Adelaide : [a "birdseye", engraved panoramic view, from a point on Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide] : [poster]

This is a later version of the 1876 panorama, drawn by A C Cooke and engraved by S Calvert, held at the National Library of Australia. In this 1887 version Frearson's name has replaced Calvert's. A number of changes have occured in the city of Adelaide over the 11 years between the production of the views.

Produced as a supplement to the Pictorial Australian of May-June 1887 for the opening of the Jubilee Exhibition, this panorama in the view of the artist was intended to give 'a truthful view of the capital ...'. Bird's-eye views gave a perspective of a city as if from the air. Some were drawn from tethered balloons; alternatively a high church steeple or other vantage point would be used. Bird's-eye views became popular in Europe and America during the mid to late 19th century, and the idea was followed in Australia as well.

Points of note are the Newmarket Hotel, at the corner of North and West Terraces, with the stockyard opposite; Holy Trinity and Scots Churches on North Terrace, the South Australian Institute and the new Exhibition buildings also on North Terrace. Note the cliffs along the River Torrens, which are now terraced gardens. The Elder Park Rotunda, built in 1882, can be seen adjacent to the City or Adelaide Bridge. In Light Square the original sandstone monument erected in memory to Colonel William Light in 1844 still stands. This would be replaced in 1905 with the current monument as the sandstone of the original crumbled away. Only lower North Adelaide is shown. In the far distance the monument on Mt Lofty can just be seen.

The Pictorial Australian was published by the Frearson Brothers: Samuel the senior partner was born in 1845 and arrived in South Australia in 1853 with his parents. He established a bookselling busines in Rundle Street in 1868, and was later joined by a younger brother, Septimus. In 1876 they acquired a long term lease on premises in King William Street and re-located there. The brothers were joined by Robert, a younger brother, and began publishing Pictorial Australian in January 1885, a successor to Frearson's Weekly illustrated later Frearson's Monthly illustrated which they began publishing in 1878.

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