Few places in Adelaide carry as much collective memory as Rundle Mall. Half a century ago, on 1 September 1976, then-Premier Don Dunstan arrived by horse and cart to officially open what would become the beating heart of the city. Champagne ran through the fountain and 10,000 people turned out to celebrate the beginning of a new era.
It almost didn’t happen. The idea was first proposed in 1974, when Dunstan called for the closure of Rundle Street between King William and Pulteney streets, but it took years of sometimes bitter debate before construction finally began in 1975. Architect Ian Hannaford and his team travelled to Canada, Scotland and Europe for inspiration, designing a human-scale space with cobbled bricks, shady trees and comfortable seating, somewhere people would simply feel good being.
For those of us who grew up with it, the Mall is a living scrapbook. There was the day in July 1984 when 25,000 fans, many of them schoolgirls who’d skipped class, packed the Mall to watch Boy George perform from the Richmond Hotel overpass. There were afternoons lost in John Martin’s Magic Cave, first jobs, first dates, and the enduring ritual of “meet at the Mall’s Balls”, Bert Flugelman’s iconic stainless steel spheres, donated to the city in 1977. The beloved bronze pigs, Horatio, Oliver, Truffles and Augusta, arrived in 1999, and haven’t left since.
Today, the Mall is home to over 700 retailers and 300 services, welcoming 22 million visitors a year. It has been upgraded, reimagined and refreshed, but its role as Adelaide’s town square has never wavered.
Fifty years on, it still belongs to all of us.
Find out more: rundlemall.com.au
