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.
Samuel Stephens
18 January 1840 Samuel Stephens Samuel Stephens died in an accident on 18 January 1840. He came to South Australia as the first Manager of the South Australian Company, travelling out on the Duke of York , one of three ships which arrived at Kangaroo Island in July 1836. From the start the settlement there did not go well. The site chosen on the western shore of Nepean Bay proved to have no suitable timber for building. The soil was infertile and the water from the well which had been sunk turned brackish within a few weeks. There were problems with the men as well. Stephens’ journal reveals: a good deal of quarrelling on the ships and shore ……… the rats, ants and divers other rational and irrational beings being very troublesome … the men impertinent idle and dissatisfied and … all but impossible to keep … in anything like working trim. There was further trouble when, on 25 September, he married Charlotte Beare, sister of the Company’s Superintendent of buildings, and issued a rum ration to celebrate the occasion. The celebration turned sour and Stephens dismissed four of his officers for allegedly threatening his life and attempting to burn down the store. Reports of the problems connected with drink, and Stephens’ mismanagement, reached London in March 1837. He was suspended from his position in November of that year. In January 1840 he went with John Morphett, to see the special surveys taken they had taken near to the Murray River. Returning to Adelaide on 18 January, he was last seen on the brow of a hill above the city, called the Tiers at that time. It was there that it was usual to dismount because of the steep descent. His companions found him at the bottom, badly injured and unconscious, and took him to the home of Mr Geeson where he died half an hour later. Douglas Pike, Paradise of Dissent, Melbourne University Press, 1957, pp. 198-201. The South Australian Register , 25 January 1840, p. 4.
First Express Train To Melbourne
19 January 1887 First express train to Melbourne On the 19 January 1887 the first express train from Adelaide to Melbourne took 19 hours to make the journey. A number of viaducts and tunnels were built to carry the line across the Mount Lofty Ranges, as well as a bridge across the Murray River. Work on the bridge at Edwards Crossing, now Murray Bridge, commenced in 1873, but there was political wrangling over its construction which delayed the work, and in fact much of the imported iron work lay at Dry Creek for several years. The bridge was finally completed at a cost of £122,000. ‘R’ class engines were brought out from Scotland in 1886 to work part of the new line, to cope with the steep gradients in the hills. Later, in 1926, the ‘500’ class locomotives, known as mountain type, were used on the Overland Express between Adelaide and Tailem Bend where smaller ‘600’ class, Pacific type locos took over for the run to Serviceton on the border, the rest of the journey being completed with Victorian Railway engines. The locomotive No 504, named Tom Barr Smith, had a record run of 37 minutes from Adelaide to Mount Lofty on its last run on the line on 15 October 1961. This engine is now preserved in the Port Dock Railway Museum having completed 855, 029 miles in service. R.E. Fluck, R. Sampson, K.J. Bird, Steam Locos and Railcars of the South Australian Railways , Railway Museum, 1986, pp. 91-95.
Black Sunday
The 2 January 1955 is known in South Australia as ‘Black Sunday’. Terrible bushfires swept through the Adelaide Hills, blackening 600 square miles of country from One Tree Hill in the north to Strathalbyn in the south. Forty homes were lost as well as many other buildings, including the Upper Sturt railway station and Marble Hill, the Governor’s summer residence on Norton Summit. On that hot weekend the Governor, Sir Robert George, and his family went to stay at Marble Hill. By Sunday afternoon the smoke and heat showed that the fire was very near and in spite of the efforts of the staff with garden hoses the building suddenly caught alight. The family and staff narrowly escaped by throwing wet blankets over themselves. They huddled near a bank as the elegant old home burnt fiercely and the tower collapsed at the height of the blaze. Since then the impressive ruins have been partly restored by the National Trust but the Governors have never returned. There was great loss of property and stock in the fires in the hills and in the south east, but only one man died, at Inglewood. Until the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 this was the worst bushfire in the State’s history. Advertiser, 3, 4, 5 January 1955. Alison Painter
Louis Freycinet Exploration Of Spe
20 January 1803 Louis Freycinet – exploration of Spencer Gulf On 20 January 1803 Louis Freycinet, in his ship Casuarina , sailing up the larger of South Australia’s two gulfs, was in the vicinity of what is now called Moonta Bay. Freycinet was accompanying Nicolas Baudin in his ship Le Geographe on a voyage of exploration around the southern coast of Australia. After circumnavigating Kangaroo Island Baudin sent Freycinet to survey the two gulfs, particularly the west coast, and to examine carefully the Port Lincoln area, which had already been explored and named by Matthew Flinders. Freycinet was given twenty days to complete the task and then was to meet Baudin near St Peter Island in Denial Bay. Somehow the ships missed each other and Freycinet decided to go on to King George’s Sound in Western Australia where he waited for his colleague. The two Frenchmen, naturally gave French names to the bays, capes, and other points of interest sighted on their voyage, many of which survive today, particularly on Kangaroo Island and along the south-east coast. Freycinet named Cape Thevenard, and Murat Bay after Joachim Murat, King of Naples and Marshal of France under Napoleon. Murat Bay was changed to Ceduna in 1922. Denial Bay was named by Flinders in February 1802. Frank Horne, The French Reconnaisance Baudin in Australia 1802-1803, Globe Press, 1987, pp. 278-287.
Captain Collett Barker
21 January 1903 Captain Collett Barker A memorial to Captain Collet Barker was unveiled in Mount Barker on 21 January 1903. In 1831 Captain Collet Barker came from NSW, on the orders of Governor Darling, to explore the area that Sturt had discovered on his journey down the River Murray in 1829/30. It is believed that the ship anchored in Holdfast Bay and a party set out on foot, climbing Mount Lofty and Mount Barker from where they were able to see Lake Alexandrina. The party returned to their ship and sailed to Rapid Bay where they went ashore again and travelled overland to the mouth of the Murray River. Once there they began a search for a link between Lake Alexandrina and Encounter Bay. Barker left the main group and, with a compass fastened to his head, swam a channel, climbed a high sandhill for a better view, and disappeared. When he did not return a search was made, but nothing was found and it was believed that he was killed by Aborigines and possibly his body was thrown in the water and carried out to sea. This was on the 30 April. The party were the first white men to traverse the country between Mount Barker and the Murray mouth. George Loyau, The Representative Men of South Australia, Howell, Adelaide, 1883, pp. 53-4. R.M. Gibbs, A History of South Australia, Balara Books, 1969, p.18
Central Market
22 January 1870 Central Market The Central Market in Adelaide was officially opened on 22 January 1870. At the early hour of seven in the morning the Mayor and Councillors were at the market when, after a short speech by the Mayor to the assembled crowd of growers, stall holders and citizens, the market was declared open for the sale of produce, marketable commodities, hay and wood, in accordance with the regulations laid down by the Market Act of 1847. After the formalities the representatives of the Corporation adjourned to the Metropolitan Hotel nearby for breakfast where several toasts were proposed. The Artillery Band provided entertainment throughout the proceedings. The two acres for the market were purchased in 1869 and a further two acres were added in 1889. The Market Arcade was erected in 1915 and completed in 1923. Further development was considered in 1956 but was not completed until 1966, with more work done, including the building of a car parking deck above the arcade, in 1968. 125 Years of The Advertiser , Advertiser Newspapers Limited, 1983, p. 23. City of Adelaide Municipal Year Book , 1971-74, pp. 260-261
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