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
Beef March
9 January 1931 Beef March On 9 January 1931 a number of young men met at Port Adelaide then moved to the Nile Street offices of the Waterside Workers Federation and Seaman’s Union. There they invited members to join them in a march to the city to protest against the action of the Government in omitting beef from the ration issued to the unemployed. The marchers, led by men carrying red flags and placards, were joined by others along the way. At Southwark they were joined by about 1000 more people who had marched from the Labour Exchange in Adelaide to meet them. The crowd, numbering about 2000, marched in an orderly fashion to King William Street and then down to the Treasury Building which housed the Government offices. There the leaders demanded to see the Premier. Some marchers became impatient and suddenly several bricks were hurled, one striking a plainclothes policeman on the jaw. Others armed with sticks and bars surged forward and in the ensuing melee several more police were injured as well as a number of marchers. Eventually after a dozen of the leaders of the march were arrested the rioters gradually dispersed and the situation calmed. Another disturbance at Port Adelaide that evening at another meeting was blamed on Communist agitators. Advertiser, 10 January 1931, p. 9.
Heatwave
12 January 1939 Heatwave On 12 January 1939 Adelaide recorded its highest maximum temperature ever when the mercury reached 117.7° Fahrenheit or 47.6° Celsius, surpassing the old record of 116.3°F in 1858. For 14 days, from New Year’s Eve until 13 January, the city sweltered, with nine days over the century. Fires raged through the Adelaide hills on 10 January with most damage done at Heathfield and through Crafers, Aldgate and the National Park at Belair. Twenty houses were destroyed and many hundreds of sheep and cattle killed. The hottest spot in the State was Kyancutta where a top temperature of 120.7°F or 49.2°C was recorded. This heatwave was worse than the period of 11 days of record temperatures experienced in February 1930. Then the temperature was over the century on seven days with the average being 100.5°F. It was the second longest spell of over 90°F heat for 73 years. Prior to this the hottest day for February was 113.6°F in 1899. Fortunately there was no report of bushfires in the 1930 spell. Advertiser , 10 February 1930 15, 13 February 1930, p. 30. Tom Dyster, Pump in the Roadway , Investigator Press ,1980, pp. 143-146. Advertiser , 10 January 1994, p. 10.
Glenelg To Marino Railway
13 January 1879 Glenelg to Marino Railway On 13 January 1879 a steam-operated railway opened for business between Glenelg and Marino. This was constructed by the Glenelg and South Coast Tramway Company and operated from Moseley Street through Somerton to the foreshore where it ran a few feet above high water to Marino. What an ill-fated project! It was plagued with sand drifts and poor patronage. There were two fatal accidents, the first when two children jumped off the train and were killed, and in the second an engine left the tracks and overturned, killing a man. One founder of the company was George Strickland Kingston who lived at Marino. To offset the lack of passengers during winter he opened a quarry on his property and transported the stone to Glenelg, but this innovation was not enough to save the line. It was closed on 22 April 1880 and the company wound up in July. Australian Railway Historical Bulletin , March 1969, p. 60. Eric Gunton, Gracious Homes of Colonial Adelaide, 1983, p. 76.
Kensington Sports Field
23 January 1965 Kensington Sports Field The Governor, Sir Edric Bastyan, officially opened the £50 000 Olympic Sports Field at Kensington on 23 January 1965. There was march past of nearly 400 athletes from 17 clubs around the state. A crowd of 8000 then saw a first-class athletics program which featured twelve members of the 1964 Olympic team at Tokyo and South Australia’s top athletes. South Australian Olympian, Dianne Bowering won the 100 and 300 metre run. Sir Edric and Premier Tom Playford ran a 30 yard challenge race in which the Premier just pipped the Governor. At the time the Field was considered to be the finest athletics arena in Australia. Advertiser ,23, 25 January 1965
Thomas Worsnop
24 January 1898 Thomas Worsnop Thomas Worsnop died on 24 January 1898 at his home in Barnard Street, North Adelaide. Worsnop arrived in South Australia on 12 November 1852. He first settled at Port Elliot with his family and worked as a storeman, for seven years, for Elder, Stirling and Company. In 1859 he was appointed a sergeant in the South Australian Volunteers. For a time he worked on the land but not with great success. Then he tried work as a publican and in 1863 he was lessee of the Globe Inn in Rundle Street, but he was declared bankrupt in 1864. Next, Worsnop took up the drudgery of work as a teamster in the north. Finally, in September 1866 he became a clerk in the Town Clerk’s department in Adelaide and on 11 January 1869 was appointed acting town clerk taking over permanently later that year. Somewhat surprisingly, given his previous failures, Worsnop proved to be a good administrator and he was able to reduce the debt of the City Council. He was also most concerned with protecting the parklands and fascinated by the history of city and colony. In 1878 he wrote the detailed History of the City of Adelaide and later had published several papers on Aboriginal artefacts and weapons. Bede Nairn (ed), Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 6, p. 440