John Dowie was built to commemorate the visit of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
and
Prince Philip, in 1968. The three South Australian rivers, the
Murray
Murray may refer to:
Businesses
* Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles
* Murrays, an Australian bus company
* Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust
* D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...
,
Onkaparinga and
Torrens, are represented by an
Aboriginal male with an
Ibis
The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...
, a female with a
heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...
, and a female with a
black swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon ...
. On 12 July 1971, the red, black and yellow
Aboriginal flag designed by
Harold Thomas was flown for the first time – in Victoria Square.
It now flies permanently alongside the
Australian flag on one of the two tall flagpoles in the centre of the square.
21st century
In 2002, the Adelaide City Council formally recognised the areas heritage by bestowing the dual name Victoria Square/Tarndanyangga. The old tram depot at the square was also demolished, so was the old SAPOL Headquarters. An SA Water office building was built in its place. In 2012 the Adelaide City Council endorsed $24 million in funding to begin rejuvenating Victoria Square. Construction commenced in March 2013 and the first of two planned stages (the northern half) was completed in February 2014. The planned redevelopment of the southern half has been held up due to lack of funding. The full development included:
Features
Statue of Queen Victoria
Located in the centre of the square is a statue honouring
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
from a model by
C. B. Birch, unveiled in 1894. The statue was presented to the city by
Sir Edwin Smith, based on a design viewed in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
in 1893.
It was cast by Moore & Co. of
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross ...
using bronze specifically made from
Wallaroo and
Moonta copper. Inscribed simply with "Victoria R.I.", the statue was originally unveiled by Lady Smith on 11 August 1894.
The statue was symbolically draped in black as a sign of mourning following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.
For many years a wreath laying ceremony was held at the foot of the statue each 24 May (or 23rd when the 24th was a Saturday), the anniversary of her birth in 1819. It was removed, cleaned and polished in May 2013 as part of the upgrade of Victoria Square and returned in December 2013 in a modified location.
Three Rivers Fountain
The Three Rivers Fountain was erected to commemorate the
visit of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
to Adelaide in February 1963. Located at the northern end of the square, it was unveiled and first set in operation by the
Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not prod ...
on 28 May 1968.
It was later relocated to the southern end, and was officially reopened by then
Lord Mayor,
Stephen Yarwood, in July 2014.
Sculptured by
John Dowie, the centrepiece in the shape of a crown represents the royal visit, and the fountain represents the three rivers that Adelaide draws water from:
*
The Murray, depicted by an
Aboriginal man and an
ibis
The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...
(probably representing
Kaurna
The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurna ...
ancestor creator
Tjilbruke)
*
The Torrens, depicted by a woman and a
black swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon ...
*
The Onkaparinga, depicted by a woman and a
heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...
The fountain was
heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...
as a state heritage place in 2012.
The State Survey Mark
Located at the northern end of the square, the State Survey Mark commemorates the placing of the first peg for the survey of the City of Adelaide by Colonel Light on 11 January 1837. This
survey mark
Survey markers, also called survey marks, survey monuments, or geodetic marks, are objects placed to mark key survey points on the Earth's surface. They are used in geodetic and land surveying. A ''benchmark'' is a type of survey marker that i ...
is the reference point for all other survey marks in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
. The mark was unveiled, along with a commemorative plaque by then Minister of Lands,
Susan Lenehan
Susan Mary Lenehan (born 2 November 1943) is a former Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1982 and 1993, representing the electorate of Mawson. In 1993 she contested the seat ...
on 21 April 1989.
Reconciliation Plaza
The east–west road connecting
Grote and
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
Streets was named Reconciliation Plaza in 2013. The plaza hosts two flagpoles flying the
Australian National Flag and the
Aboriginal Flag, which has flown permanently in the square since 2002. In 1971, the square was the first place the Aboriginal Flag was flown, at a land rights rally (see
Dual naming, above).
Reconciliation Plaza was officially opened on 26 May 2014 by Mayor Yarwood, Reconciliation Committee Chairperson Yvonne Agius and Journey of Healing SA Chairperson John Browne.
Statue of John McDouall Stuart
A monument to
John McDouall Stuart
John McDouall Stuart (7 September 18155 June 1866), often referred to as simply "McDouall Stuart", was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers.
Stuart led the first successful expedition to tra ...
, one of Australia's premier explorers, is situated in Victoria Square. It was erected on 4 June 1904 and heritage listed on 8 March 2013. Stuart led the first expedition to successfully cross the continent from north to south and back. This opened
Central Australia
Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...
for pastoral use and led to the South Australian government's successful case for control over the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
. The route of his expedition also paved the way for the
Overland Telegraph, which permitted virtually immediate communication between Australia and Europe.
Statue of Charles Sturt
A statue of explorer
Charles Sturt stands in Victoria Square. Sturt is depicted in the working clothes of an outback explorer, leaning forward, shielding his eyes from the sun with his right hand and peering into the distance. He carries a compass, telescope, map and water bottle.
Statue of Charles Kingston
A statue of
Charles Kingston, son of
George Strickland Kingston
Sir George Strickland Kingston (23 August 1807 – 26 November 1880) was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light, engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia. He arrived in South Australia on the in 1836. Kingston was also the first Spe ...
and SA premier from 1893 to 1899, stands in the square with a plaque reading "patriot and statesman".
[ British sculptor Alfred Drury was commissioned to create the statue, and it was placed in a central location on the northwestern side, facing down Grote Street towards his West Adelaide electorate. It was unveiled on 26 May 1916, during World War I. It was later criticised as capturing "little of his fire".] While Kingston was instrumental in bringing about several progressive social policies, such as electoral reform
Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:
* Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant ...
(including the first law to give votes to women in Australia), a legitimation Act, the first conciliation
Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process whereby the parties to a dispute use a conciliator, who meets with the parties both separately and together in an attempt to resolve their differences. They do this by lowering te ...
and arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...
act in Australia, and a progressive system of taxation, he was also one of the main architects of the White Australia policy. After the Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
gained pace in June 2020, with various statues representing slave traders and various perpetrators of racism being removed or defaced both in the US and in the UK during the George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...
, archaeologist and historian Jacinta Koolmatrie argued it is ironic that the statue is placed so close to the Aboriginal flag in the square, which was also the site of the Adelaide Black Lives Matter protest.
Gallery
File:Victoria square, around 1869.jpg, Victoria Square, looking north, 1869
File:Statue of Queen Victoria at Victoria Square, Adelaide.jpg, Unveiling the Victoria statue, 1894
File:Victoria Square Adelaide 1895.jpg, Victoria Square, looking south, 1895
File:Transformers - Victoria Square Adelaide SA - panoramio.jpg, Panoramic view, 2014
File:Victoria square5.jpg, North-western corner of the square, 2006
File:OIC victoria square tram stop.jpg, Tram stop, 2012
File:Adelaide City Christmas.jpg, Fountain and Christmas tree, 2015
File:Tram and bus at Victoria Square, Adelaide.jpg, Night view of the square, 2017
File:Victoria Square Flags.jpg, The Aboriginal and National flag's in the square, 2017
File:Victoria Square Aboriginal Flag.jpg, The Aboriginal flag flying in Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga, Adelaide, near where the flag was first flown, 2013
See also
*Hindmarsh Square/Mukata
Hindmarsh Square/Mukata (formerly Mogata) is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. It is located in the centre of the north-eastern quarter of the city, and surrounds the intersection of Grenfell and Pulte ...
* Hurtle Square/Tangkaira
*Light Square/Wauwi
Light Square, also known as Wauwi (formerly Wauwe), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre. Located in the centre of the north-western quarter of the Adelaide city centre, its southern boundary is Waymouth Street, while Curri ...
* Whitmore Square/Iparrityi
*William Light
William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839), also known as Colonel Light, was a British- Malayan naval and army officer. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site of ...
References
Further reading
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{{Queen Victoria
Squares in Adelaide
Tourist attractions in Adelaide
Monuments and memorials to Queen Victoria
Culture of Adelaide