2063472

Archives Assignment-South Australian Institute

Aim

To research the history of the South Australian Institute building which is located on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue, from its proposal in 1856 until the South Australian Institute was abolished by ‘The Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery Act, No. 298 of 1883-4’. The information will be related to the structures surrounding North Terrace, such as the other cultural institutions like theart gallery and public library and economic institutions in the form of various banks.

Method

Being an archival assignment, the vast majority of information was collected from primary sources, such as official reports by the governors of the museum and newspapers of the time. In some cases, secondary sources had to be used because it could not be found in primary sources or the information given was simply too impractical to find in primary sources. All information which was collected from newspaper primary sources was first obtained from the State Records of South Australia and from the StateLibrary of South Australia.

The State Records of South Australia was searched first and some very useful primary sources regarding the Institutewere found. One of these was the ‘Reports of the South Australian Institute’ which was quite useful because it provided extensive information regarding how the Institute was used, important developments and what the overall aim of those who governed it. It also mentioned dates of important events which added dates which were then further research using historical newspapers.A letter of petition regarding the opening of a museum was located which was of some value because it was written in the cursive of the nineteenth century, making it quite difficult to read so an individual who was familiar with cursive had to translate it. This individual stated that the cursive was of poor quality, making it difficult to read, so some words could not be identified without uncertainty. Regardless, the date, the intended recipient and the overall intent of the letter was still found, albeit without the name of the individual who wrote it who was not mentioned.The ‘Board of Governor’s Roll Book’ was also recovered and proved to be of some value because it gave lists of those who governed the museum from before its construction until 1932. There were also additional sheets of data regarding Institute governors in the roll book but it could not be confirmed that they were part of the book. Additionally, most of the ‘Board of Governor’s Roll Book’ was handwritten, but in a form that I could relatively easily read, however some names may still be misspelled.Also, the document ‘Papers concerning soirees, lectures, readings, and classes conducted by Board’ was of some use because it gave some descriptions regarding what occurred in events at the South Australian Institute, some portions were similar to the letter mentioned previously, illegible. There was another untitled sleeve documents which had very little relevance in relation to this research. The document ‘Correspondence regarding lease of temporary premises and erection of a permanent (?)’ was examined which proved to be was of limited use because all of it was in the cursive style mentioned earlier and it was in too great a quantity to decipher to be practical. It could be assumed that the title refers to the Library and Mechanics Institutewhen it mentions ‘lease of temporary premises’ because the former was said in ‘A Potted history of the museum’ (South Australian Museum 2004) to be leased to the South Australian Institute.‘Reports of the South Australian State Library’ (SRSA GRG 19/367/1) and ‘Board Decisions’ (SRSA GRG 19/368/1) were examined in order to find information regarding the library that is currently attached to the Institute building, however data in these records were irrelevant. ‘Building-sketch plans of land and buildings under the control of the Board’ was also searched in order to find a layout of the Institute building but the sketches and plans were of the area surrounding it, having very few specific details. ‘Captain Sweet’s Adelaide’ (Pike and Moore 1983) was examined in order to find some evidence of the wealthy classes of the time period in question living in the area surrounding North Terrace. No evidence, however, was found.

The StateLibrary of South Australian was then searched for historical newspaper articles which were stored on microfilm. The ‘Advertiser’, ‘Chronicle’ and ‘Register’ were all quite useful in regards to the South Australian Institute and were used extensively.In relation to the banks of the Adelaide CBD and the destitute asylum, the ‘Advertiser’ and ‘Register’ were much more helpful than the ‘Chronicle’. However, these were useful mostly in confirming dates of significant events, there was little additional information. This was not always the case, however, many of the early reports were merely ‘public notices’, but some aspects of the South Australian Institute were given articles where much important information was obtained. Missing pages and editions was a problem with newspapers, particularly the ‘Chronicle’ which had a few important editions missing and also had some damaged microfilm rolls. The first researching technique regarding newspapers was using secondary sources to find significant dates in the history of the South Australian Institute. Almost all of these dates were taken from the South Australian Museum’s history website ‘A potted history of the South Australian Museum’ (South Australian Museum 2004). This technique was relatively useful because it could locate some important articles confirming the dates mentioned. This had many limitations, however, because newspapers did not always report the event on the day, it was sometimes mentioned ahead of time or afterwards, making it impractical to search for in some cases. An example of this was when, according to the South Australian Museum (2004), the concept of the South Australian Institute was put forward to the government in 1856. This information could not be directly located in primary sources such as newspapers, there is much information from primary sources after that year but none that confirm it.The information from the museum’s website was limited in the sense that it did not always have specific dates, some were in months or years, making it highly impractical to search.A website which filled in some gaps left in primary source dates was the ‘South Australian Memory’ website (State Library of South Australia 16 Dec 2004).The problems regarding specific dates were remedied to some extent by the next piece of information gathered which was from the State Library of South Australia website called the ‘Manning Index of South Australian History’ (State Library of South Australia n.d.). This index contained vast amounts of newspaper references regarding a variety of different topics, such as the Institute, the museum, library and banks. This was extremely useful in collecting information from newspapers because almost all known dates referring to the issue of interest were listed. It also mentioned contents of some newspaper articles and quotes, but these were checked against actual articles for authenticity. This index, however, was not the complete list of newspaper references, many newspaper articles located using the former technique regarding the museum were not mentioned, leaving gaps in research.This was the same for the fact that some articles mentioned in the index were not on the correct pages of the newspaper, or, in some cases, not mentioned at all. This brings further doubt to the effectiveness of the Manning Index. Despite this effective research technique, there are still large gaps in regards to dates of significant events, forcing me to use secondary sources to explain them.

Results

The original South Australian Institute went through many developments, the structure, its uses and those who governed it.The idea of an institute which would contain a public library, art gallery and museum was put forward in the form of a new act by Governor Hindmarsh in June 1856 (South Australian Museum 2004). This information is reinforced by a letter from an unknown individual on the seventh of September, 1858, which was a petition to the House of Assembly asking for funds to construct an Institute building (SRSA GRG 19/190/1). This evidence is further supported by the fact that the first governor of the South Australian Institute, Farrell, D. was elected on 18thof July, 1856 (SRSA GRG 19/357/1, 1856-1940). Under Mr Farrell there were eight governors who cooperatively governed all parts of the South Australian Institute: Everand, W. Venerable Archdeacon Farr, Honourable GlydeL., ReesR., Edward C.S, ToddC., The Honourable Way S.J. and Wyatt W. (SRSA GRG 19/357, 1856-1940, p 9). In the construction of the South Australian Institute, the foundations had to be laid three separate times because they were considered to be inadequate (1879, The Chronicle, 15 Nov, p 5). The South Australian Institute cost approximately from thirty thousand to forty thousand pounds (1879, The Chronicle, 15 Nov, p 5) of taxpayer money (1861, The Chronicle, 29 Jan, p 3).The South Australian Institute was opened on the 29th of January 1861 by Sir Charles Cooper (1861, The Chronicle, 29 Jan, p 1).

To help fill galleries and to raise general funds, soirees which were very popular were held regularly in the Institute (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1861-2, p 2). These were usually performed regularly, with the exception of 1867 in which they were cancelled for the year due to the large amount of celebrations in Adelaide at the time and the governors of the South Australian Institute did not believe the soirees could compete (SRSA GRG 19/367/1, 1867-8, p1). These soirees were a mixture of education and entertainment; they usually included lectures and occasionally theatre productions (SARSA GRG 19/191/1). The lectures included covered a wide range of topics like politics, for example, the soiree on the 29th of January, 1861: ‘Half an hour in the House of Commons’ (SRSA GRG 19/191/1).The South Australian Institute was also used for direct education, from the time it was opened it held many evening classes and lectures for various topics, for example, mathematics and French (SRSA GRG19/369/1, 1860-1 p 2). These classesinitially, were not very popular, only three of them commenced due to lack of students (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1861-2 p 1). Despite this the evening classes continued for many years and expanded into science (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1862-3, p 1-2).Overall evening classes were not very popular and few additional topics were added to the schedule (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1869-70, p 2). Lectures were also held in the South Australian Institute which were separate from the classes which covered a huge numbers of topics such as science and philosophy (SRSA GRG 19/369, 1860-1, p 2). However, around 1867 these became less popular and the only lectures that received a large number of individuals were ones which were considered ‘amusing’ (SRSA GRG 19/369, 1867-8, p 2).The problem of student attendance continued for both educational aspects of the South Australian Institute, this occurred to such an extent that the numbers of lectures were reduced in 1875 (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1875-6, p 1) and classes reduced in 1879 (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1879-80, p 2).

The Institute, at first had limited artefacts and pieces of art to fill the galleries of the museum and art gallery so it encouraged citizens to make contributions (1861, The Chronicle, 29 Jan, p 3). These contributions also occurred before the opening of the Institute, such as in 1860 where William Owen donated a large number of Fijian artefacts from his private collection (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1860-1, p 2). The museum within the South Australian Institute acquired very large amounts of artefacts and exhibits, for example, it received a large collection of stuffed animals to display (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1862-3, p 5). These acquisitions continued until 1870 when there was little room left in the museum portion of the Institute which was forbidden from purchasing any more artefacts (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1870-1, p 4). There is a chance that this led to the consideration of an expansion of the South Australian Institute in 1872 (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1). However, this did not occur as a direct extension because the design of the Institute building apparently did not allow for this with the exception of a possible hall on the north side of the structure (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1). The new wing was intended to be far away enough from the Institute building to be seen as free standing and important in its own right (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1). It was also intended to be close enough to the Institute building to allow the construction of a temporary corridor between the two if this became necessary (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1). The foundations of the West Wing were laid on the 9th of November 1879 (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1882-3, p 1). After the completion of the West Wing in 1882 the public library and the museum moved into it leaving the art gallery housed in the Institute building (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1882-3, p 1).

As mentioned previously, in 1884 ‘The Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery Act, No. 298 of 1883-4’ came into effect and abolished the South Australian Institute (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1883-4, p 1) after being operational for over 23 years. The last chairman of the Institute was Todd, C. and the governors were Joohol, L., Reverend Archdeacon Farr, Dr Wyatt, Honourable Glyde, L., Dr Stirling, Everard, Rees, R. and Wary, C.J. (SRSA GRG 19/357/1).

Analysis

The establishment of the South Australian Institute gives an idea of the area surrounding North Terrace; this was that the people living nearby and in fact, the city of Adelaide itself wanted a strong and organised cultural centre. This is coupled with the presence of numerous banks on and around North Terrace, many originating in South Australia and some from overseas. Some of these are ‘The Bank of Australasia’ and ‘The London bank of Australia’ (1911, The Register, 16 Dec, p 8). This adds a powerful level of commerce to the area, essentially making the area surrounding North Terrace the centre of culture and commerce of Adelaide. The South Australian Institute appeared to want to spread its cultural influence professionally through soirees, lectures and evening classes. However, as mentioned previously, the lectures and evening classes were not incredibly popular and became less popular as time went by. These services were continued despite this which perhaps shows more of a will to educate the public from the Board of Governors more than the will of the public. The exception to this rule was the numerous soirees which were held by the Institute which were quite popular which also had educational content. This may be because, as mentioned earlier, they contained both educational and entertaining activities, the entertaining portion may have been what made them so popular. The South Australian Institute’s regular services, such as general admittance to the library, art gallery and museum appeared to be quite popular, an example of this was when the museum began opening on Sundays (1879, The Chronicle, 26 July, p 5).The South Australian Institute appeared to be generally popular in relation to education and was considered by some to be vital for the education of Australians and to make Australia more competitive (1879, South Australian Advertiser, 8 Nov, p 5). This statement, however contradicts the fact that the education-focussed services in the Institute were relatively unpopular, but it does show how important its education was for some, perhaps for the few who used the services provided.

As mentioned previously, the South Australian Institute initially relied heavily on donations from the general public to fill the galleries of the museum and art gallery (1861, The Chronicle, 29 Jan, p 3). These donations, such as the Fijian collection from Mr William Owen (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1860-1, p 2) would have been likely made from individuals who could afford these objects, likely being relatively wealthy. If this was the case, it shows that the wealthy classes of society wishing for the establishment of the cultural centre.In relation to this, the museum, as mentioned before acquired large numbers of exhibits until it was eventually ordered to discontinue this procedure in 1870 (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1870-1, p 4). Possibly because of this, the museum appeared to have priority in regards to space in the Institute building, this was evident in 1867 when the museum took over the room which had been vacated by the school of design (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1867-8, p 3). It is unknown as to how the museum acquired these pieces, whether they were through continued donations by the public or through increased funding by the Board of Governors. Regardless, this indicates the importance of the museum in the Institute in relation to popularity and support.

By 1869 the South Australian Institute had become quite popular and likely played a part in the increased demand for culture and education. This demand, however appeared to outstrip what the Institute it could not provide for. It was stated that Adelaide had outgrown the Institute and needed an expansion into other sciences such as anatomy and astronomy (1869, The Register, 12 Mar, p 2). This demand may have some validity because, as mentioned earlier, a wing was added to the Institute in 1872 (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1).This new wing, although it was considered a separate structure, as mentioned previously, still would have had close affiliations with the Institute building because it was close enough to allow a temporary corridor constructed in between the structures (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1). The design of the new wing of the Institute was described as ‘Romanesque’ (1879, South Australian Advertiser, 8 Nov, p 5) which implied a classical, cultural structure. This indicates that the person who designed it wanted it to project culture not just within itself, but also to those who may pass by it but never enter it in their lives. In regards to the apparent design of the Institute building not allowing many extensions, this appears to be quite strange due to the fact that the State Library of South Australia is presently housed in between the old Institute building and the West Wing. It is also possible to walk between these three structures. The opinion of limited extension of the building came from the Board of Governors, it is unsure how they reached this conclusion, it may have been because of lack of technology. It could have also been that somehow the style of architecture could not be accurately imitated in a new extension and still be considered part of the Institute building. This could be traced back to the fact that the Board of Governors believed that the original architect of the Institute building did not allow for such expansions (SRSA GRG 19/369/1, 1872-3, p 1).