Lumen Autumn 2024 - Flipbook - Page 25
Celebrating 150 years
looked back at the generosity of its founders
and pointed out that the “University is still
heavily reliant on the goodwill and support
of the community which it serves”.
Fifty years on, Adelaide’s first university
is celebrating its 150th anniversary of
commemoration. There will no doubt be
a heightened sense of challenge in the near
future as the University of Adelaide era
ends and the amalgamated Adelaide
University begins. May the history, heritage
and stories of its first 150 years and the
centrality of its educational, scientific and
cultural contributions to the state continue
to be celebrated.
Another underplayed but inestimable and
continuing gift emphasised the centrality of
the University of Adelaide in the city and
state’s culture, education and sense of
maturity. The Government granted five
acres of Park Land on North Terrace for its
physical home. Then, the finesse and gothic
grandeur of the 1882 University Building
(later called the Mitchell Building) evoked
its lofty aims. It is hard to imagine how it
housed the entire University, with its five
professors and nearly 300 students by the
1890s, along with its library that doubled
as a graduation hall.
Why does the 1936 Bonython Hall sit
squarely at the end of Pulteney Street?
It was very much about preserving and
expanding on that precious land on the
city’s edge. The dream of some city
councillors of a road straight through to
North Adelaide was permanently dashed.
The significant gift of John Langdon
Bonython, proprietor of The Advertiser and
long-time member of the University Council
did much more than that, of course. It was
an important provider of work during the
Great Depression.
There is a striking photograph where past
and future collide. In 1932, the brand-new
building stood in the background of
pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman’s ‘jubilee
rodeo’ (see more on this and a video link
on the next pages).
It was extraordinary wealth grown on
vast pastoral interests that allowed
philanthropist Robert Barr Smith to bestow
very substantial gifts in his lifetime, and his
son Tom to offer a permanent endowment
and a new library bearing his father’s name.
The recently restored Reading Room has
been an inspiring study refuge for
thousands of students over nine decades.
For the Centenary of the University of
Adelaide, the founding 1874 legislation
was celebrated. Its physical landscape on
North Terrace had changed dramatically to
house huge increases in staff, students and
departments. An Open Day program noted
there were now about 9,000 students and
600 academic staff.
Though most funds came from the
Australian government by the 1970s, then
Vice-Chancellor, Sir Geoffrey Badger,
The University founders could
surely not have contemplated the growth
of their institution, both physically and
educationally as is witnessed by the city
campus alone that now stretches to the
Torrens/Karrawirra Parri, absorbing the
old Jubilee Oval on the lower level. In the
1930s, the University came down the
hill in grand style with the opening of
the magnificent Barr Smith Library. Its
architect, Walter Bagot, wrote that “climate
is the dominant factor”, predisposing it
to a Mediterranean classical form.
Christopher Wren’s Kensington Palace
was also an influence.
LUMEN
The histories and futures of both the
University and our state have always been
intertwined – and this, I hope, will continue
long into the future.
Keith Conlon OAM, Distinguished Alumni
Award, 2012, is our guest editor of this history
section of Lumen.
Keith has had a 60-year connection with the
University of Adelaide. As an undergraduate in
the 1960s, he was involved in copious campus
activities, including comedy revues and jazz
and folk performances. He somehow managed
to squeeze in Law and Arts degrees at the
same time.
In the ‘70s, he was an academic staff member,
leading the University’s pioneering educational
and community radio station, 5UV.
A perennial history enthusiast, he has since told
the institution’s stories on television and radio
and led North Terrace campus tours through
the decades. He is former Chair of the South
Australian Heritage Council. His stellar media
career had him popularly dubbed as “Mr South
Australia”.
Images, Barr Smith Library: Keith Conlon
on the microphone, 5UV 1974; unveiling the
statue of Walter Watson Hughes 1906; laying
the foundation stone of the University Building
(now the Mitchell Building) 1879.
