progress, pubs and piety: port adelaide 1836-1915

536 Pages·2015·28.27 MB·English

by  Yvonne L. Potter

1.g.oo
IPUBS AND lPlllEllY:
IPIROGIRIESSo
iPORll AIDIELAIIDIE [836-n9n5
Yvonne L. Potter
Athe sof
degree f History
the
of Adelaide
November 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I
Abstract
ii
Decl.aration
iii
Acknowledgements
iv
T ab le s and I llus t r ations
V
Conversion Tables
Introduction 1
20
Chapter One A port for the colonY
Chapter Two A new port and settlement 1840-1869 10
Chapter Three Community identity and social consciousness r39
Chapter Four Progress and social imProvement 191
at the Port from the 1870s
255
Chapter Five The Port hotels
289
Chapter Six Saucy Sarah rarelY sober
325
Chapter Seven The Port churches
Chapter Eight The Reverend Joseph Coles Kirby and 390
social reform
Chapter Nine Pietv's progress: Local Option and the 449
triumph of-six o'clock closing
490
Conclusion
496
Appendices
503
Interviews and Information
504
BibliographY
I
ABSTRACT
PROGRESS, PUBS AND PIETY: PORT ADELAIDE 1836.191.5
This thesis argues that social tensions evolved at Port Adelaide, South Australia, between
the stable, traditional environment both the working-class and middle-class settlers were
trying to create for their families, and the wharfside activities of brawls, bars and
brothels which were a common way of life for many transient seafarers after long
periods at sea. Comparative studies with other Australian colonial towns, particularly the
ports of Fremantle and Williamstown, show that Port Adelaide differed in that it became
the base for long ranging temperance and social reform movements with the Reverend
Joseph coles Kirby, congregational church pastor at Port Adelaide for 28 years from
1880, exerting a major influence.
The development of the port of Adelaide began in 1836 when the first landing place was
huniedly located among the mangroves of a creek eleven kilometres from the capital' By
the 1870s Port Adelaide was a bustling, cosmopolitan town on a stable site' Fine
architecture enhanced the streetscape with imposing commercial buildings' warehouses'
hotels, Town Hall, Institute and stone churches of many denominations.
Public house and pulpit were intrinsically linked to the development or progress of Port
Adelaide from its earliest settlement until 1915. During this period the accompanying
social issues in the town were a challenge to townspeople and authorities' Drunken
behaviour was frequently a nuisance for locals, visitors and police, as was the delinquent
behaviour of lanikins or hooligans. The local police court regularly dealt with such
offenders and the port women who worked as prostitutes. A detailed study of the
contrasting lives of two Portonians from quite different circumstances provides insight
into the town and its people. Mrs Sarah Francisco (c.1839-1916) was convicted 295
times at the Port for being drunk and disorderly while the Reverend Kirby (1837-1924)'
campaigned for a decrease in the number of hotel establishments and later for the six
o'clock closing of bars.
The reformers Saw alcohol as a main cause of society's ills. The tensions between the
pubs of a port town and the ideals of a settled, sometime pious community came into
focus during the resulting debates on temperance. By 1915 the temperance movement in
South Australia had successfully campaigned for a reduction of liquor licences and
trading hours. Even in the port town of Port Adelaide, it seemed in 1915 that sobriety
and order had triumPhed.
11
DECLARATION
This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other
degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another
person, except where due reference is made in the text'
I
Should this thesis fulfil the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
consent to it being made available for photocopying and loan'
Yvonne L. Potter
Department of HistorY
Thè University of Adelaide
/Joun'-"'ø"'' /77
Dare: ......(?. 7
111
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the many people who have helped me over the years as I worked
on my thesis. I am especially grateful to my supervisors, Associate Professor Tony
Denholm who helped with the initial concepts and structure and continued his
assistance after moving to Tasmania, Dr Bill Gammage who patiently advised on my
work, and Dr Robert Dare who gave me astute guidance through the final drafts. The
support from academic and office staff, and fellow post-graduates in the Department of
History has been much appreciated.
I would like to acknowledge the interest and contribution by Dr David Kirby who
loaned family papers and shared reminiscences of his grandfather. Brian Samuels
kindly helped with his extraordinary knowledge of Port Adelaide history. Ray Gilbert
and Howard Loveder also shared with me their knowledge of the Port. I will long
remember Vivien Counsell of the Uniting Church in Port Adelaide who helped in my
early study of the church archives.
Olive Miller of St Paul's Anglican Church assisted me with information as did Lawrie
and Dorothy Shields of the Port Adelaide Historical Society, Sandra Morton' Local
History collection, Port Adelaide Library; the library staff at the Department of Human
Services (Housing and Corporate Development); Howard Groome, Aboriginal and
Islander Studies, University of South Australia; Sheridah Melville, Phyllis Silver and
Alfred Capel. David Morris of The Salvation Army, South Australian Division
Historical Society and George Ellis of The Salvation Army Heritage Centre in
Melbourne helped me discover material in The salvation Army Archives which brought
the life of Sarah Francisco into focus. The Mortlock Library of South Australiana
became a familiar setting while reading the Port Adelaide News and other documents
and I thank the staff for their help.
Finally, without the support of my husband Reaburn Reynolds, our daughters Sue'
Kate and Anne, and son-in-law Tony warren, this work could never have been
completed and I thank them for their love and encouragement'
1V
TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Tables
Religion of Portonians - 1866 Census 135
1
2 Number of persons working (by occupation group) 145
J Port Adelaide religions, February 1879 218
4 Possible outcomes of Local Option poll - Port Adelaide 460
5 Valid votes in Port Adelaide (1906 poll) 468
6 Reduction of Port Adelaide licences (1906 poll) 468
1 Port Adelaide licences not renewed in 1909 410
Illustrations
A sketch plan of the Port Adelaide area, 1840 5
1
44
2 The Old Port, Port Adelaide, 1838
62
J The new Port Adelaide, c.1840
4 Port Adelaide River, wharves and North Parade, 1846 14
89
5 Water-cart, Port Adelaide, 1860s
6 Initial subdivision of the Port Adelaide area 97
7 White Horse Cellars Inn, Port Adelaide, 1852 101
I Town Hall, St Vincent Street, Port Adelaide (1866) t33
t51
9 'Birdseye view of Port Adelaide', 1879
t99
10 Port Adelaide Institute (1876)
11 Plan of Port Adelaide showing location of hotels 256
27t
T2 The first British Hotel, c.1849
t3 The third Ship Inn, North Parade, c'1870s 280
T4 Johnny Allsorts, North Parade, c.1890 317
3t9
15 'You can have mY cell'
16 Sarah and her friends, Queenstown, c'1914 321
t] Plan of Port Adelaide showing location of churches 326
343
18 'Theological CamPaign', 1886
l9 St Paul's Anglican Church, St Vincent Street (1905) 349
20 The first Presbyterian Church, Marryatt Street, c' 1860 37t
2l St Mary's Catholic Church, Dale Street (1858) 378
22 St Mary's Hall, Dale Street (1869) 378
435
23 The Kirby familY, c'1888
V
CONVERSION TABLES
Conversion of measurements
l inch 2.54 centimetres
I foot 30.5 centimetres
1 yard (3 feet) 0.914 metres
l chain (22yards) 20.108 metres
1 mile 1.609 kilometres
1 acre 0.405 hectares
I gallon 4.546litres
Conversion of currencY
f,l (1 pound) $z
ls. or 1/- (1 shilling) 10 cents
fll
20 shillings
ld. (1 penny) 0.83 cent
l}d. (12 pence) l shilling
l florin 2 shillings
1 guinea 21 shillings (f,1.11)
I 'bob' 1 shilling
Conversion of weight
1 oz. (ounce) 28.349 grams
1 lb. (pound) 454 grams
1 ton 1.016 tonnes
1
INTRODUCTION
With aching hands and bleeding feet
V/e dig and heap, lay stone on stone;
We bear the burden and the heat
Of the long day, and wish t'were done.
Not till the hours of light return
All we have built do we discern.
*
frorn'Morality' by Matthew Amold (l 822-l 888)
Port Adelaide in the mid-nineteenth century was a town of many
challenging contrasts. Sludge shovelled from the river to build up the
swampy ground gradually turned to swirling dust in summer heat. The
early timber buildings, cheaper and quicker to build than those of stone,
were also more rapidly destroyed by fire. Tidal water inundated the town
regularly but there was a limited supply of drinking water. Workers
toiled without break while ships were in port and then lay idle when the
wharves were quiet. Settlers trying to make a quiet home for their
families lived next to public houses or'pubs' which entertained noisy
seamen released from months at sea, and clergymen ministered to their
congregations while prostitutes and drunks swaggered and staggered by'
It began as a primitive port town of customs men' carters,
provedores, publicans, brawny lumpers and loitering women in a
province where many of the settlers were dissenters or non-conformists
Douglas Pike described the pioneering colonists as seeking 'utopian
. Francis Turner Palgrave (ed.), The Golden Treasury of the Best songs and Lyrical Poems in the English
ktnguage. London: Oxford University Press, 1928,422'
2
dreams' of religious freedom from the estabtished church in their former
homeland and a secure lifestyle for their families in their new country.r
The overall purpose of this study is to analyse changes in the Port
Adelaide town site and the life of townspeople from 1836 to 1915. The
thesis argument is that for a number of years Port Adelaide developed in
a similar fashion to other Australian colonial ports, particularly
Fremantle and Williamstown, until the 1880s. From that time the town
differed from these other port towns as proudly independent Port
Adelaide workers showed strength by forming their own peak union
council and the newly-arrived Congregational minister, the Reverend
Joseph Coles Kirby, continued his active campaign for social and moral
reform in his new parish, the wider theatres of South Australia generally,
and other Australian cities.
The focus in chapter one is the European discovery of the Port
Adelaide River, Colonel Wiltiam Light's finding of a suitable harbour and
port landing site with access to the capital of the colony, and the eventual
establishment of a port town. The material for this discussion draws
heavily on Light's journal and diaries and on David Elder's summary of
Light's role and accomplishments in the early colony'2
The Port Adelaide Settlement, soon aptly named'Port Misery', was a
r Douglas ptke, paradise of Dissent: South Australia I82g-1857. (Second edition, Carlton Vic' 1967)
495.
2 David Elder (ed.), wittiam Light's Brief Journal an'd Australian Diaries' (Adelaide' 1984)'
3
small village at the landing place. It was cleared from mangrove thickets
near sand dunes leading to a rough track to Adelaide, eleven kilometres to
the south-east. The first impressions for colonists were of mosquitoes,
mud and primitive isolation. Few services were available in the first four
years of European settlement at Port Adelaide. For the earliest thirsty
seafarers there was a grog shop under a rough branch shelter. Gradually
basic hotel accommodation and victuals were provided for travellers,
seamen and a small Port communitY.
For the devout, a missioner held shipboard services each Sunday and
occasionally churchmen in Adelaide arranged small Sunday gatherings on
the wharf to cater for a continually changing group of worshippers'
There were few clergymen in the colony and congregations shared
visiting ministers or willing lay preachers'
within three years a new governor instigated a relocation of the port
further downstream where deeper water could be more easily dredged
and ships might tie up alongside a wharf, eliminating the transfer of
people and goods by lighters. A raised road was constructed across the
tidal flats and Port Adelaide moved to its present site where wharfing'
storage and a town gradually rose from the swamps. The 'New Port'
opened in 1840 and a new era of opportunity for Portonians began' The
town of Port Adelaide, in this study, is defined as being generally within
the central town area bordered by the Port River to the west and north,