Text 31094, 74 rader
Skriven 2015-09-20 14:46:48 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: AU 259
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The North Terrace is the address of the most eminent
governmental and cultural edifices in the state, including
the Casino, Parliament, Government House, Royal Adelaide
Hospital, and the two universities. Other than the hospital,
we weren't interested in these but rather the museums, of
which we had time to visit the best known.

The State Library is the pride and joy of South Australia;
founded in 1834 and open to all since the 1850s (and starting
to ship lent books out into the countryside since shortly
thereafter), mirrors the value ascribed to knowledge and
learning by the founders of the state. In fact, plans were
made for a public library before the state was even founded -
strange admirable foresight. We visited the Mortlock building,
which dates from the mid-1880s and formerly the home of the
museum, see second paragraph below, and at one point the
lending library; it's a splendid Victorian structure -
Romanesque outside and with wrought iron inside, local
history and culture exhibits on the ground, books - most from
a hundred or more years ago - on the first floor, and the
headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society up above. We
decided to return for a guided tour after lunch (I forget
which lunch) and became part of a pleasant group of about
10 led by a perky docent who although an Englishwoman proved
to be very knowledgeable about all sorts of local lore. A
well-spent hour and change, after which we did a little more
exploration on our own and then went out to see the site of
the home for orphans and unwed mothers, adjacent to the

Migration Museum, which celebrates all the peoples, from the
aboriginals to the 19th-century Europeans and Asians, who
have contributed to the culture of South Australia. It's
largely a story of hardship and some oppression, and though
sobering, is very instructive with some lighter points. It
was worth possibly more than the additional hour we gave it.

The South Australian Museum is pretty cool - some rather
average natural history exhibits that reminded me of the
offerings of small 19th-century collections notwithstanding.
The collection of Aboriginal art (first floor) and artifacts
(ground floor) was quite impressive, and the South Sea
Islands room endlessly interesting. There was a room
dedicated to the Ediacarian part of the Precambrian era, a
period with which I'd been previously unfamiliar - the
creatures that lived then had shapes similar to many I
recognized from childhood visits to museums but were more
primitive and either more geometric or more amorphous (which
leads me to think this is an agglomeration of more years
than should be the case, but since times are hard to figure
in those remote eras, one can't do better). Also entrancing
was a room of fossils in which the infiltrating mineral is
opal. I went here twice with Lilli and once on my own.

The Art Gallery is a nice building with loads of less
interesting stuff. Part of the problem, no offense, is a
conscious decision to devote half of the hanging space
to Australian art, much of which I found downright bad.
The other stuff consists of some of the better work by
lesser artists and some of the lesser work by eminent
ones. Though there was an imitation Holbein that wholly
fooled me and I seem to recall a rather nice Renoir
domestic portrait that I can't find in the online
catalogue. I spent more time here than it deserved. Oh,
some Japanese Edo-period prints that were relegated to
the basement were quite nice and representative -
Hiroshige, Hokusai, that kind of stuff.

Admission to all museums is free, with a charge only for
special exhibitions at the art gallery (I wasn't interested
in the current one), but I did put down a couple dollars
here and there into the kitties provided.
        
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