Proclamation Day, South Australia

December 28 is Proclamation Day in South Australia. A public holiday is observed on the first weekday after Christmas, which is normally Boxing Day.

On December 28, 1836 South Australia was proclaimed a British province under letters patent issued by King William IV.

According to this historical site: Governor John Hindmarsh’s commission was read by his secretary George Stevenson to a crowd of 200 immigrants gathered outside a tent. This commission advised the immigrants of the Governor and Council’s powers on behalf of the Crown.

Stevenson’s report of the proceedings is published here.

There was some discussion in the office today about whether the public holiday on December 26 should be referred to as Boxing Day or Proclamation Day.

Reporters wrote “Boxing Day” when referring to the post-Christmas sales and other news.

I decided that Boxing Day was appropriate.

Strictly speaking, the holiday is Proclamation Day, but when referring to the day itself, Boxing Day it is.

That’s also the vernacular understanding across the state.

The Adelaide Advertiser referred to “Boxing Day” sales when reporting the shopping exodus to Victoria where trading hours are more liberal.

Update (December 2011): Shopping hours have been changed to allow stores to open in the CBD on Boxing Day.

This year is the 175th anniversary of the proclamation and there have been some official commemorations to mark the occasion.

Newspaper reports from the 19th century suggest an annual regatta was first held at Glenelg on December 28, 1857 to mark the colony’s “coming of age”.

According to the South Australian Register of December 29, 1860:

“The twenty-fourth anniversary of the proclamation of the colony of South Australia was celebrated at Glenelg in a similar manner to that which has obtained during the past four years — by a grand regatta — on Friday, December 28,” the paper reported.

“The morning was a most glorious one, well befitting the anniversary of such an event as the christening, so to speak, of a young giant, now fast advancing into the maturity of a vigorous manhood.”

Flags were flying, a brass band played and it was “more easy to say who was not present than who was”. Some of the original settlers were recorded as being in attendance, including Messrs Charles and Hurtle Fisher, Henry Morris and William Croxall.

Sailing, rowing and horse racing provided entertainment.

Hurtle is an interesting name, so I looked him up. He was one of Sir James Hurtle Fisher’s four sons. Sir James was the colony’s inaugural Resident Commissioner, the first Mayor of Adelaide and the first South Australian to be knighted.

Hurtle and his brother Charles moved to Melbourne in the early 1860s where they acquired significant landholdings between Essendon and Flemington. Hurtle is regarded as the the “father” of Victorian thoroughbred breeding.

His colt Muscovado won both the VRC Derby and the Melbourne Cup in 1864.

The Proclamation of South Australia, 1836 (1856, oil on canvas) by Charles Hill (1824–1915).