Wooden panel for 150th anniversary

Carved [mahogany?] wooden panel by Douglas A. Dunstan commemorating the Sesquicentenary of South Australia in 1986. Over the base outline of South Australia can be seen the Old Gum Tree at Glenelg, the Proclamation read there and the Stanhope Press on which it was printed. Elsewhere appear the Transcontinental train, sheap-shearing, cameleers, technology and state exports, Riverland wine and fruit industries, Barossa Valley wine, motor car production, paddlesteamer on River Murray, Colonel Light's statue and St Peter's Cathedral, radiata pine industry in the South East, wheat-growing on Eyre Peninsula, Woomera, Flying Doctor, indigenous habitation, native fauna, shipping and history of sailing in SA waters, and whaling. On the back of the panel is written in ink the name of the creator and 1983.

Douglas Dunstan was the managing director of the Griffin Press, having learned the printing business in Queensland and then serving as manager of the Advertiser Printing Office, a division of the Adelaide Advertiser. He brought high standards to the printery and in 1954 this became the Griffin Press. As well as producing paperbacks and general publications, the standards of excellence he insisted upon at the press resulted in a number of books for the Limited Editions Club of New York being designed and printed in Adelaide.

Dunstan retired in 1967 but maintained his interest in book design. He also developed an interest in wood carving executing a number of panels for the Beaumont Uniting Church, and donating several others to the State Library. One of these encapsulates the history and development of South Australia and was presented as part of the Jubilee 150 celebrations.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

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