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Off for a fun weekend. People about to board a bus to take them to a daytrip pokies tour to the Coomealla Memorial Club in Dareton, in 1983.

On The (Pokies) Buses and Trains

WHEN they first arrived in South Australia on July 25, 1994, poker machines immediately killed off a thriving little tourism industry known as “the pokies tours”. Those who were keen to revel in the heady thrill of legally pursuing a form of gambling that was illegal at home could take an organised poker machine tour […]

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Burger King Poster Adrienne Peel

When Burgers Were King

‘ The burgers were better at Burger King,’ writes Bob Byrne of Adelaide’s initiation into the US fast food fad – complete with waitresses on wheels ADELAIDE’S first taste of American-style fast food happened in 1962, when Don Dervan – originally from Washington D.C. – opened his first Burger King, on the corner of Anzac […]

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Photo from the State Library of SA. The South Australian Hotel at the very height of its fame. Photo by Max Dupain, taken in the early 1950s

The ‘South’ – Gone but not Forgotten

On June 26, 1971, The South Australian Hotel in North Terrace closed its doors for the final time, marking the end of an era and bringing to a sad conclusion almost 100 years of Adelaide social and community history. During the last year’s 50th anniversary celebrations of The Beatles’ legendary visit to Adelaide, “The South” […]

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The Bowman Buikding and Arcade in King William Street, just near Currie Street. Demolished in the 1970s

Adelaide Lost (Pt 1). Photographs by Frank Hall

We drove or walked passed them regularly when we were younger, the buildings that were part and parcel of our everyday life in Adelaide until the 60s and 70s. Then they were suddenly gone, demolished to make way for a new structure or development. One enterprising photographer decided to capture some of the old buildings […]

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Photo from ARW. To a young child Coles Cafeteria was indeed a wondrous place. It always seemed so large, so many tables and so crowded.

Coles Cafeteria, Balfours and The Buttery

Cole’s Cafeteria, Balfour’s Tea Rooms, the Buttery at John Martins and Cox Foy’s Dining Room. Long before the fast food chains arrived in Adelaide, the main emporiums and department stores catered for their customers with a cafeteria style dining room offering the ‘fast food’ of the day. Ahhh! The memories! To a kid, on a […]

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Photo courtesy Anthony Harrison. Marineland at West Beach, many people have mixed emotions about this Adelaide marine park.

Mixed Memories for Marineland

Marineland was a marine park that opened at West Beach in 1969 and closed in 1988, in rather controversial circumstances. Feature attractions of the park were the performing dolphins and seals while another of the major drawcards was the famous pelican ‘Mr Percival’ from the movie ‘Storm Boy’. Even today, 30 years after its closure, Marineland […]

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A property developer built the bridge so St Peters residents could cross the river to access his land sale and catch the Walkerville tram

The Gilby Swing Bridge. A Real Piece of Our History

The long-term future of the heritage-listed Gilberton swing bridge remains up in the air, despite recent maintenance work. The bridge which is almost 100 years old is deemed to have rusty joints and to be in need of a major overhaul. The joint owners, the Walkerville Council and Norwood, Payneham and St Peter’s Council will […]

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Photo from Norm Bridge. The interior of the Railway Station! It was always such a thriving hive of activity with people dashing to catch a train or people arriving and scurrying up the stairs into the city

Treasured Memories of the Old Railway Station

When Norm Bridge shared this photo of the Adelaide Railway Station of old on our Facebook page earlier this year it brought back a flood of memories for many of the site’s followers. I loved the old Railway Station! It was always such a thriving hive of activity with people dashing to catch a train […]

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Source: Serendigity’s Photostream on Flickr. My favourite photo of the ‘world’s prettiest cricket ground’ taken in 1972.

The Prettiest Cricket Ground in the World

With the first test wrapping up at the Adelaide Oval today, I was thinking back to the glory days when Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell and sundry used to call the cricket on Channel 9 and they would often refer to the Adelaide Oval as “the prettiest cricket ground in the world”. […]

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