ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 1887-8
Jubilee International Exhibition

Quick List Info

Dates Open - June 21, 1887 to January 7, 1888 (closing ceremony). Open 172 days. Newspaper reports state that the exhibition was open additional days to January 17 while the exhibits were dismantled.

Attendance - 789,074 total attendance.

International Participants - 26 Nations and Colonies.

Total Cost - Some secondary reports state L66,000.

Site Acreage - 18.5 acres.

Sanction and Type - Prior to sanctioning by the Bureau of International Exhibitions. Would be considered a Special category Recognized event today due to size and participation like those on the 2-3, 7-8 years of a decade.

Ticket Cost - There were daily tickets and season tickets. Cost of entry at end of exhibition was 1s.

Photo top center: Postcard of the Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition Building, 1910. Courtesy City of Adelaide via Flikr. Column Top: Cereal Trophy from New South Wales, Main Hall, North Terrace, 1887-8. Courtesy Pinterest. Bottom: Main Building, circa 1887-1888, Original source unknown. Courtesy Pinterest.

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History of the Event

The Australia colonies were getting into the international exhibition act, with the past events in Sydney 1879-80 and Melbourne 1880-1 already in the books. Adelaide would host the Jubilee International Exhibition as a celebration of two fiftieth year anniversaries, the Jubilee of Queen Victoria's ascension to the throne of Great Britain and the proclamation of the Colony of South Australia on December 28, 1836. And although attendance was predominantly provincial, without many overseas guests, it spurred local business and helped South Australia recover from the depression that had plagued the colony.

The Jubilee opened on a wet day, but was considered successful, with the London Times praising the British Court and the Fine Arts Gallery. It was said that the buildings were complete on opening day, a remarkable achievement for world's fairs throughout any decade. There were eight thousand people at the opening ceremony.

The exhibition had a northern annex, a Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and the main building, built to be permanent, with two annexes itself. totalling 85,600 square feet. There were two thousand two hundred exhibits within the buildings, and the main building itself cost around L20,000. L32,000 had been the appropriation by the government for the main building and a nearby temporary building. The main building was designed by Government Architect E. J. Woods, and had a dome 112 feet wide and 192 feet high from the ground to its top. It had display courts, restaurants, and a concert hall for eight hundred. The site itself was connected by a rail line to the Adelaide railway station.

Above photo. Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition Building, circa 1887, Captain Samuel White Sweet. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Below: Medal from the Adelaide Jubilee, 1887-8. Courtesy Pinterest.


Was it successful? Most thought it was. Despite the consternation and argument prior to the exhibition on whether it was an expensive luxury or needed to spur employment during a depression, the fair achieved the latter. Attendance was reported in the London Times as 789,074, more than two times the population of South Australia, which was no small feat. It was reported that there was a profit, and the main exhibition buiding, built to be permanent, remained for seventy-five years, serving the city of Adelaide as its exhibition building for various smaller events.

PRIOR TO B.I.E.

International Participants
Nations and Colonies

Coutries that won Awards - Austria-Hungary, Belgium, British North Borneo (C), Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Victoria (C), New South Wales (C), South Australia (C), Seychelles Islands (C), Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Great Britain and Ireland, Algiers (C), Canada, Fiji (C), India (C), Johore (C), Manila (C), New Zealand (C), Queensland (C), Tasmania (C), Singapore (C).

It was also stated that Japan, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Malta, and China exhibited.

Note: It is sometimes difficult to tell whether certain nations or colonies actually participated in a significant way. Newspaper reports as well as the official guidebook may indicate participation when actual participation did not occur, or occurred minimally. Take the above as a guide, not gospel.

Expo Tidbits
At the opening ceremony, various music was performed, including the Exhibition Cantata by George Herbert Cossins and Edward R. G. W. Andrews, as well as The Song of Australia.

Idea for the exhibition began in 1881, and was agreed upon in 1883, but without funding. The exhibition idea took firmer hold on July 31, 1885.

Site was held on two levels with an impressive staircase in between, joining the buildings below near the River Torrens with the main building, which was on the upper site.

Western Australia was the only Australian colony that did not exhibit.

Full name of the exhibition was the Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition of the Arts, Agriculture, and Manufactures.

Legacies
The Jubilee International Exhibition Building remained until 1962. It was to be used by the South Australian Institute after the fair, hosted the Royal Adelaide show (also using the Jubilee Oval) from 1895 to 1925, and in 1929 was transferred to the University of Adelaide. It was demolished to make way for Napier Hall, as well as the Adelaide Law School and Taib Mahmud Court. Two fountains that had been located in front of the building during the fair still exist, moved to the Adelaide Arcade and Creswell Gardens.

Those in Charge

J. F. Conigrave was Secretary of the exhibition; Robert Dalrymple Ross was the promoter. Sir Edwin Smith was the Vice-President of the South Australian Commission and elected executive chairman of the exhibition. He was also the Mayor of Adelaide.


Sources: London Times; South Australian Register; Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs by Alfred Heller; Wikipedia Commons; Adelaidia South Australia Government Site on Exhibitions by Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia; The South Australian Advertiser; History of South Australia.

Photo column top: New South Wales Court at the Adelaide Jubilee, 1887-8. Courtesy State Library of South Australia via Pinterest. Bottom: Jubilee Exhibition Building at Night, 1920, Francis Gabriel. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons via Adeladia.sa.gov.au.