Resource Sheet 1
Reports on the celebrations in Adelaide
The arrangements made locally to mark the inauguration of the Commonwealth are nothing like on so gigantic a scale as in Sydney, or Melbourne, or even in the capitals of other states. So far as Adelaide is concerned the principal feature will be the swearing in of His Excellency the Right Honourable Lord Tennyson as Governor of the State of South Australia… The active and reserve military forces will…form a guard of honour to his Excellency, the Governor. On the entrance of Lord Tennyson to the Town Hall the ‘National Anthem’ will be played on the organ… The Government have given instructions for the lighting of fixtures at Government House, Parliament House and the Queen’s Statue, while the bank authorities have undertaken to see that those which have been provided outside their buildings shall be lighted. The city therefore shall be a blaze with light…
The Register, 1 January 1901.
The ceremony, which was an imposing one, took place in the Adelaide Town-hall. The building was crowded, and considerable enthusiasm was evinced in the proceedings… His Excellency addressed the gathering, and after referring to the dispatch of troops and their return said that the Imperial federation was no longer a mere vision; it was an actual reality… He held that the closer and more intimate the union between the different states of the Commonwealth was, the better it would be…
The Argus, 2 January 1901.
In order to meet the desire for some celebration of the inauguration of the Commonwealth the Government arranged for a Continental concert on the Jubilee Oval and offered £25 for a competition and procession of decorated and illuminated bicycles. Mr. P. A. Howells arranged the musical programme and Mr. A. F. Pearson made all the arrangements for the bicycle demonstration… The Adelaide Choral Society, with Mr. C. J. Stevens conducting, sang the ‘Song of Australia’, ‘Hands all round’, and brought the programme to an end with a splendid rendering of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah chorus’… The crowd numbered about 4000…
The Advertiser, 2 January 1901.
Swearing in of Lord Tennyson
Swearing in of Lord Tennyson, State Library of South Australia, Quiz, 3 January 1901, Advance Australia.
Flyer for a grand Commonwealth continental concert
Grand Continental Concert flyer, 1901, Advance Australia, State Library of South Australia.