Henry Collins
18 October 1929 Henry Collins Henry Collins of Mount Bryan died on 18 October 1929 at the age of 97 years. His family came to South Australia when he was seven and his first job was as a shepherd boy in Adelaide. The family moved to Burra where they lived in one of the dug-outs in the Burra Creek and Henry worked in the mine while still very young. He managed to save enough money to buy a dray and bullock team and began carrying loads between Burra and Port Adelaide. After an unsuccessful trip to the Victorian goldfields he married, at 24, and had a family of 16 children. For a time the couple lived in a tent at Iron Mine, west of Burra, while Henry carried loads or iron ore for flux to the Burra smelters. In 1859 he bought two 80 acre sections and grew wheat while still carting various items. When the price of wheat fell he turned to sheep farming. This was the beginning of the now world famous Collinsville Merino Stud which was established by a son, John Collins, in 1895. Unfortunately this property, with its record-priced rams, was sold to West Australian interests some years ago. Ian Auhl, The Story of the ‘Monster’ Mine , Investigator Press, 1986, p.420.
The Movies
19 October 1896 The movies At a matinee in the Theatre Royal on 19 October 1896 Adelaide people saw for the first time the wonder of moving pictures. The Cinematograph was described by the Advertiser as ‘an example of mechanical ingenuity which must be seen to be appreciated’. After the initial showing in the Theatre Royal the apparatus was removed to the Beehive Building and exhibitions continued there. The pictures ranged from dancers to boxers and a battle between Buffalo Bill and some Red Indians. The coming of the silent movies was followed by the first talkie which was given a gala reception when The Jazz Singer opened at the Wondergraph Theatre in Hindley Street on 2 March 1929. The theatre had been completely renovated to feature this new entertainment. The Regent Theatre also began showing talkies at the same time with the feature film The Red Dancer . The long queue for seats almost caused a traffic jam in Rundle Street and the management had to allow people into the foyer and lounges to clear the street. 125 years of The Advertiser , Advertiser Newspaper, 1983, pp.53, 122.
Fort Glanville
2 October 1880 Fort Glanville The big guns at Fort Glanville were fired for the first time on 2 October 1880. The fort, started in 1878, had a garrison of 40 men and a battery of two 64-pounder guns and two 10 inch guns and had been built to defend shipping in the Semaphore anchorage. Fort Largs, completed in 1884, had all its fortifications on the sea side and only a wooden fence at the back which prompted some wag of a journalist to write that a notice should be posted stating: ‘This fort must not be attacked from the rear’. There was a proposal to build another fort at Glenelg but this never eventuated. Forts Glanville and Largs were put on alert in 1885 when it was feared there could be a Russian attack because of hostilities between Britain and Russia over Afghanistan, but the argument was settled peaceably. No shot was ever fired in anger from these forts. Fort Glanville was later used for the Fort Glanville Historical Society and Fort Largs became the Police Academy. H.M. Cooper, A Naval History of South Australia, Adelaide, 1950.
Grace Darling Hotel
20 October 1849 Grace Darling Hotel The grand opening of the Grace Darling Hotel at Brighton took place on 20 October 1849. The hotel was named after the British heroine who rescued survivors from the wreck of the steamship Forfarshire which ran on to rocks near the Longstone lighthouse on the Farne islands off the coast of Northumberland in England in September 1838. The Register of 10 October reported that the licensee, Charles Calton, stated the hotel would have ‘the comfort of an English home’ and also that ‘boats and bathing machines will be supplied as the season advances’. Another large banquet was held there on 16 December1854 after the laying of the foundation stone of St Jude’s Church by Bishop Short. In March 1855 the Brighton Council began to hold its meetings in the hotel; but by 1867 the building was being used as an Industrial School for children and was under the control of the Destitute Board and later still, in October 1874, became the first home of the Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institute established by William Townsend. H.A.F. Taylor, History of Brighton South Australia, 1958, pp.69-70.
Overland Telegraph
21 October 1872 Overland Telegraph The completion of the telegraphic connection of Adelaide to Darwin and hence to many parts of the world gave rise to visions of grandeur in the eyes of some people. On 21 October 1872 the Mayor of Adelaide sent a telegram of congratulations to the Lord Mayor of London in recognition of this fast form of communication. The Governor, Sir William Jervois., stated that South Australia now possessed the key to the whole Australian continent because the centre of telegraphic communication must also mean the centre of the postal communication and as South Australia was already in control of the inland navigation of the continent and the centre of the railway connection between the eastern colonies and eventually the Indian Ocean, Adelaide must necessarily become the commercial centre of Australia. The writer, Thomas Worsnop, went on to say: This is no wild speculation. It is a substantial fact which is gradually but surely in process of realisation. A very few years will sweep away the mist from the vision of jealous rivals and instead of endeavouring, as in times past, to ride rough-shod, by means of temporary riches, over what even recently has been called a ‘farinaceous village’ they will be glad to recognise her power, influence and resources … Thomas Worsnop, History of the City of Adelaide , 1878, pp.356-58.
Sir Langdon Bonython
22 October 1939 Sir Langdon Bonython Sir Langdon Bonython was a millionaire when he died at the age of 91 on 22 October 1939. He had joined the staff of the Advertiser in 1864 at 16 years of age and was a protégé of one of the founders, J.H. Barrow, who had control over editorial policy. While still young Bonython became chief of the reporting staff and then sub-editor. In 1878 he was made a member of the firm of Barrow and King at the same time as Frederick Burden, a stepson of Barrow. King retired in 1884 and the firm became Burden and Bonython. In 1893 Burden sold his interest and Langdon Bonython became sole proprietor at the age of 45. He had a great interest in education and was instrumental in establishing the School of Mines and was president of Roseworthy College. Lavington Bonython, Langdon’s eldest son, followed his father into the management. Langdon’s father, George Langdon Bonython, represented an old Cornish family, the Bonythons of Bonython and Carclew, (hence the name of the house in North Adelaide) who were landowners in Cornwall for 700 years. The parents came to South Australia when Langdon was a child and he was educated in Adelaide. J.J. Pascoe (ed), History of Adelaide and Vicinity, Hussey & Gillingham, Adelaide, 1901, pp.316-19.
Home For Incurables
23 October 1879 Home for Incurables The Home for Incurables, now known as the Julia Farr Centre, was incorporated on 23 October 1879. The suggestion that a home for people suffering from incurable complaints came first from Julia Farr, wife of the headmaster of St Peters College, who had already helped to found a home for orphan girls, and she was supported by Dr William Gosse. With the voluntary help of others the Home was founded on 23 September 1878. The committee purchased nine acres of land at Fullarton with an eight-roomed house which was altered and enlarged. The first patients were admitted on 17 October 1879, some coming from the Destitute Asylum. In 1880 it was realised that a bigger building was already needed and it was decided to build anew rather than add to the existing house; this structure was completed in February 1881 and provided accommodation for thirty patients. In its fiftieth year the Home catered for 142 patients and had been enlarged considerably, funds coming mainly through donations and bequests. In the 1970s more buildings were completed giving the Home capacity for over 800 people and it was furnished with the latest equipment to help the physically disabled as well as recreational and occupational therapy for the patients’ welfare. Colin Kerr, The Home for Incurables the first 100 year, 1979.
Television
24 October 1959 Television The Governor, Sir Robert George, officially opened Adelaide’s second television station, ADS 7, on the night of Saturday 24 October 1959. One hundred and fifty guests in the main studio saw a ‘Variety Spectacular’ featuring many South Australian artists including Bobby Limb. The programme was received well in the city and some country areas. NWS 9, the first television station to go on air in Adelaide, commenced transmission on Saturday 5 September that year without ceremony except for a short speech by the Premier, Tom Playford at 7 pm. The evening’s feature programme was ‘An evening with Fred Astaire’. In the early days of television daily programmes ran from early afternoon to about 10 pm, by 1963 the two commercial channels were transmitting more than seventy-seven hour per week and in the 1980s this increased to a full twenty-four hour service from two channels. The national station ABS 2 began in March 1960 and SAS 10 in July 1965. Colour television was officially introduced in SA on 1 March 1975. Broadcast listeners’ and television viewers’ licences were abolished from 17 September 1974. Advertiser , 5 September and 24-26 October 1959. South Australian Yearbook , 1975, pp. 254-55.
Deaths Of Winemakers
25 October 1938 Deaths of Winemakers A major blow to the wine industry in South Australia occurred on 25 October 1938 when three of the leading vignerons were killed in a plane crash in Victoria. The fully loaded ANA Douglas airliner ‘Kyeema’ left Parafield en route for Melbourne, but at 1.43 pm some thirty miles beyond the Essendon airport it crashed into Mount Dandenong in dense cloud. It was the worst aviation disaster in Australia to that time and of the eighteen dead, seven were from SA. Charles Hawker, MHR of Hallett was one victim and the three winemakers were: Hugo Gramp, Managing Director of Gramps’ Orlando Wines, Sidney Hill Smith, Managing Director of Yalumba and Thomas Hardy, Managing Director of Thomas Hardy & Sons. They were on their way to Canberra for discussions with the government on the wine industry. Advertiser, 26 October 1938.
Captain Francis Cadell
26 October 1853 Captain Francis Cadell On 26 October 1853 the Legislative Council gave a dinner in honour of Captain Francis Cadell, one of the pioneers of river transport, who had just completed a successful trip up the River Murray from Goolwa to Swan Hill and return. In August the paddle-steamer Lady Augusta , named for the wife of the Governor, Sir Henry Young was brought through the mouth of the Murray after being sailed from Sydney. She was fitted to carry eight first-class and sixteen second-class passengers and had eight crew. Her passengers on the inaugural voyage up stream included the Governor, his wife and two members of the Legislative Council. Cadell also had built, in Goolwa, a barge called Eureka and with this in tow the party set out on 25 August and reached Swan Hill on 17 September. On the return journey 441 bales of wool and other cargo were loaded on to the barge for delivery to the wharves in Goolwa, hence to be transported to Port Elliot for shipment. This was the culmination of the plans of Young, Cadell and William Younghusband, merchant and politician, who saw the great river as playing an important part in South Australia’s trade. With others Cadell formed the River Murray Navigating Company which operated for several years before it failed, partly because Cadell apparently was not a good businessman and also because of difficulties with Victorian authorities, Eventually Cadell left South Australia and was murdered by South Sea Islanders while pearling near Torres Strait. Leslie McLeay and Nancy Cato, River’s End , Wakefield Press, 1985, pp54-60.