End and in 1924 J.H. Horwood joined the firm which became known as Horwood Bagshaw Ltd. John Stokes Bagshaw represented Gawler Ward on the City Council from 1870-74. He was one of the founders of the Adelaide Branch of the Ancient London Order of Oddfellows. Douglas Pike (ed), Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 3, 72-3. The Observer , 7 January 1888, pp. 15-16.
5Ka And 5Au Closed Down
8 January 1941 5KA and 5AU closed down On 8 January 1941 radio stations 5KA Adelaide and 5AU Port Augusta were closed down by the Post-Master General’s Department for alleged ‘subversive broadcasts’. In July 1940 the Australian Attorney-General, W.M. Hughes, announced an official enquiry into the Jehovah’s Witnesses following a report to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Melbourne, from the Staff Officer, Intelligence, Port Adelaide, on 26 June, regarding communist activities. The report also stated that the Adelaide group of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the radio station 5KA had been under suspicion for some time. It was thought that they were transmitting coded messages to the enemy about ship movements, and also their anti-war stand was seen as bordering on treachery. As a result of the enquiry, together with the fact that the sect had been banned in Canada and New Zealand, the order for the closure of the radio stations was given. Later, in January 1941, after submissions to the Navy Department by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their legal representative, it was recommended to Hughes that the stations be allowed to re-open under certain conditions. However, before this was finalised the federal government decided that the Witnesses, and any organisation associated with them, should be banned under the National Security (Subversive Associations) Regulations. It was not until after a High Court case, based on Section 116 of the Constitution, which provides for the free exercise of religion, that the sect won its appeal against the Commonwealth, in a judgement handed down on 14 June 1943. They were then able to associate with each other again and their property, which had been confiscated, was restored. Peter Strawhan, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Radio 5KA 1930-1941 , BA (Honours) Thesis, Flinders University, 1984