Thomas Elder's rotunda gift in 1882 adds to the beautified park around Adelaide city's Torrens lake created by weir
The Elder Rotunda, manufactured in Glasgow in 1881 as arranged by Thomas Elder, beside the Torrens Lake created by damming a series of waterdoles with the weir constructed during Edwin Smith's time of Adelaide mayor.
Elder band rotunda was a decorative addition to work in Adelaide city’s transforming a series of muddy waterholes to into River Torrens Lake in 1881 with beautified park surrounds.
The lake was created by the Torrens weir being built as a dam by the Adelaide city council during mayor Edwin Smith’s leadrship. During this boom time, Adelaide city’s built form matured with museums, libraries, public buildings and parks.
Wealthy businessman, pastoralist, parliamentarian and philanthropist Sir Thomas Elder was holidaying in the Scotland when he heard that Smith and the council were struggling to raise funds for a lakeside rotunda. The Advertiser (August 23, 1881) reported that Elder wrote to the council saying it was a fitting occasion to present it with a rotunda or bandstand as “a mark of his appreciation of the improvements they had carried out and his interest in the city”.
Elder arranged to have the rotunda made at MacFarlane's Saracen Foundry in Glasgow, to be placed on the site “granted by the Government to the Corporation as a place of recreation and a promenade for the people of the Colony on the banks of the River Torrens”.
The rotunda was described as octagonal and 24 feet in diameter with spandrels and zinc canopied roof with overhanging eaves; the whole surmounted by a domed cupola and bold finial with cast-iron railings. It was shipped from Britain in 1882. Charles Farr built it in Adelaide, with the floor of the rotunda raised about 18 feet above the original ground level, with approach steps of granite, to make it more visible from King William Road. The rotunda was painted bronze, grey and blue.
The rotunda was officially opened on 28 November 1882. Edwin Smith and Thomas Elder wereat the opening ceremony attended by 3,000 on the banks of the Torrens lake. Smith announced that the rotunda would be venue for regular community music performances. The “Rotunda March”, composed by band leader W. Worlsey and dedicated to Elder, was played by the Adelaide City Council Brass Band. The Adelaide Liedertafel headed a procession of boats lit with lanterns on the lake and “favoured the public with some admirably sung glees”. Supper for invited guests was provided afterwards at Long’s boat shed, across the river.
The rotunda continued to be a focal point for recreation and entertainment in Elder Park, reinforced by The Advertiser Sound Shell and the Cheerup Hut, replaced in the late 20th Century by the Festival Centre theatre complex. At the 1982 rotunda centenary celebrations, brass and jazz bands played, with a rowpast of Torrens boats and free pony rides for children. The Adelaide Liedertafel sang songs from the opening night a century before.
