I was at the grand fancy dress roller skating carnival ... : [poster]

Souvenir printed on Japanese (rice) paper presented to participants attending a fancy dress roller skating carnival on 30 July 1888 at the Jubilee Exhibition Buildings, Adelaide, South Australia. The souvenir is signed by A. N. Ridgely and C. M. Raymond Printed in Adelaide by J.H. Sherring and Co. The competition was organised by the Columbia Elite Roller-Skating Rink Company, and the souvenir provided participants with one week's admission to any Columbia Elite skating rink throughout the world.

The souvenir states 'I represented the Character of .....' and lists some forty characters from literature and stereotypes - Tall Men, Dudes, Mother Goose, Little Nell, and others. There is a floral border with three larger figures in the centre on roller skates.

The spectacular Exhibition Building on North Terrace was built to accommodate the Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition in celebration of the colony of South Australia's fiftieth birthday in 1887. The exhibition ran from June 1887 to June 1888. The grandeur of the building was a symbol of the colony's progress and was in a formal classical style, with an imposing dome. The building had various uses before its demolition in 1962 to make way for the Napier building and adjacent car park and plaza at the University of Adelaide.

The sport of competition roller skating, popular in the 1950s, has experienced a resurgence in Australia and is said to be the fastest growing women's sport in the world. The World Speed Roller Skating Championships were held in Adelaide from 3-6 September 1986. Adelaide hosted Melbourne in the inaugural Skate of Origin, Australia's first interstate all-girl roller derby bout, at Jubilee Pavilion in the Wayville Showground on 24 February 2008. The Adelaide Roller Derby league has a program of events for 2009.

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