South Australian Institute (1856 - 1940)

Summary

The South Australian Institute was founded in 1856 by the newly formed Government of South Australia. The South Australian Institute served as a public library, museum and art gallery. The first parts of the collection was handed over from the South Australian Mechanics Institute. The first curator was Frederick George Waterhouse appointed in 1859 after the construction of the South Australian Institute building was completed. In 1940 a separate Museum Department within the Public Service was created.

Related entries

Timeline

 1856 - 1940 South Australian Institute
       1940 - South Australian Museum

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Hale, H. M., 'The First Hundred Years of the Museum, 1856-1956', Records of the South Australian Museum, 12 (1956), 1-225. Details
• King, John K., '1856 and all That: Recent History of the South Australian Museum: Part 1: the First Hundred Years', Friends of the South Australian Museum newsletter, 17 (1) (1986), 4-9. Details
• King, John K., '1856 and All That: Recent History of the South Australian Museum, Part 4', Friends of the South Australian Museum newsletter, 19 (2) (1987), 3-9. Details
• Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory, 'Australian Museums of Natural History: Public Priorities and Scientific Initiatives in the 19th Century', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (4) (1983), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9830540001. Details
• Pring, A., 'The mineral collections of the South Australian Museum', Australian Journal of Mineralogy, 6 (2000), 59-70. Details
• Reed, Elizabeth H., Treloar, Jesse-Briar, Binnie, Mary-Anne N. and Thurmer, Jennifer, 'A late nineteenth century collection of fossils from the Naracoorte Caves highlights the role of the South Australian Museum in the history of the site', Helictite, 48 (2023), 19-32. Details
• Waite, Edgar R. [and others], 'Results of the South Australian Museum expedition to Strzelecki and Cooper Creeks, September and October 1916', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 41 (1917), 405-665, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43114958. Details
• Ziedler, W., 'The Flora and Fauna of South Australia Handbooks Committee: 10 March 1921 - 30 October 2001', Records of the South Australian Museum, 35 (2002), 91-6. Details

Newspaper Articles

• 'The South Australian Institute', Adelaide Observer (1856), 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161261438. Details
• 'The South Australian Institute', South Australian Register (1856), 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49753680. Details
• 'South Australian Institute', South Australian Register (1859), 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49829183. Details

See also

• Davis, William E.; Boles, Walter E.; and Recher, Harry F. eds, Contributions to the history of Australasian ornithology, volume IV (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Nuttall Ornithological Club, 2018), 608 pp. Details
• Nettelbeck, Amanda (and others), The Overland Telegraph Line: A Transcultural History, [web resource; undated], South Australian Government, South Australia, 2023. https://otlhistory.sa.gov.au/. Details
• Pybus, Cassandra, A very secret trade: the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2024), 318 pp. https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Cassandra-Pybus-Very-Secret-Trade-9781761066344. Pages 239, 254 (referred to as South Australian Museum). Details
• Tindale, Norman B., 'Milerum (1869?-1941), shearer and Aboriginal ethnologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 498-499. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100485b.htm. Details
• Waterhouse, G. A., 'Notes on the type specimens of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera) in the museums in Australia, with special reference to those in the South Australian Museum', Records of the South Australian Museum, 5 (1933), 49-62. Details