2.4.11 – Rogues and daytrippers (Adelaide, South Australia)

2.4.11 – Rogues and daytrippers (Adelaide, South Australia)

Meg on the beach!!

Even intrepid elderly camper/backpackers need a rest sometimes, so today we stayed around in Holdfast Bay, in the town of Glenelg.  Glenelg has two identities – one as the place where South Australia started its life as a colony, and then a state, and one as a Kiss-Me Quick/rollercoaster/what-the-butler-saw type of holiday resort. 

The museum showed the town from both angles.  Very honest accounts of the ‘founding fathers’ revealed most of them to have been rogues and rascals, out for ‘the main chance’.  One even lobbied for the establishment of the colony from a prison cell where he was ‘doing time’ for abducting young girls.  He didn’t even come to Australia on his release, choosing New Zealand instead.  Probably lucky for Australia.  But he still got a town and various streets named after him.  The first ship arriving to survey the territory took shelter from a storm in the bay here for some days, where they ‘held fast’, and hence ‘Holdfast Bay’.  The settlers then arrived, attracted by descriptions of ‘a mild, temperate climate’.  They then sailed thousands of miles, in a cramped ship, eating dried meat and weevil-filled biscuits (unless you were at the captain’s table, in which case you imbibed the Captain’s wine and chose from a range of delicious cheeses and meats).  What they found when they got here was scorching heat, mosquitoes and rats.  But they stuck it out (those of them that didn’t die right away) and so Adelaide and Glenelg were born. 

Pier as in 2011

Within about 30 years, they had moved from tents to solid stone houses, and even built a substantial pier.  Presumably a utilitarian structure initially, this soon became a mecca for daytrippers.  A swimming pool was built, or rather two – one for gents and another (half the size) for ladies.  A tea room soon followed, and an aquarium.  A tramway ran all the way from the heart of Adelaide to the end of the pier.  Thousands of eager holidaymakers came to try the penny-in-the-slot machines.  There was a roomful of these at the museum - glass and wooden boxes, at the side of which was a little handle which you turned, and inside were detailed tiny working models - mermaids emerged from shells, ghosts popped out of cupboards, a rowing boat was attacked by sharks, a belly dancer rolled her beaded hips.  In the 1920’s the pier was damaged by storms and in 1948, finally destroyed.  A small concrete pier now stands in its place, but the fun of the fair as our predecessors knew it, has gone forever.

Meg swimming

Bill swimming

Retreating to the beach, we settled down on towels to absorb the warm sunlight.  Swimming amongst the waves, Bill also absorbed several mouthfuls of seawater, but was exhilarated none the less.  As we picnicked on the silver sand, we met two other Brits, happily agreeing what fun it was to be travelling the world and ‘spending our children’s inheritance’!