Sorry to have so long between posts, but I've been having some computer issues and I'm now sharing a computer with 3 other people - fine for checking emails but not so great for hours of research!
When I'm able to properly research again, I'm planning a post about someone who I believe was grossly overlooked in Tony Robinson's 'Time Walks' (of Adelaide). It was great to hear about Mary Lee and Ebenezer Ward (I very nearly wrote 'Scrooge'!) but there were a few other people involved in women's suffrage in SA.
As always, I'm taking 'requests'. If you have a question/query about SA history, let me know by commenting below and I'll try my best to answer it.
Before I go, I have a question for you: what do you think a 'saddling paddock' is? Answer in the comments below :)
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Adelaide: Then and Now
I was just checking the news on AdelaideNow and this article caught my eye.
It shows beautiful panorama shots of Adelaide streets from 1936. I love how so many buildings are still standing, although it was a bit sad to some of the less-than-attractive modern buildings were once cute Victorian terraces. I particularly liked the Hindley Street photo - the buildings are exactly the same, but instead of a Coffee Palace in 1936, 2012 has an 'adult book shop' and takeaway food. The Rundle Street East photo is probably the most interesting, with two-storey buildings in 1936 where a road is today.
It shows beautiful panorama shots of Adelaide streets from 1936. I love how so many buildings are still standing, although it was a bit sad to some of the less-than-attractive modern buildings were once cute Victorian terraces. I particularly liked the Hindley Street photo - the buildings are exactly the same, but instead of a Coffee Palace in 1936, 2012 has an 'adult book shop' and takeaway food. The Rundle Street East photo is probably the most interesting, with two-storey buildings in 1936 where a road is today.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Fenn Place {Part 2}
It’s time for another instalment of the history of Fenn Place, this one focusing on opium.
As early as 1841, just five years after South Australia was settled, South Australian newspapers warned readers about the effects of opium (“at the opium shops in Constantinople”): “A stupor, which lasts about eight hours…is attended by a gnawing of the stomach, but none of that nausea consequent upon the use of vinous or alcoholic drinks. The intoxication of this drug produces an utter listlessness and dislike to everything around the individual who cannot be happy or easy until he returns to the poison again. At length the appetite for food is destroyed, the mind becomes incapable of pursuing any study, the nervous system is quite unhinged, there is a sort of delirium tremens, the muscles become indolent and flaccid, and almost incapable of obeying volition. The body becomes deformed, the chest grows out, the ribs are crooked, one shoulder get higher than the other, the vertebrae are displaced and sunken, the head falls on one side, and all kinds of horrible contortions and distortions take place, until death puts an end to the miserable existence of the opium-eater...The Chinese opium-smoker, on whose countenance the love of opium is written, becomes decrepit in early life, his skin appears like parchment, and if but 25 years old, looks full twice that age, and all the results of opium-eating becomes his lot.” (Southern Australian, 24 August 1841, p. 4)
By the 1870s, opium eating was ‘added to the vices which already hold sway over so many thousands of our fellow-colonists in Australia’. Opium was sent from Hong Kong to Sydney ‘for consumption by the lowest class of European females in that colony’ and ‘it has been rumoured that in Melbourne the fallen women who have sunk to the lowest depths of infamy by illicit intercourse with the Chinese have for some time been in the habit of taking this deadly drug.’ (South Australian Chroncile and Weekly Mail, 14 August 1875, p. 5).
In 1879, Alfred Hughes, a forty-six-year-old storekeeper from Sturt Street, died from opium poisoning – he probably took laudanum before he died. In fact, most cases from Adelaide involving opium poisoning were from people taking laudanum. Opium dens were not very common in Adelaide, although they did exist.
Fenn Place was connected with opium in the early 1890s and in 1912 – a Japanese man residing in Fenn Place died from opium poisoning in October 1892 and a Chinese man was arrested for receiving a parcel of Chinese potatoes concealing two tins of opium from 3 Fenn Place. (South Australian Register, 26 October 1892, p. 6; The Register, 22 August 1912, p. 5).
In the early 1900s, there were an estimated 50 opium dens in Adelaide, mostly in the side streets and alleys of Hindley Street, but it soon fell out of favour. This might be due to the huge cost – the customs officials cracked down on the illegal importation of opium, which made it increasingly difficult to import and, therefore, very expensive in Adelaide – about £5 an ounce by 1928.
In 1928, it had been fifteen years since an opium den had been raided by the police in Adelaide, but a photograph depicting a ‘typical scene’ in a Chinese opium den was published in The Register. It, and the accompanying article, can be viewed HERE. In the accompanying article, the journalist wrote that “within half a mile of the very heart of Adelaide there exists a Chinese opium den, probably the only survivor of many similar “joints” which jostled each other in the west-end about 25 years ago”. The den was known only to Chinamen, according to this article, and it was an unassuming building somewhere in the west end. ‘With rough concrete walls and floor, and plain wooden benches, the scene of the night’s entertainment is distinctly squalid and the atmosphere “could be cut with a knife.”’ In the early 1900s, non-Chinese men were using opium dens, which was considered ‘the worst evil’ by society at the time, but it was intimated that the opium dens of the late 1920s were used exclusively by Chinese people.
There were two raids on opium dens in Adelaide’s west end – Hindley Street and Fenn Place – in 1928 and 1929. In both cases, the men arrested for being in possession of opium were Chinese and cabinet makers. The Hindley Street opium den was in the Hooker’s Building on the southern side of Hindley Street and west of Morphett Street. If my sense of direction is correct, Hooker’s Building is still standing. This could be the opium den featured in the Register a few months earlier.
At 1pm on 1 December 1929, five detectives raided a two-storey house in Fenn Place. They seized a large quantity of opium, two opium pipes, and several lamps and trays. They also arrested a 46-year-old cabinet maker, Ah Fin, with having been in possession of opium. ‘The atmosphere in the house was said to be pungent with opium smoke’. The house, a two-storey structure, was very dark inside and the police used torches and matches to search. They also seized four bottles of Chinese liquor. Being in possession of opium was illegal because it was a prohibited import, but it was not an offence to be in possession of opium if it was not imported. The case against Ah Fin was dismissed at the Adelaide Police Court because it could not be proved that the opium had been imported. The deputy Government Analyst, Mr. W. T. Rowe, told the Court that he once made opium from poppies growing in his garden at Woodville, therefore proving that it was possible to make opium in South Australia (The Register/News Pictorial, 2 December 1929, p. 25; The Register/News Pictorial, 4 December 1892, p. 2; Chronicle, 5 December 1892, p. 3).
I have two more articles on Fenn Place planned, and hope to have them up later in the week.
As early as 1841, just five years after South Australia was settled, South Australian newspapers warned readers about the effects of opium (“at the opium shops in Constantinople”): “A stupor, which lasts about eight hours…is attended by a gnawing of the stomach, but none of that nausea consequent upon the use of vinous or alcoholic drinks. The intoxication of this drug produces an utter listlessness and dislike to everything around the individual who cannot be happy or easy until he returns to the poison again. At length the appetite for food is destroyed, the mind becomes incapable of pursuing any study, the nervous system is quite unhinged, there is a sort of delirium tremens, the muscles become indolent and flaccid, and almost incapable of obeying volition. The body becomes deformed, the chest grows out, the ribs are crooked, one shoulder get higher than the other, the vertebrae are displaced and sunken, the head falls on one side, and all kinds of horrible contortions and distortions take place, until death puts an end to the miserable existence of the opium-eater...The Chinese opium-smoker, on whose countenance the love of opium is written, becomes decrepit in early life, his skin appears like parchment, and if but 25 years old, looks full twice that age, and all the results of opium-eating becomes his lot.” (Southern Australian, 24 August 1841, p. 4)
By the 1870s, opium eating was ‘added to the vices which already hold sway over so many thousands of our fellow-colonists in Australia’. Opium was sent from Hong Kong to Sydney ‘for consumption by the lowest class of European females in that colony’ and ‘it has been rumoured that in Melbourne the fallen women who have sunk to the lowest depths of infamy by illicit intercourse with the Chinese have for some time been in the habit of taking this deadly drug.’ (South Australian Chroncile and Weekly Mail, 14 August 1875, p. 5).
In 1879, Alfred Hughes, a forty-six-year-old storekeeper from Sturt Street, died from opium poisoning – he probably took laudanum before he died. In fact, most cases from Adelaide involving opium poisoning were from people taking laudanum. Opium dens were not very common in Adelaide, although they did exist.
Fenn Place was connected with opium in the early 1890s and in 1912 – a Japanese man residing in Fenn Place died from opium poisoning in October 1892 and a Chinese man was arrested for receiving a parcel of Chinese potatoes concealing two tins of opium from 3 Fenn Place. (South Australian Register, 26 October 1892, p. 6; The Register, 22 August 1912, p. 5).
In the early 1900s, there were an estimated 50 opium dens in Adelaide, mostly in the side streets and alleys of Hindley Street, but it soon fell out of favour. This might be due to the huge cost – the customs officials cracked down on the illegal importation of opium, which made it increasingly difficult to import and, therefore, very expensive in Adelaide – about £5 an ounce by 1928.
In 1928, it had been fifteen years since an opium den had been raided by the police in Adelaide, but a photograph depicting a ‘typical scene’ in a Chinese opium den was published in The Register. It, and the accompanying article, can be viewed HERE. In the accompanying article, the journalist wrote that “within half a mile of the very heart of Adelaide there exists a Chinese opium den, probably the only survivor of many similar “joints” which jostled each other in the west-end about 25 years ago”. The den was known only to Chinamen, according to this article, and it was an unassuming building somewhere in the west end. ‘With rough concrete walls and floor, and plain wooden benches, the scene of the night’s entertainment is distinctly squalid and the atmosphere “could be cut with a knife.”’ In the early 1900s, non-Chinese men were using opium dens, which was considered ‘the worst evil’ by society at the time, but it was intimated that the opium dens of the late 1920s were used exclusively by Chinese people.
There were two raids on opium dens in Adelaide’s west end – Hindley Street and Fenn Place – in 1928 and 1929. In both cases, the men arrested for being in possession of opium were Chinese and cabinet makers. The Hindley Street opium den was in the Hooker’s Building on the southern side of Hindley Street and west of Morphett Street. If my sense of direction is correct, Hooker’s Building is still standing. This could be the opium den featured in the Register a few months earlier.
At 1pm on 1 December 1929, five detectives raided a two-storey house in Fenn Place. They seized a large quantity of opium, two opium pipes, and several lamps and trays. They also arrested a 46-year-old cabinet maker, Ah Fin, with having been in possession of opium. ‘The atmosphere in the house was said to be pungent with opium smoke’. The house, a two-storey structure, was very dark inside and the police used torches and matches to search. They also seized four bottles of Chinese liquor. Being in possession of opium was illegal because it was a prohibited import, but it was not an offence to be in possession of opium if it was not imported. The case against Ah Fin was dismissed at the Adelaide Police Court because it could not be proved that the opium had been imported. The deputy Government Analyst, Mr. W. T. Rowe, told the Court that he once made opium from poppies growing in his garden at Woodville, therefore proving that it was possible to make opium in South Australia (The Register/News Pictorial, 2 December 1929, p. 25; The Register/News Pictorial, 4 December 1892, p. 2; Chronicle, 5 December 1892, p. 3).
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| Intersection of Hindley Street and Morphett Street, facing north. Photograph taken in October 2012 from outside the 1928 opium den. |
Monday, 12 November 2012
The History Girl now on bloglovin
If you're on bloglovin, you can now follow The History Girl. A proper link will follow soon...once I've figured it out!
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Thursday, 25 October 2012
Fenn Place {Part 1}
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| Fenn Place, 2012 |
In the 1800s and early 1900s, it was the place to be...if opium dens, sly grog shops, thievery and the occasional shoot-out were your thing!
I found a surprisingly large amount of information about Fenn Place, so I've decided to split into several posts, each focusing on a different aspect of life in Fenn Place. This one is about the Salvation Army Women's Shelter.
The Salvation Army was active in the West End of the city throughout the late 1800s/early 1900s - the first Salvation Army Hall in Australia was built in Light Square in 1880. The Army ran several homes in the city - a Rescue Home in Gilbert Street; a maternity home in Carrington Street; a children's home in Norwood, among others. The Women's Shelter was originally in Rosina Street, but it moved to Fenn Place in about 1907 when "the gradual development of that quarter into a business street and the removal of many poor families to localities farther west induced the Army authorities to seek new premises in the western part of the city." (The Advertiser, 10 September 1909, p. 8). In 1907, The Advertiser referred to the Rosina Street shelter as a 'Slum Post' and admitted that Rosina Street was once one of the "lowest quarters" of the city, but had since become a respectable business thoroughfare so the Army decided to move further into the slums. Fenn Place is only about 600m west of Rosina Street, which only goes to show the vast differences in streets within Adelaide's Square Mile.
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| An old 2-storey building on Fenn Place (Honestly, I don't know the history of this building - it just looks pretty) |
The "best" of the women earned money and meals with domestic work, and Adjutant Scott could not say how the others occupied their time. Life at the Shelter was not easy, for the volunteers who ran it and the women who lived there. "There are some dreadful characters among them, and they abuse us horribly when, because there is no vacant bed, we are compelled to refuse them admittance...As you can see the place is kept clean and fresh, and I assure you it is not a nice undertaking to have to clean the dormitories after they have been occupied by some women, who are as unpleasant in their habits as it is possible to be." The Salvation Army volunteers (known as "Slum Post girls" in 1907) wore wide-brimmed hats and white aprons with 'For His sake' emblazoned in red on their chests. These girls supplied food, cleaned houses and cared for children if the parents were unwell, as well as supervising the women at the Shelter and organising their meals. They moved about 'the lowest parts of the city', but were never "interfered with" or "insulted". (The Advertiser, 27 June 1907, p. 6)
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| The same old 2-storey building on Fenn Place |
Saturday, 20 October 2012
An apology, a TV recommendation, and a list
I'm sorry for not blogging for awhile and leaving you hanging with the photo from the last post.
It's Bonython Hall at the University of Adelaide on North Terrace and, unfortunately, I don't actually have a post for it right now! HERE is a photo of it when it was first built and HERE is some brief information about its history. I love that Bonython wanted it to have sloping floors so people couldn't dance there!
I feel like all I do lately is make apologies for not being able to do anything besides uni work, but the year's almost finished and then I'll have plenty of time to write here!
Have any of you been watching Tony Robinson's Time Walks? Adelaide is the last episode and I can't wait to see where he visits!
For now, I have a list of some Adelaide history questions that have been running around my head for a couple of weeks and, I'm sure, will be answered here at some point:
1. Why is there a statue of Robert Burns outside the State Library?
2. What was on the State Library site (the new building with the glass front) before? I know there was the library built in the 1960s, which was demolished for the new library, but what was there before that?
3. What was on the UniSA City West site before UniSA City West? I know it has street names (George Street, Fenn Place, Register Street), so I assume it had houses - I've done a little bit of research into this already and, let me tell you, it's pretty juicy.
It's Bonython Hall at the University of Adelaide on North Terrace and, unfortunately, I don't actually have a post for it right now! HERE is a photo of it when it was first built and HERE is some brief information about its history. I love that Bonython wanted it to have sloping floors so people couldn't dance there!
I feel like all I do lately is make apologies for not being able to do anything besides uni work, but the year's almost finished and then I'll have plenty of time to write here!
Have any of you been watching Tony Robinson's Time Walks? Adelaide is the last episode and I can't wait to see where he visits!
For now, I have a list of some Adelaide history questions that have been running around my head for a couple of weeks and, I'm sure, will be answered here at some point:
1. Why is there a statue of Robert Burns outside the State Library?
2. What was on the State Library site (the new building with the glass front) before? I know there was the library built in the 1960s, which was demolished for the new library, but what was there before that?
3. What was on the UniSA City West site before UniSA City West? I know it has street names (George Street, Fenn Place, Register Street), so I assume it had houses - I've done a little bit of research into this already and, let me tell you, it's pretty juicy.
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| Corner of Fenn Place and North Terrace: I have a feeling this little angel face could tell some amazing stories if they could talk! |
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