Each month from February to November the Society meets on the first Friday of the month to hear intriguing stories and colourful accounts of our state’s lively past. Suggestions for speakers are always welcome. 

These talks are held in the Burnside City Uniting Church, 384 Portrush Road, Tusmore. Enter via Fisher Street. Visitors are always welcome but are asked for a $5 donation.

The 2024 schedule is: 

2 Feb: Anthony Stimson: Morant and the South African War Memorial

1 Mar: Carolyn Spooner: Gawler: South Australia’s Oldest Town

5 Apr: Corinne Ball: Three-Ring Circus: The dramatic, mysterious and tragic life of Mabel Worley, a Destitute Asylum Girl

3 May: Patricia Sumerling: A city pub crawl: An illustrated history

7 Jun: Skye Kritchauff: The South Australian Frontier and Its Legacies: A Truth-Telling project

5 July: Benjamin Nicholls: “There are pianos everywhere”: Oscar Comettant and other travel writers on South Australian music

2 Aug: Robert Foster: The role of environmental factors in shaping Aboriginal/settler relations in colonial South Australia

6 Sep: Elizabeth Bor: Responses to Bushfires in South Australia from the 1820s to Federation

4 Oct: Martin Hamilton-Smith: Western Democracy Under Challenge: The interesting case study of South Australia

1 Nov: Erin Reardon: RA&HS Archives – Walking Into 185 Years of History (and Wondering What to do With It)

For your interest, the first program for the Historical Society can be found below. 

First program

A cache of audio cassettes were recently discovered and are now being uploaded onto a dedicated channel on youtube. These date back to the first meeting in 1974 with a huge variety of topics from garden culture, to significant trees, from migration schemes to Federation. There are politicians, authors and historians sharing their discoveries and passions.  This is a project for the Society’s 50th year.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQgbSWffj9-hjTHqHbNZnzA