18th of Blaugust - O - Old Photos of Adelaide

I get absolutely fascinated by these sorts of photos. I love to try to picture in my mind exactly where they were taken and then get gobsmacked as to how much has changed.

This one was taken in 1880 and is of King William Street looking south. You can see the Town Hall to your left (without a clock) and the GPO to your right. I believe that glass ANZ building would be where that building with the weird looking tower is today.

This is one of Bee Hive corner back also in 1880 where Rundle Mall would meet with King William Street today. No dome with a bee on it here. It's actually the name of a drapery shop. The current Beehive building would be built just five years later.

Here is another one from 1880 of Victoria Square. If you find old maps of Adelaide you'd find that Victoria Square was not originally diamond shaped. It was laid out like the other four squares in the city. King William Street went straight through the middle as Grote Street and Wakefield Street met in the middle. I wonder what they call that little bit of road that goes through the middle of Victoria Square? Technically it should be neither Grote Street or Wakefield Street as "no one shall cross the path of a monarch!" That's why all the streets change name when they meet King William. It's also why King William Street is renamed as it gets to both North and South Terrace. They aren't crossing King William Street as the street ends with a new one starting on the other side.

This is of the Institute Building back in 1875 located on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue. Today it is now joined as part of the State Library for a while it used to house an Exibit of things belonging to Sir Donald Bradman. Speaking of cricket in Adelaide...

1933 was when this photo was taken of the infamous Bodyline Test at Adelaide Oval where a record high crowd for Cricket at the ground was set at 50,962. That record has been in place for so long and is probably set to be toppled now that the ground has been redeveloped. It was apparently taken from the top of the heritage listed scoreboard. Can you believe someone proposed we take that scoreboard away? Considering you can no longer see St Peters Cathedral anymore, it's one of the few original parts left and would be a shame to loose. But to be fair, you do have to squint to read what it from the Riverbank Stand.

This was taken in 1927 one year before the current Adelaide Railway Station was complete. It wasn't until the mid eighties when what is now known as the Intercontinental Hotel and the Adelaide Convention Centre was built over the top of the platforms. Before then, all the platforms were out in the open. Who knows where the photographer was standing when this was taken. I like to think he'd be somewhere in hall H near where we had the LAN area at AVCon.

Outside the CBD now. This was taken in approximately 1956 in the Goodwood Road Underpass at Millswood. And yes, that is a tram going right through it. The Metropolitan Tramways Trust painted their H class trams silver back then to make them look similar to the busses they were also running at the time. That's how our busses came to be silver all the way up to the 90's and early 2000's. This tram was on the Colonel Light Gardens line which used to stop on Springbank Road.

So there is my little history lesson for you all. Hopefully you're almost as fascinated as I am (or curious at the least).