Still there

Hard to believe that this old gum tree, now under an ugly protective roof, was the live backdrop chosen for Capt Hindmarsh’s famous proclamation of South Australia in 1836. Yet it is still with us in situ in the bayside suburb of Glenelg in Adelaide. 

The occasion was painted by Charles Hill, who, though he only arrived in the colony several years later, based his work on interviews with free settlers present at the time, many of whose actual faces he depicted.

Squint and you can just make out, on the left, two long tables being set up, presumably for the feast to follow.

May 2021