14/08/2026
HISTORY FRIDAY | WHEN A PHOTOGRAPH BECOMES HISTORY 📷
How often do we take a photograph without giving much thought to what it might capture for future generations?
A building. A streetscape. The way people dressed. A moment in time.
Recently, a book caught our eye — Captain Sweet’s Adelaide by Philip Pike and Julian Moore — and it reminded us just how powerful photography can be in telling the story of a city.
Captain Samuel White Sweet, born in England in 1825, spent much of his early adult life in the Royal Navy before eventually making South Australia his home. By the 1860s, photography was still relatively young, yet Samuel became an accomplished photographer, capturing Adelaide, its buildings, people and changing landscape with remarkable detail.
One of those photographs takes us to Hindley Street and Adelaide’s Theatre Royal.
The original Theatre Royal opened in 1868 and was substantially rebuilt in 1878. Samuel White Sweet's photograph, taken after that rebuilding, captured a grand Adelaide theatre that generations today never had the opportunity to see.
And here's a detail that made us smile. According to Captain Sweet’s Adelaide, the Theatre Royal and adjoining Theatre Royal Hotel were connected, so that “the gentlemen might comfortably allay their thirst during the intervals.”
Very convenient indeed!
The theatre became an important part of Adelaide's entertainment history, welcoming performers and audiences for decades. Eventually, however, the building disappeared from the Hindley Street streetscape, demolished to make way for the Miller Anderson car park.
But its story hasn't disappeared — in part because photographs captured it.
And while researching this story, we had one of those wonderful coincidences.
We remembered taking a photograph some time ago of an old Adelaide newspaper entertainment page. Looking at it again, there it was in the advertisements — THEATRE ROYAL, along with the names of internationally renowned actors Irene Vanbrugh and Dion Boucicault.
At the time, we simply thought the old newspaper was interesting and took a photo.
We didn't realise that one day that photograph would help us uncover another little piece of Adelaide's theatrical history.
Perhaps that's the wonderful thing about photography.
We take photographs to remember today — but sometimes, without knowing it, we're also recording history for tomorrow. 📷
South Australia has so many stories waiting to be discovered — in our buildings, streetscapes, photographs and the places we pass every day.
So why not make South Australia part of your next getaway? Explore Adelaide's history, wander its historic streets and discover some of the stories that have shaped our state — then come home to the comfort of one of our Adelaide Style Accommodation homes.
🏡 Stay a little longer. Explore a little further. Discover South Australia.
And keep following Adelaide Style Accommodation for more of our History Friday discoveries, local stories, places to explore and a little inspiration for your next South Australian stay.
History is all around us — sometimes you just have to look a little closer.
Historical reference: Captain Sweet’s Adelaide, Philip Pike & Julian Moore - Thank you for being inspired to write this book.
