South Australia’s History Festival is in full swing, so there’s no better time to dig around in State Library’s archives and unearth rarely-seen historical photos of Adelaide.
Of the Library’s many digital archives (which you can access online) the Searcy Collection is one of the most extensive. Arthur Searcy was a Mount-Barker local, civil servant, and photography aficionado, who took and collected photos of Adelaide and its surrounds — almost 20,000 of them.
From Rundle Mall (before the mall), to Glenelg, check out just a few below and take a trip back in time.
The corner of Currie and King William Streets: approximately 1924 [click to enlarge]
Source: State Library of SA Searcy Collection PRG280-1-45-110
The same location today:
Rundle Mall (then Rundle Street), 1860s:
Source: State Library of SA Searcy Collection PRG 280/1/25/104
Approximate location today:
North Terrace, 1864…
Grenfell Street, near the corner of Gawler Place, 1919:
Source: State Library of SA Searcy Collection PRG 280/1/24/88