John McDouall Stuart

Back in January 2008, I introduced you to explorers Charles Sturt and James McDouall Stuart, including both in the entry to make it clear that Sturt and Stuart are two different people, not a typo. Of the two, James McDouall Stuart would become the more important—and would, in fact, open up a route to the [...]

North Terrace

Adelaide’s North Terrace, one of the boundary roads of the original city planned by Colonel Light, is not the only place one finds impressive buildings in Adelaide, but it does offer one of the city’s most concentrated collections of imposing architecture. Lining this handsome, mile-long boulevard one finds Parliament House, the University of South Australia, [...]

Rundle Mall

At the heart of every large Australian city, there is an attractive pedestrian mall—but Adelaide’s Rundle Mall was the first.
As is true of most of these pedestrian-only streets, Rundle Mall is lined with department stores, boutiques, specialty shops, book stores, and eateries (coffee shops, delicatessens, restaurants, milk bars, and food courts). When I was [...]

Festival City

For much of its history, Adelaide was known as the City of Churches, and indeed, there is a surprising number of impressive church buildings in the old part of the city. However, as with many of the early American colonies, this did not simply show the presence of religion, but also represented political freedom, freedom [...]

Opals and Inlays

When one mentions opals, most people think immediately of precious opals, the gem-quality stones that tend to show up in pieces of jewelry. It is precious opal that possesses the flashing, shimmering colors—the opalescence—that make the stones so lovely.
While opals are found in a number of places around the world, the finest gem opals are [...]

Paterson’s Curse

As I traveled into the countryside outside of Adelaide, I was amazed to see fields everywhere blanketed by lovely, tall, purple-flowered plants that were identified as weeds called Paterson’s Curse (Echium plantagineum). Also known as Salvation Jane, this relative of borage, introduced from Europe in the mid-1800s, has become widespread in temperate Australia. It blankets [...]

Into Adelaide

Thanks to the vision of Colonel William Light, Adelaide is a wonderfully laid-out city, with abundant gardens and parks, remarkably wide streets, and attractive squares every few blocks. Colonel Light chose the city’s site in 1836, and soon handsome, imposing buildings began growing up along the sweeping boulevards and amid the parks he had mandated.
Born [...]

Australian Food

Last month, I joined Australian Pastry Chef Naomi Levine for a presentation given to the Culinary Historians of Chicago. Naomi talked about (and had samples of) several classic Australian sweets, then I rolled into a discussion of Australia in general and Australian food in particular. WBEZ, the local Public Radio Station, recorded our presentation. They [...]