Adelaide - Streets
Streets by Name
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Streets by Name
A series of comprehensive articles on individual streets commences
in the Observer,
24 August 1929, page 30c.
For further information on street nomenclature see Manning's Place Names of South Australia.
H
Halifax Street
For information on the Halifax Street "Destructor" see City Council.
The Register of 1 January 1870, page 5e talks of a "Free School" there:
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A few nights ago about 200 city Arabs, waifs and strays and other youngsters
were collected in [the street] mid, where for many months a free school for
the children of those who are unable or unwilling to educate them has been
conducted. The specific object of the gathering was to afford them an evening's
amusement in the Christmas holidays...
(See Adelaide in respect of a "Ragged" School.)
The laying of the foundation stone of a new school is reported in the Register,
14 March 1873, page 5a,
Observer,
15 March 1873, page 7c.
Also see Education.
The laying of the foundation stone of a Wesleyan schoolroom is reported in
the Observer,
7 June 1873, page 7d;
for information on the Church see Express,
12 August 1899, page 3d,
28 September 1899, page 4e,
Observer,
21 October 1899, page 43b.
The laying of the foundation stone of St John's Church is reported in the Chronicle,
21 May 1887, page 7e; also see Religion.
Examinations at Miss Chapman's school are reported in the Observer,
23 December 1899, page 5e.
Also see Education.
The first tomato in South Australia was grown in this street by a Mr Chance - see Chance's Garden Corner.
The opening of a kindergarten is reported in the Advertiser,
2 November 1925, page 15g.
A photograph is in the Observer,
27 December 1913, page 32.
Also see SA - Education.
An account of a new temple for the Christadelphians is in the Register,
6 and 9 January 1928, pages 8b and 12a,
23 April 1928, page 11b.
Hanson Street
"Street Corner History" is in the Register,
21 September 1929, page 5a.
A soup kitchen in Hanson Street is described in the Observer,
7 April 1870, page 6b,
Register,
27 May 1870, page 5c.
A cartoon is in The Lantern,
7 June 1884, page 1.
Also see Destitution.
Hill Street
"Street Corner History" is in the Register,
20 September 1929, page 5a.
Hindley Street
Hindley Street - An Overview in the 19th Century
Many of the doings of the pioneer population of the State are directly connected with Hindley Street. It may seem peculiar at first that the only two members of the British House of Commons who joined the first Board of Directors of the South Australian Company should have given their names to what afterwards became the chief retail business centres of the metropolis. They were Messrs. Charles Hindley and John Rundle.
But in this as in many other matters, what looked like purely fortuitous circumstances was really the result of the energy displayed by the South Australian Company. The road which it constructed from the Port was taken into the city by way of Hindley Street, and as this was in line with Rundle Street, it was natural that the traffic, and therefore the retail business of the city, should become concentrated in the direction of these thoroughfares.
Reminiscences and Prospects
Hindley Street has a splendid past; it has been the "Chief of Streets" and a city historian once said - "Permission was given to the public on March 28, 1837, to cut down and grub trees in the public streets... most of the buildings were erected on the west end of Hindley Street; and after some months the alignment of the street could be judged by the unpretentious cottages and stores that had been built... For many years Hindley Street was the centre of trade and was expected to permanently hold that position."
There were many reasons for that. The settlers all came into the young city from the west and the water was obtained mostly from the River Torrens. However, the principal reason was the fact that immigrants who landed at Port Adelaide travelled to a ford near Hindmarsh, thence up to the place where Morphett Street begins and into Hindley Street. Immigration Square was situated in the park lands a little to the westward - the first home of many a South Australian - and in the western area business was done for many a year.
With the advent of drays and wagons, the streets became in a dreadful condition. In Hindley Street the wagons would sink to the axles, and the animals which hauled them would bury their legs in the mire. Water gathered in the hollows, the passengers' boots became covered with mud and the footpaths were little better than the roads. The Register printed certain impressions of South Australia by Rev J. Maughan made whilst he was holidaying in England; with tongue in cheek he talked of the temperate climate and took a side-swipe at the condition of Adelaide's streets in winter:
-
A new chum walking [along Hindley Street] saw a good-looking hat in the middle
of the road... He... picked it up, when a head was turned up and a voice
called out... "that's my hat... and my horse is below me".
On a more serious note residents voiced their disapproval of some "trade" allegedly carried out there:
-
It is about time that some means were adopted to prevent young girls parading
Hindley Street all through the day with the most unblushing effrontery, sometimes
drunk or nearly so, but at all times appearing in such guise that, taken
together with their conduct, there is no mistaking the life they follow...
Vice stalks abroad in open day, apparently unchecked, while in some of our streets - notably Hindley Street - it is not fit for a respectable woman to walk in broad daylight... I have heard it [said it is] the city of meeting-houses, public-houses and houses of ill-repute.
More specifically, comment was made on a brothel in Hindley Street:
-
[It] is open all night long and is kept by a notorious woman [who] has been
convicted for receiving stolen fowls[!!!]
But Father Time brought a change to the economic condition of Hindley Street. On 21 April 1856 the Port Adelaide Railway was opened and it took most of the traffic away; the suburbs away to the foothills in the east sprung up and eastward went the trade. A special reporter wrote on the streets vicissitudes in 1913 - "The place was a veritable cradle for big concerns. First Ware's Exchange Hotel - a little down from King William Street. It is a history in itself, with its sketches and lingering memories of the pioneering days. To walk through its big low-ceilinged rooms is to think at once of the drovers and farmers who once made merry there. To see the photographs - quaint and laughable - of old George Coppin, the first lessee... when it was built in 1839 is to recall a good comedian of the early years.
"The Almond brothers had shops together there, but the funny part of it was that their establishments were separate. One of the brothers would sit out in front with a concertina and if you asked him who his neighbour was he would reply ""No relation"". Further along just past the Theatre Royal [the site of the modern-day car park], Mr Lever, a hatter, used to do business. Near the Eagle Tavern [today's McDonalds] were some butchers, about whom some good anecdotes are told. One Jack Edwards used to give away a bunch of turnips or other vegetable with a hind or fore quarter of lamb or mutton.
"Opposite the position of Miller, Anderson & Co's shops - the name was Miller and Lucking - was an early printing office of The Register and further down a lane still bears the title of that paper. The Black Bull is an old place... The Concordia Band, which came with Burton's circus, used to play outside and one of the performers - Mr Klauer - afterwards was host of the White Hart Hotel...
"Further along was W.C. Rigby's place, and Mr Haussen owned a potato shop (on the site of Messrs. Davis, Browne and Co's Arcade), which was managed by the veteran Mr J. Chittleborough. Bickford's had two chemist shops in the street... But for all its one-time power, Hindley Street has become, to some extent, obscured..."
"Just a line or two about the railway. When the new platforms are built, the whole of the southern passenger system will have its centre down near the present goods sheds. Thus traffic is likely to be once more diverted into Hindley Street. Now, say some, is the time for the corporation to look ahead. Why not make a broader thoroughfare leading from North Terrace into Currie Street? Property in Victoria Street, for example, is cheap enough, and that could be widened and continued via Rosina Street to the place named. It is worth thinking about. And so is Hindley Street - past, present and future."
Sources
Manning's Place Names of South Australia, City of Adelaide Year Book, 1939-1940, Register, 25 January 1870, p. 6d, 13 June 1874, 6 November 1880 p. 7b, 19 December 1883 at page 7b, 21 June 1913, pp. 11d and 14f.
For an account of a trip from Port Adelaide to Adelaide in 1838 see Port Adelaide
General Notes
"Street Corner History" is in the Register,
22 August 1929, page 5b.
An account of an emu hunt in the street in the late 1830s is in the Observer,
26 March 1859, page 4h.
An 1840 sketch from the west end of the street is in the Pictorial Australian in
March 1884, page 45 and one of 1844 in
September 1892, page 140.
The Register of 20 May 1846, page 3a says:
-
If the householders in Hindley Street were to subscribe two shillings each
a sum amounting to eleven pounds would be raised, and parties having carts
and drays might be procured to clear the street of its present inconveniences...
Any voluntary subscription... would be better than to allow the main street
to appear like a bursted water main of the New River Co, carrying with it
filth and off-scourings of all things.
"Old landmarks" are discussed in the Register,
3 December 1904, page 11a,
Observer,
10 December 1904, page 32e.
"In the Early Days" is in the Register,
21 December 1914, page 6e,
Observer,
26 December 1914, page 30e.
"Some Interesting Personalities" is in the Register,
18 November 1916, page 12c.
The "shameful state" of the Hindley Street Hospital Government Buildings is reported in the Adelaide Times on 13 April 1850, page 1a:
-
Young orphan children are there exposed to the contaminating influence of women
of evil character associated with them in the same dwelling... The male department
is under the control of an imbecile man who, by the way, is the only attendant
upon the wretched victims of disease entrusted to his tender mercies...
"Gold fish stealing" is reported upon in the Observer,
12 November 1870, page 7d.
An 1856 sketch is reproduced in the Pictorial Australian in July 1887,
page 104.
New buildings in the street are described in the Register,
2 and 8 March 1878, pages 4g and 5c,
"Progressive Hindley Street" on
4 August 1902, page 6g; see
18 November 1916, page 12c for reminiscences of its early days.
"A Day With the Chinese" in Hindley Street is in the Register,
16 August 1884, page 6c,
17 December 1884, page 5g;
information on Chinese hawkers appears on
28 October 1895, page 6e.
"The Chinese of Adelaide" is in the Observer,
22 February 1896, page 43d.
Also see Adelaide - Chinese Population and South
Australia - Immigration.
New business premises are described in the Register,
26 August 1884, page 5d.
"Stabbing Affray in Hindley Street" is in the Observer,
13 February 1892, page 36a.
Photographs are in the Chronicle,
20 December 1902, page 58.
"A Street Battle - Seven Men Injured" is in the Observer,
25 September 1909, page 45a.
"West-End Riot" is in the Register,
25 January 1910, page 5b.
"Lovemaking in Hindley Street - An Amusing Case" is in the Express,
12 April 1911, page 1i.
"Hindley Street - Past and Future - Reminiscences and Prospects" is in the Register,
21 June 1913, pages 11d-14f (includes an early sketch); also see
The Mail,
30 August 1913, page 9a,
27 September 1913, page 9a,
Register,
28 August 1917, page 4e,
"Hindley Street in the Sixties" on
20 October 1917, page 10a.
"Improvement Campaign Launched" is in the Register,
1 and 14 May 1913, pages 9a and 12f; also see
26 August 1913, page 7a.
"Hindley Street - Attracting the Public" is in the Advertiser,
7 July 1913, page 14g.
"A Few West Adelaide Memories" is in the Register,
27 June 1916, page 4e.
"Adelaide's Foreign Quarter" is in the Observer,
31 July 1926, page 63a.
"Adelaide's Foreign Quarter", the West End, is in The Mail,
4 July 1931, page 7b,
25 February 1933, page 17,
"Problem of Adelaide's West End" on
19 January 1935, page 7a,
"Oasis in West End" in the Advertiser,
7 December 1935, page 10c.
Also see Chinese Population.
Reminiscences of hotels are in the Register,
21 December 1914, page 6e,
18 November 1916, page 12c,
17 and 24 July 1919, pages 5d and 4d.
"Old Hindley Street - Some Interesting Features" on
17, 24 and 31 July 1919, pages 5d, 4d and 5c.
Also see Hotels.
"West End Beers - Wonderful Works" is in the Register,
7 February 1928, page 10a.
Also see SA - Brewing.
"Another Step in Hindley Street History" is in The Mail,
4 March 1933, page 12c.
For information on Adelaide's West End see Adelaide - Miscellany.
Hobson's Lane (Place)
Information on a temporary St Luke's Church is in the Register,
10 February 1855, page 3d,
28 June 1855, page 2g.
The reminiscences of Samuel Mills, junior, are in the Register of 4 January 1913, page 6e in which he says:
-
I helped as a small boy to cart, with bullock teams, the rails from Upper Sturt...
for fencing... and a man by the name of Hobson (after whom Hobson's Place...
is named) did most of the putting up...
Following a death in a hovel in Hobson's Lane off Wright Street a correspondent to the Register on 30 July 1880, page 5c under the heading "Fever Spots in the City" says:
-
On entering these premises a sickening death-like smell, apparently emanating
from the floor near the fire place, made the task of inspection a hard one...
The stench from the rooms was damp and disgusting, quite enough to create
a fever... The premises were owned by a Miss Considine, who was warned to
attend the enquiry, but got drunk in the meantime and was unfit to give evidence.
Incensed by the facts surrounding the death the Editor on 31 July 1880 at page 4f says under the heading "What are our Health Officers Doing!":
-
The most casual visitor to some of the "back slums" of our city must be struck
with the filthy state of some of the premises and lanes through which he passes...
Human life is huddled in rooms that would scarcely be found fit for pigs. Unless
[something] is done we cannot expect any abatement in our rate of mortality...
(Also see Register, 30 July 1880 (supp.), page 2d for a description of shanties off Currie Street.)
Hutt Street
"Street Corner History" is in the Register,
29 August 1929, page 5b,
3 September 1929, page 7b.
