Moore’s on the Square was a magnificent department store known to two generations of Adelaideans and founded by Charles Moore, a businessman who was born in Ireland in 1858. According to Wikipedia “Moore’s opened in 1914, a new palatial store on the west side of Victoria Square between Grote and Grenfell Streets, designed by architects Garlick & Jackman. […]
In the mid 50s Cox Foys opened a new department store in Rundle Street with a rooftop funfair for the kids. There was a giant Ferris wheel, train rides, a merry-go-round and other rides that mum would take us to as a treat after shopping in the city. Unfortunately very few photos remain of the […]
Remember before the mall, when Rundle Street was open to vehicular traffic from King William Street all the way through to East Terrace? In 1976, then Premier Don Dunstan officially opened Rundle Mall as a pedestrian only thoroughfare from King William to Pulteney Street and Adelaide and (although there is some debate surrounding this), became home […]
The name Balfours has been associated with Adelaide for more than a century. For many baby boomers the name conjours up a trip to ‘town’ with mum or grandma and a lunch in the tea rooms that remained a fixture in the city until 2004, although it had been sold by Balfours in the late 80s […]
JUST the mention of Apollo Stadium to almost anyone who lived in Adelaide in the 1970s will have them reeling off the international musical superstars they saw perform there over the decade. Some of the biggest names on the planet strutted their stuff to sellout audiences on the makeshift stage in a building originally designed […]
Remember ‘Tom the Cheap’, a supermarket chain that first appeared in Adelaide about the 60s & 70s. According to Wikipedia it was started by Tom Wardle from WA and was probably the introduction of aisle type shopping in Australia. Previous to that groceries were served from behind a counter. Tom’s offered a no-frills service with just […]
There was some discussion on ABC Radio just recently about the ‘flying saucer’ building that was in Melbourne Street North Adelaide around the 70s and 80s. It was called ‘Futuro’ and was owned by Derek Jolly, entrepreneur and “larger than life” character who was responsible for much of the development of Melbourne Street in the […]
Remember “Friday night is speedway night in Adelaide!”? And the cartoon “Almost everybody goes to Rowley Park on Friday nights” which showed everyone from a grandmother to ambulance drivers and a jockey all making their way into the speedway. Ah yes, the golden era of speedway with Kym Bonython and his company Speedway Pty Ltd. In its […]
Last year ABC TV was running a weekly series titled “Who’s Been Sleeping In My House?” The premise of the series was an archaeologist would travel to various old buildings and homes around Australia and find out some of their history. During the term of the programme they did a story relating to a house with a mysterious […]
