History SA
History SA researches, presents, collects and preserves the history of South Australia. It manages three museums and a range of historical collections, presents exhibitions and other public programs, and supports the work of community museums and local historical societies. The following museums are managed by History SA:
National Motor Museum; http://history.sa.gov.au/motor/motor.htm; email: motor@history.sa.gov.au
Migration Museum; http://history.sa.gov.au/migration/migration.htm; email: migration@history.sa.gov.au
South Australian Maritime Museum; http://history.sa.gov.au/maritime/maritime.htm; email: maritime@history.sa.gov.au
- www.history.sa.gov.au
- Torrens Parade Ground, Victoria Drive
- Adelaide
- South Australia
- 5000
- Australia
- +61 8 8203 9888
- Send Email
ID Local | Title | Description Brief | Updated |
SAMM 7 | Adsteam collection | The Museum's Adsteam collection includes several hundred objects relating to the Adelaide Steamship Company between 1875 and 2000. Items include ship fittings, furnishings and badged crockery and cutlery, tickets, brochures, ships plans and passes, models and paintings of ships from the line, documents, wage books, ledgers, uniforms and furnishing from the company's offices. Coverage: South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; 1875 - 2000 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 9 | Binnacle collection | This collection comprises forty-eight objects including complete binnacles and parts such as compasses, covers or bases. Binnacles are principally made of timber and brass because those materials do not affect the compass. However, one florid 19th century binnacle is made of cast iron and later examples from the 20th century have aluminium covers. Two are attached to the Museum's vessels but most have been kept from vessels that have been broken up. Coverage: South Australia; 1883 - 1960 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 13 | Bond Studios - Glass Negatives Collection | This collection comprises 1,500 glass negatives from Bond Studios in Port Adelaide. AE Bond was listed as a photographer in Commercial Road, Port Adelaide from 1901, although state collections include photographs credited to Bond that date back to 1867. The negatives are studio portraits of generations of Portonians. They capture individual rites of passage such as weddings, graduations, debuts, birthdays, and soldiers and sailors departing for war. Most of the negatives are labeled with surnames so it is possible to identify the subjects with further research. Coverage: South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; 1900 - 1940 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 6 | Burning Pipe Collection | The Buring pipe collection consists of approximately 200 pieces dating from the 1850s to 1980. It includes a wide variety of pipes and smoking related items, ranging from the small and simple to the large and very ornate. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1850 - 1980 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 8 | Classic Vehicles collection | This collection includes a wide variety of post Second World War vehicles from British, American and Australian manufacturers. This was the age of the family car, when car ownership increased significantly, and many families acquired a second car. Coverage: Britain; United States of America; Australia; 1941 - 1985 | 30 May 2012 |
NMM 10 | Commercial Vehicle Collection | A collection of motor vehicles, either specifically designed for or adapted for use in a commercial capacity. This collection has been donated to the National Motor Museum by various companies, individuals and government departments. Coverage: Australia; South Australia; 1904 - 1960 | 30 May 2012 |
MM 9 | Communty Banners Collection | The Community Banners collection currently consists of 42 banners made by South Australia's culturally diverse communities between 1985 and 2009. Coverage: Australia; South Australia; 1986 - 1986 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 5 | Dame Roma Mitchell collection | The Migration Museum's extensive costume collection features clothing and accessories bequeathed by the late Dame Roma Mitchell. Highlights include a Chinese costume given to one of Dame Roma's aunts aged 13-14 while she was living in Darwin, and lace sent to her mother Maude (nee Wickham) by her father Harold from France during the First World War (he was killed in action in 1918). The bequest also includes photos of Dame Roma wearing the clothing she donated, e.g. the hats she wore at her swearing in as Governor (1991) and unveiling of her statue on North Terrace, Adelaide (1999). Coverage: Australia; South Australia; 1913 - 2000 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 14 | Eddie Perkins Collection | The Eddie Perkins Collection represents the prizes that were won by Eddie Perkins during his motor racing days of the 1950s and 1960s, especially the Around Australia Reliability Trials. It includes an extensive collection of silverware and some ephemera, as well as the suit Perkins wore and the dress worn by his wife at the presentation ceremony for his 1956 Reliability Trials win. Coverage: Cowangie; Victoria; 1950 - 1969 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 11 | Exploration | This small but highly significant collection relates to European exploration of the Australian, particularly South Australian, coastline from the seventeenth to mid nineteenth century. The collection includes artefacts retrieved from Dutch trading vessels shipwrecked off Australia's south west coast in 1656. It's most iconic objects are those linked to the voyages of British explorer Matthew Flinders and French commander Nicolas Baudin, whose expeditions both charted the South Australian coastline in 1802. Coverage: South Australia; Encounter Bay; France; Britain; 1650 - 1850 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 1 | Fan collection | The Migration Museum holds approximately 50 hand-held fans of varying quality, aesthetic beauty and provenance. The majority are ornamental folding fans designed to be closed when not in use. Some are believed to have been brought to South Australia from Europe in the early days of the colony. The 'oriental' history of fans is represented by those formerly stocked by the China Gift Store on Rundle Street, Adelaide (owned by the Sym Choon family). The collection also includes a couple of paper promotional and commemorative fans issued by John Martin's Department Store. Coverage: China Gift Store, Rundle Street, Adelaide; South Australia; Australia; John Martin's Department Store, Adelaide; 1735 - 1945 | 12 Dec 2012 |
DIR 4 | Frank Hurley photographic collection | This sub-collection of the South Australian Government Photographic Collection (c.1890-1957) comprises 288 photographs taken by James Francis (Frank) Hurley in 1935. They depict aspects of South Australia and Central Australia. Coverage: South Australia; Northern Territory; Australia; 1935 - 1935 | 30 May 2012 |
NMM 9 | George Brooks Library and Collection | This significant collection of motoring-related books was the undertaking of Australian motoring historian George Brooks. It comprises books, handbooks, manuals and periodicals. Coverage: England; Australia; Europe; 1935 - 2010 | 30 May 2012 |
MM 7 | Giordano Collection | The Migration Museum holds over 60 items, mostly documents, relating to the personal life, internment, career and community works of Antonio Giordano. The collection includes a copy of Giordano's birth certificate, the original issued in Naples, Italy, 1907. Coverage: Loveday, South Australia; Australia; Orange, NSW; South Australia; Hay, NSW; Italy; 1907 - 1984 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 13 | Hauschild collection of model cars | The Hauschild Collection of model cars comprises 109 model cars, predominantly Corgi models, accompanied by original boxes. The private collection was donated to the National Motor Museum by Eric Hauschild's daughter. Coverage: South Australia; Adelaide | 30 May 2012 |
MM 10 | Historical Relics Collection | A collection of nearly 1,400 objects related to the foundation and settlement of the British colony of South Australia. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1836 - 1986 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 6 | HMCS Protector collection | The collection of personal memorabilia and official material captures the history of South Australia's colonial naval vessel HMCS Protector between 1884 and 1950. The collection comprises more than 90 artefacts relating to the history of this specific vessel including paintings, photographs, documents, and personal mementos. Coverage: South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; China; 1884 - 1950 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 4 | Identity Documents | The Migration Museum holds a substantial collection of documents that record migrants' 'vital statistics', such as date and place of birth, age, nationality, sex, marriage, parentage, children, profession, and date of death. These are primarily government-issued papers, such as birth, death and marriage certificates, passports, movement permits/passes, naturalisation or citizenship certificates, exemption certificates and documents generated through health checks, such as immunisation certificates. Records relating to recognition of overseas qualifications, licenses and employment, such as curricula vitae/résumés, degrees and reference letters, and military-related identity documents, such as enlistment forms, service records and discharge certificates, also feature in the collection. Coverage: International; 1800 - 1899 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 11 | John McDouall Stuart Collection | A sub-collection of the Historical Relics Collection, these objects all relate to the explorer John McDouall Stuart or to those that accompanied him on his six expeditions. The collection ranges from personal items, such as a scarf ring and smoking cap, through to exploration equipment, pieces of trees, a pocket book and fire arms. There are just under 50 objects in this collection. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1840 - 1890 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 3 | Jubilee 150 Collection | This collection constitutes approximately 200 items relating to the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of European settlement of South Australia in 1986 (known as Jubilee 150 or J150). The core of the collection is the original and reproduction costumes and accessories used in the popular social history exhibition Those Were The Days. The exhibition was a project of the Women's Executive Committee and held in John Martin's Department Store in Adelaide. The remainder of the collection is mainly souvenirs featuring the J150 logo and 'J.W.' the wombat, the J150 mascot. Coverage: Australia; South Australia; John Martin's Department Store, Adelaide; 1986 - 1986 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 8 | Kiss Family Collection | The Migration Museum holds roughly 15 personal items and an additional collection of photographs, relating to Anna and Kalman Kiss. The collection was donated by their foster daughter Anna DeBono. Coverage: Hungary; South Australia; Australia; 1940 - 1999 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 5 | Lightburn Collection | This extensive collection of papers and drawings come from the corporate archive of the Adelaide based Lightburn Manufacturing Company, which manufactured the Zeta motor car in the 1960s. Coverage: South Australia; England; Adelaide; 1955 - 1966 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 12 | Lighthouse collection | The collection of material related to South Australia's lighthouses includes a prefabricated iron plate lighthouse, lanterns and equipment as well as approximately 250 photographs. The collection documents navigational aids in South Australia from the mid nineteenth century until the late twentieth century, with a particular focus on the history of the Port Adelaide (later South Neptune Island) lighthouse. Coverage: Spencer Gulf; Semaphore; South Neptune Island; South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; Wonga Shoal; 1867 - 1984 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 3 | Map collection | This collection comprises maps of Australia's ever expanding road network, produced by specialist Australian publishers and fuel companies . It includes early metropolitan road maps, interstate touring maps and street directories. Coverage: Australia; 1915 - 2000 | 30 May 2012 |
NMM 12 | Motorcycle Collection | This collection reflects the development of the motorcycle, and the preferences of Australian riders. Coverage: United States of America; Japan; Britain; Australia; 1907 - 2000 | 30 May 2012 |
NMM 2 | Motoring Brochures and Advertising Collection | This extensive collection of motor vehicle sales brochures and advertising ephemera showcases many of the vehicles that have been offered for sale in Australia. Coverage: Australia; International; 1905 - 2010 | 30 May 2012 |
DIR 3 | National Flower Day photographic collection | This sub-collection of the South Australian Government Photographic Collection (c.1890-1957) includes 100 images of National Flower Day, held annually in South Australia between 1938 and 1975. Coverage: Australia; Adelaide, South Australia; 1938 - 1949 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 1 | Nautical instrument collection | This collection comprises approximately forty nautical instruments dating from 1800 - 1960s. The instruments were used for navigating and charting at sea and include compasses, sextants, quadrants, octants, chronometers, parallel rules, marine protractors, binoculars, telescopes and station pointers. Coverage: London; South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; United Kingdom; 1800 - 1969 | 12 Dec 2012 |
DIR 8 | Norm Mitchell Cartoon collection | This collection of over 200 cartoons are the original pen and ink sketches drawn by cartoonist Norm Mitchell during his tenure with the Adelaide paper The News between 1965 and 1980. Coverage: South Australia; 1965 - 1980 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 10 | Port Adelaide Nautical Museum collection | This large collection of over 500 items ranges across many material types from ship models, navigation instruments, souvenirs, sea chests, personal belongings, paintings and photographs. Most of these were donated to the Port Adelaide Institute, later the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum, by seafarers who passed through Port Adelaide during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Coverage: South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; 1817 - 1986 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 13 | Queen Adelaide Collection | A collection of 25 objects relating to Queen Adelaide. Most of the objects are a sub-collection of the Historical Relics collection and many were donated to that collection by Queen Mary (wife of George V) in 1945. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1828 - 1945 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 14 | Refugees Collection | The Migration Museum holds a significant collection of objects relating to refugees. The bulk of this collection relates to Displaced Persons who migrated to South Australia after the Second World War. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1795 - 1905 | 12 Dec 2012 |
DIR 2 | Royal Adelaide Show photographic collection | This sub-collection of the South Australian Government Photographic Collection (c.1890-1957) comprises 176 images of the Royal Adelaide Show, spanning the period 1897 to 1945. Coverage: Adelaide, South Australia; Australia; 1897 - 1948 | 30 May 2012 |
NMM 15 | Shell Oil Company Collection | The Shell Collection (donated by Shell Australia to the National Motor Museum in 2009) includes 23 examples of petroleana documenting the history of the Shell Motor Company in Australia. This collection includes examples of collectibles such as petrol cans and tin signs. Coverage: Australia; 1915 - 1987 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 8 | Ship figureheads | This collection of seventeen ship's figureheads originally adorned the bows of sailing vessels that visited Australian waters between 1836 and 1940. Coverage: Canada; Port Willunga; South Australia; Port Adelaide; France; United Kingdom; 1836 - 1940 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 2 | Ship model collection | This collection comprises over 180 ship models including builders' half models, sailor-made models, shipping agency models, construction models, working models, exhibition models, and model ships in bottles. The collection, which includes contemporary models, dates from the mid-nineteenth century. Coverage: South Australia, Australia; 1844 - 1990 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 14 | Ship portraits | The Museum holds an extensive collection of ship portraits in oil, watercolour, pen and ink, and pencil. Most are by South Australian marine artists and capture the ships and ketches that worked in local waters. The collection includes over forty nineteenth century ship portraits, many by notable local marine artists such as George Bourne, Frederick Dawson, and George Frederick Gregory. Twentieth century artists represented in the collection include Harold Dalton Hall and Port Adelaide based artist, Charles Henry Moore. Most of these works were transferred to the Museum from the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum, an institution with origins that stem back to 1872. Coverage: South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; 1840 - 2000 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 3 | Shipwreck collection | This collection of over 300 pieces of shipwreck material includes ship fittings, cargo, crockery, personal possessions, coins, furniture, medals and figureheads from shipwreck sites. It dates from mid-seventeenth century Dutch shipwrecks on Australia's coastline to more recent wrecks in the 1960s. Coverage: Netherlands; South Australia, Australia; 1650 - 1960 | 12 Dec 2012 |
DIR 1 | South Australian Centenary Celebrations photographic collection | This sub-collection of the South Australian Government Photographic Collection (c.1890-1957) comprises 245 images of South Australia’s 1936 Centenary celebrations. Coverage: Adelaide, South Australia; Australia; 1936 - 1936 | 30 May 2012 |
DIR 7 | South Australian Government Photographic Collection (c.1890-1957) | The South Australian Government Photographic Collection (c.1890-1957) consists of 14,000 images. A small number of images in the collection predate 1890. These are generally reproductions of earlier line drawings rather than contemporary photographs. The images were produced by the Department of Lands who was responsible for the official photographic record of South Australia at that time. Coverage: Australia; South Australia; 1885 - 1957 | 30 May 2012 |
DIR 5 | South Australian Railways collection | The South Australian Railways Collection consists of 30 rolling stock and over 130 objects relating to the transport of people and freight by train in South Australia between 1886-1978. Coverage: Adelaide; South Australia; 1886 - 1978 | 30 May 2012 |
MM 15 | State Weapons Collection | The Migration Museum manages the State Weapons Collection on behalf of History SA. It has been built up by donations and purchases over many years and is a melding of collections previously held by earlier government departments. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1600 - 1699 | 12 Dec 2012 |
MM 12 | Surveying Collection | A collection of objects related to the surveying of South Australia and to the surveyors who worked here during the 19th century. Many of these objects form a sub-collection of the Historical Relics Collection. Coverage: Australia; South Australia; 1795 - 1805 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 11 | Technical Motoring Collection | The National Motor Museum's technical motoring collection comprises examples of various vehicle components. Coverage: Australia; 1895 - 2010 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 17 | The Grain Trade: windjammers and Cape Horners | The collection includes personal papers and memorabilia, diaries, sailors' crafts, ship portraits, and ship models covering one hundred years from 1850 to 1950. The collection also includes original photographs documenting life on board Pamir and Passat in 1949 and memorabilia from the now defunct South Australian Cape Horner's associations including Cape Horners' uniforms, penants, badges, publications, and film footage and voyage souvenirs. Coverage: Yorke Peninsula; Aland Islands; Finland; South Australia; Port Adelaide; Cape Horn; 1850 - 1950 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 16 | The Mosquito Fleet - South Australia's ketches | The collection includes hundreds of objects connected with the ketch trade in South Australia and individual ketches that worked out of Port Adelaide between 1850 and 1990. Coverage: Yorke Peninsula; Port Adelaide, South Australia; South Australia; 1850 - 1990 | 12 Dec 2012 |
SAMM 15 | The Port Adelaide Collection | The Museum holds thousands of items that help document the history of Port Adelaide from its inception in 1836 to the current day. The collection comes from maritime enthusiast and collector Keith Le Leu, the Port Adelaide Historical Society, the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum and private donors whose families lived and worked in the Port. Coverage: Port Adelaide, South Australia; South Australia; 1836 - 2010 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 4 | Tin Sign collection | A collection of tin signs advertising various motoring-related products. Tin signs comprise a steel sheet which is usually stamped to create embossed lettering and/or an image, then coated with a vitreous enamel finish in a variety of colours. These signs advertised a variety of motoring related items and accessories, including petrol, tyres, sparkplugs etc. Coverage: Australia; 1905 - 1965 | 30 May 2012 |
DIR 6 | Toy collection | A collection of toys dating from the 1800s to the current day, supplemented by photographic material including early twentieth century portraits of children and their toys. Coverage: South Australia; Adelaide; Australia | 30 May 2012 |
MM 2 | Underwear Collection | The Migration Museum's extensive costume collection features many items of underwear, mainly for women. The collection consists of everyday underwear as well as that worn for special occasions and medical treatment. The collection includes corsets, knickers, crinolines, combinations, stockings, camisoles, girdles, and petticoats. The strength of the collection is its 19th century garments; however, it also includes a selection of key pieces from the early to mid-20th century. Coverage: South Australia; Australia; 1845 - 1979 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 1 | Vehicles Made in South Australia | This collection comprises a variety of South Australian-made cars, motorcycles and components and spans over 100 years of motoring in South Australia. Donated largely by various companies and individuals, these vehicles were all manufactured and/or assembled in South Australia. The collection includes the earliest example of a steam powered vehicle manufactured in South Australia (the 1899 Shearer steam carriage), right up to a 2008 Mitsubishi 380 (one of the last off the assembly line at Tonsley Park before the plant closed). Coverage: Adelaide; 1899 - 2009 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 4 | Vessels collection | The vessels collection comprises 25 large and small vessels linked to South Australia's maritime history. The vessels date from the late 1800s until as recent as 2000. Coverage: South Australia.; Port Adelaide, South Australia; 1870 - 2000 | 12 Dec 2012 |
NMM 6 | Veteran Vehicles collection | This collection takes its definition from The Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) which defines 'Veteran vehicles' as those built between 1905 and 1918 anywhere in the world. The National Motor Museum has collected a number of pre-1918 Vehicles, primarily through the generosity of local Australian donors. Coverage: Australia; 1905 - 1918 | 30 May 2012 |
NMM 7 | Vintage Vehicles collection | This collection takes its definition from the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) which defines 'Vintage vehicles' as those built between 1919 and 1930 anywhere in the world. The Museum's permanent collection contains a variety of cars and motorcycles. Coverage: Australia; 1919 - 1930 | 30 May 2012 |
SAMM 5 | William Russell sailmakers' collection | The collection comprises four hundred items of general shipping equipment, mainly associated with ships chandlery, and almost two hundred sailmaking tools and pieces of machinery from the William Russell sailmakers collection. The collection dates from the early 1800s until the close of the William Russell sailmakers loft in 1985. Coverage: South Australia; Port Adelaide, South Australia; 1800 - 1985 | 30 May 2012 |