The lights of Adelaide from the Mount Lofty Ranges

Poster promoting Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide as a tourist destination, created by the artist McLean and published by the South Australian Government Publicity and Tourist Bureau.

South Australia first established a Tourist Bureau in 1908. The Bureau was associated for many decades with the Department of Immigration.

In the 1930s, the South Australian Government Publicity and Tourist Bureau produced a number of striking travel posters highlighting tourist destinations in this state. These examples were created in the 1930s and 1940s and also showcased the Flinders Ranges, the Murray River and the Morialta Conservation Park.

The commissioned artists had distinguished careers. John Charles Goodchild (1898 - 1980) was born in London. After his family emigrated to South Australia he worked as a sign writer. After his World War One service he attended the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts where he was also later a teacher and then principal. Goodchild was a board member of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery. In 1945 the Australian War Memorial in Canberra commissioned him as an official war artist.

Frederick Millward Grey (1899 - 1957), who specialised in lithography, studied art in London and served in World War One. In Adelaide he became a teacher and then director at the School of Fine Arts and then principal of the South Australian School of Art from 1946 to 1956.

Biographical information on the artist McClean is not known.

The posters were each exhibited by the National Library of Australia in 1999-2000 in an exhibition called Follow the Sun: Australian Travel Posters 1930s - 1950s. According to the National Library, the posters are representative of the modern style of art, first seen by the Australian public on billboards, magazines and in advertisements. The Follow the Sun exhibition is available online.

This item is reproduced courtesy of South Australian Tourism Commission.

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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