Most of Australia’s regional capitals are situated in scenic sea-side or river-side settings and offer an interesting mixture of historical and contemporary architecture. In the upcoming issues of Home Review is a three-part series on Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.
With a population of just over one million, South Australia’s capital of Adelaide offers all the charms of a small town combined with the buzz and excitement of a big city.
When the British colonizers created a settlement here in the early 19th century, they wiped out the culture of the indigenous Kaurna tribe; traces of which can today be experienced in the city’s museums such as the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute and the South Australian Museum.
Other prominent cultural institutions in the city include the Art Gallery of South Australia, whose collections of decorative arts, sculpture, painting and photography from across Europe and Asia are housed in a handsome Victorian building. Nearby, the Migration Museum is situated in a historic colonial building centred around a courtyard and exhibits objects, personal items and memoirs of the many different ethnicities and communities that immigrated into the province.
Stroll down the pedestrian Rundle Mall street to explore some of Adelaide’s most exquisite civil buildings. The Adelaide Arcade is a shopping plaza that opened back in 1885, with a Palladian-style façade and interiors sumptuously decorated with cast iron, plate glass, coloured marbles, geometric floor tiles and gas lamps. At the end of the street, the Beehive Corner is an interesting specimen of Gothic Revival Architecture applied to a retail structure, and been a favoured meeting spot for Adelaideans for over a century.
The Karrawirra Parri River flows just north of Adelaide’s historical core and is flanked by pleasant parks, Victorian-era bridges and rotundas. It is also the site of the historic Adelaide Oval stadium whose redevelopment has been a recipient of Australia’s National Award for Public Architecture.
Text And Photos By Kunal Bhatia And Shuvajit Payne
Contact
Email: kunal@kunalbhatia.net
Web: www.kunalbhatia.net
