Bonhams 1793 : George French Angas (British, 1822-1886) The Flower Show, Adelaide

PROVENANCE:
Collection of the artist
Thence by descent
Private Collection, United Kingdom

In February 1844, the South Australian Agricultural Society, formed in 1839, merged with an early horticultural organisation and staged its first combined exhibition held under marquees and tents among the gum trees in Botanic Park, as depicted in the present lot. This was the birth of the Agricultural & Horticultural Society and what was to become the Royal Adelaide Show, the Royal prefix granted by Queen Victoria in 1869.

"The assemblage of from one to two thousand persons on a spot, which, six or seven years ago, was an uninhabited wilderness, and which, even four or five years ago, was pronounced by interested parties altogether unfit for cultivation, to witness an exhibition of agricultural and horticultural productions of every possible variety is not an event of ordinary moment, and does not deserve to be recorded, without some of those kindlings of enthusiasm, which the reward of successful industry and enterprise is fitted to inspire." (South Australian Register, Saturday, 17 February 1844)

Angas recalled the show in his 1847 publication, Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand (p.210):

"...On both sides of the river, between North and South Adelaide, reserved allotments to the extent of 200 acres have been set aside, with a view of hereafter forming pleasure grounds and public gardens for the benefit of the citizens. These open spaces, called the 'Park Lands,' are beautifully scattered over with large and spreading gum-trees, that afford an evergreen shade throughout all seasons of the year. Beneath the leafy canopy of these umbrageous eucalypti, the tents and marquees are erected for the annual horticultural and agricultural show of South Australia - a gala-day with all classes in Adelaide - when the colonists from far and near arrive with specimens of their produce, and the result of their garden labours. I have been present at two successive exhibitions of this kind, and was astonished at the profusion of specimens displayed on both occasions; not only the most perfect and delicious fruit and vegetables, of almost every variety, but also numberless articles of export and domestic economy, raised by the enterprise and industry of the settlers, were exhibited..."