Hindmarsh Museum

by Dave Walsh (subscribe)

The Hindmarsh Museum has a simple aim - to tell the story of Hindmarsh and the surrounding suburbs in Adelaide's north west.

Also known as the Hindmarsh Fire & Folk Museum, the museum is located in a heritage listed former fire station adjacent to Hindmarsh Soccer stadium. It is operated by volunteers from the Hindmarsh Historical Society.



Parking at the museum initially seemed a problem as it is surrounded by No Parking areas, but I soon found that temporary parking permits are available for museum visitors. Fortunately there was no soccer being played when I was there so parking wasn't an issue.



There didn't seem to be any particular order to the collection - larger items were all in the fire station building, while the remaining items were in the adjacent heritage listed chapel. For people with an interest in the Hindmarsh and surrounding area the museum was full of fascinating photos and memorabilia. It also had many records which would be useful in genealogy for tracing your ancestry, or the history of houses around Hindmarsh.



A gleaming fully restored 1927 Chevrolet fire engine quickly caught my eye, with a hole just below the number plate so that it could be started by hand with a crank if the battery was flat.



The fire alarm call box was a common sight on streets in Adelaide once, enabling people to quickly call out the fire brigade without needing to find a telephone. To reduce nuisance calls from children, the glass on the front had to be broken before making a call.



Nearby in the museum, Bishop's horse drawn butcher's cart would bring memories back for older visitors. Until the 1960's the local butcher, baker, milkman and even greengrocer used similar carts for their home deliveries - all of life's essentials delivered fresh to your door.



Moving into the old chapel building, there is a large collection of old photographs depicting life in early Bowden and Brompton, and many images of how Port Road changed through the decades.



Cemetery records, old maps, and many other documents are available to help local residents trace their ancestry if they are interested in genealogy.



The Hindmarsh Historical Society may be able to assist with family tree research, and the City of Charles Sturt has resources available too for researching your family history or your house.



My attention was caught by a rather tatty looking wooden plaque hanging on a wall, with lots of rusty bits dotted around it. Looking closely, all of the badges seemed to relate to the first world war. It seems that they were created regularly to commemorate special events and occasions. You can read more about them on SA Memory.



One badge wasn't badly corroded, and was proudly recording that Burra had raised 20,000 pounds towards the war effort by 1917 - a huge amount in those days for such a small town.



As I was about to leave I noticed that Hindmarsh Town, a history of Hindmarsh by Ronald Parsons was on sale for $10. It is a hard cover book published way back in 1974 by the then Corporation of Hindmarsh, but clearly has lost none of its value over time. After buying a copy I was pleased to find that it's being sold second hand on Ebay and Amazon for 3-4 times the price!

Don't expect the books to last much longer at that price!



I now had a useful souvenir of my visit to the Hindmarsh Museum, but I think I will be back to do some more genealogical investigations for future articles - the museum is not only entertaining, but a useful reference for family tree researchers.

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Why? Find out about the history of the Hindmarsh area

When: Wednesday 9-2pm, 1st and 3rd Sundays 2-4pm

Phone: (08) 8296 1265

Website: www.charlessturt.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=188

Where: 2 Hindmarsh Pl, Hindmarsh SA 5007

Cost: Small donation requested

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