Arcadian Adelaide by Thistle Anderson

The notorious pamphlet, Arcadian Adelaide, published in 1905, made scathing remarks about the ‘Village’ of Adelaide, the place, the people, the manners and customs. Author Thistle Anderson, a nom-de-plume for Scottish born, world traveller, Mrs Herbert Fisher, declared her motive to be that ‘Adelaide has crushed my youthful ambitions and possibly narrowed my ideas.’ She found the City of Churches to be less holy, a place of drinkers, prostitutes and opium dens; the society shallow, the men boring and the women stupid. It was a place of terrible wine and food, with cruelty to animals evidenced in the suffering of the horses pulling the city trams. The few redeeming features did not belie that the best thing about the Village was leaving it.

A reason for reprinting it? Derek Whitelock (1985) says he found ‘its wit and polemics a bracing and informative diversion from the masses of self-congratulatory civic and state publications.’ Certainly the original pamphlet upset many Adelaideans, the controversy ensuring high sales. With Adelaide now long known as both a City of Churches and a City of Corpses, perhaps modern day residents are more impervious to its barbs, confident now in the quality of Adelaide food and wine, its arts scene, and universities. Why, Adelaide can now proudly boast it ranks as Australia’s most liveable city in the 2020 Ipsos survey, and is listed in the top ten most liveable cities in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 Global Liveability Index . . . though still behind Melbourne and Sydney.

This new publication by Wakefield Press provides another perspective to the historical image of South Australia as the progressive state unblemished by convict origins. Thistle’s witticisms are a delight to read, and the pen drawings and old photographs add to the enjoyment.

Themes: Adelaide, History, Social life and customs.

Helen Eddy