Moseley Square is a

public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

in the

City of Holdfast Bay The City of Holdfast Bay is a local government area in the south-western coastal suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. History The council was formed 1 January 1997, when the City of Glenelg and City of Brighton councils were amalgamated b ...

at Glenelg, and was named for Henry J. Moseley, the builder and first publican of the

Pier Hotel, Glenelg The Pier Hotel was a public inn in Glenelg in the British colony, then Australian state, of South Australia. History The foundation stone for "Moseley's Pier Hotel", as it was originally named, was laid by the Mayor, R. B. Colley, on 7 June ...

. Located between Jetty Road and Glenelg Beach, the Square is the location of the Glenelg Town Hall, Glenelg Jetty, the Stamford Grand Hotel and various fast-food outlets. It is the terminus of the

Glenelg tram line The Glenelg tram line is a tram/ light rail line in Adelaide. Apart from a short street-running section in Glenelg, the line has its own reservation, with minimal interference from road traffic. The service is free in the city centre and ...

(for many years the only tram line in Adelaide) from

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. It is a site of major events including the Glenelg Jazz Festival and the City to Bay Fun Run.

Centenary monument

On 28 December 1936 an obelisk erected to commemorate the landing of British pioneer settlers 100 years earlier was unveiled at Moseley Square. The memorial was designed by architect Gordon Beaumont Smith and shaped by Adelaide monumental mason A. S. Tillett from South Australian marble on a base of Victor Harbor

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

. It was topped by a bronze model of HMS ''Buffalo'' modelled by H. Dalton Hall. In the frieze at the top of its four faces were carved

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of diffe ...

s containing

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

portraits of

Governor Hindmarsh Rear-Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh KH (baptised 22 May 1785 – 29 July 1860) was a naval officer and the first Governor of South Australia, from 28 December 1836 to 16 July 1838. Family His grandfather William Hindmarsh was a gardener in Coni ...

Robert Gouger Robert Gouger (; 26 June 1802 – 4 August 1846) was one of the founders of South Australia and the first Colonial Secretary of South Australia. Early life Gouger was the fifth son of nine children of George Gouger (1763–1802), who was a pr ...

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Britis ...

, and

George Fife Angas George Fife Angas (1 May 1789 – 15 May 1879) was an English businessman and banker who, while residing in England, played a significant part in the formation and establishment of the Province of South Australia. He established the South Au ...

. On the east and west faces were carved representations of the foundation and proclamation of the colony, from sketches by

Ivor Hele Sir Ivor Henry Thomas Hele, CBE (13 June 1912 – 1 December 1993) was an Australian artist noted for portraiture. He was Australia's longest serving war artist and completed more commissioned works than any other in the history of Aust ...

and modelled in plaster by J. H. Choate of the

School of Arts School of Arts or school of arts may refer to: *Art school, an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts * Mechanics' institutes, Victorian-era educational establishments formed to provide education, particularly in technical ...

. Bronze tablets on the northern and southern sides carry tributes to Wakefield, Gouger, Torrens, Angas, Nuyts,

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South W ...

, Baudin, Sturt,

Barker Barker may refer to: Occupations * Barker (occupation), a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events * Barker (coachbuilder), a builder of horse-drawn coaches and later of bodywork for prestige cars * a person who strips tanbar ...

, and

Light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

, and "the first settlers, men and women, who by faith and courage endured the hardships of pioneer settlement to lay the foundations of South Australia. ''Si monumentum requiris circumspice''." — For heirmonument, look around. — (as per

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churc ...

's epitaph in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

1995 International Tattoo

Moseley Square was the venue for what was styled "Sensational Adelaide International Tattoo" between 23 November and 3 December 1995, starting at sunset. The event had the Centenary monument as a backdrop and the audience of around 3,000 was seated grandstand-fashion on three sides. Inspired by the

Edinburgh Tattoo The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and international military bands, and artistic performance teams on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the capital of S ...

, it featured bands from the

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. The regiment, through the Royal Scots Greys, is the oldest surviving Cavalry Regiment of the Line in the Britis ...

Brigade of Gurkhas The Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective name which refers to all the units in the British Army that are composed of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers. The brigade draws its heritage from Gurkha units that originally served in the British Indian Army ...

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

and

South Australian Police Force South Australia Police (SAPOL) is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports to the Minister fo ...

, plus demonstrations from a quartet of flag wavers from

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

and a composition "Celtic Dreaming" for

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or oth ...

and

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

. A VHS recording of highlights from the concerts was produced and marketed by the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. The Square has undergone some refurbishment during the 2000s.

References

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