Tag Archives: 1980s

Way back when, Wednesdays

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Pizza delivered, hot and fresh

Safe driving pizza delivery

In the first part of the 1980s, getting a pizza meant dining-in at a Pizza Hut restaurant or picking up a takeaway from your local Italian pizza bar. Everybody thought it was fantastic when you watched an American movie and somebody picked up the telephone to order pizza (usually pepperoni) and it was actually delivered to their door! In 1984 Dial-a-Dino’s commenced its revolutionary pizza home delivery service in Adelaide. On page 5 of the edition dated 25 February 1987, the Leader Messenger featured a story about Dial-a-Dino’s sending it’s young employees on a safe driving course.

Young driver training

Adelaide entrepreneur Richard Westcombe founded Dial-a-Dino’s. Pizza delivery proved to be a commercial success in Adelaide. It was easy to order over the telephone and people enjoyed the novelty value of experiencing a delivery. You would eagerly wait and look out the window to see the distinctive delivery vehicle arrive, a bright yellow Daihatsu with a large red illuminated telephone receiver on the roof. Dial-a-Dino’s expanded its business with outlets in five other Australian states. The company grew to operate 110 stores nationally with a fleet of 220 cars.

You can view old television advertisements for Dial-a-Dino on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com

You might also remember Pizza Haven. The Pizza Haven delivery service was also established in 1984. Financed by their parents, Adelaide brothers Evan, Louis, Bill and Gabriel Christou were opened the initial pizza outlet in Glenelg and established a franchise. Pizza Haven’s blue delivery cars featured an effigy of their mascot, the Pizza Parrot, on the roofs. Pizza Haven provided some competition for Dial-a-Dino’s. People would argue about which company made the better pizza. The Eagle Boys Pizza chain bought out Pizza Haven in July 2008.

In March 1989, Pizza Hut, which was part of PepsiCo Australia, bought out Dial-a-Dino’s and abolished its brand. Pizza delivery outlets were renamed Pizza Hutt Delivery. The advent of pizza delivery in Adelaide effectively put an end to the dine-in Pizza Hutt family restaurant. It was more convenient to eat at home. Pizza Hut became the leader in the pizza delivery market. However, strong competition arrived for Pizza Hut with the opening of Domino’s Pizza in Australia. Pizza Hut would buy out Eagle Boys in 2016 to try and increase its share of the market.

Now pizza eaters are spoilt for choice, with the advent of restaurant delivery services such as Menulog and Uber Eats. Many small pizza restaurants have entered the online environment by entering into partnership with these companies.

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Image: Herald Sun

Despite the promotional image above, Dial-a-Dino’s delivery drivers were quite young. In South Australia the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 made it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of age, which included discrimination in employment (http://www.hebtechstaging.com/resources/discrimination-laws/south-australian-laws). So it is disappointing that this article states that Dial-a-Dino’s drivers were all aged between 16-18 years of age, a statistic that reflects poorly on this company.

The speed limit has also changed in South Australia since 1987. The default speed limit in urban areas in South Australia was reduced from 60km/h to 50km/h on 1 March 2003 (casr.adelaide.edu.au/publications/researchreports/CASR005.pdf).

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Way back when, Wednesdays

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A golden celebration

Did you buy a house in Golden Grove during the 1980s or 1990s? The Leader Messenger featured an article about the milestone sale of a house and land package in the new development of Golden Grove, on page 3 of the issue dated 9 January 1987. The Delphin Property Group Ltd had started selling land in October 1985. People were buying blocks of land ‘off the plan’ and it was time to celebrate the Richter family’s move up to Golden Grove.

1000th family in Golden Grove

The origin of the suburb of Golden Grove is unusual. This is because the State Government and private enterprise worked together, adopting a fully planned approach to its development. The process began when the South Australian Land Commission began acquiring land for prospective housing in 1973. In 1983 Lend Lease/Delphin won the contract to build on the land and construction began in 1985.

Delphin launched a major marketing campaign to sell land in Golden Grove, encompassing advertising on television, radio, in newspapers and on billboards. There were even local newspaper style publications distributed to letterboxes of Adelaide residents, such as the Golden Grove Update and Everything you ever wanted to know about Golden Grove. When the Richter family purchased their house and land pack in the early stages of the Golden Grove development, Delphin used the slogan “Room to move”. The campaign was so successful that Delphin sold over 200 allotments during the first week of construction.

 

Duck billboard

Photo taken from:  Golden Grove, the Creation of a Special Place, A highly successful new community for 30,000 people, Delphin.

 

Golden Grove was innovative for the 1980s as it offered a range of housing options with a choice of allotment sizes. People who could not afford to buy a large, traditionally sized block of land could build a courtyard or villa home. This was also an option for older people who wanted to ‘downsize’ and purchase a smaller home with a low maintenance garden. People were attracted by the proposed extensive planting of trees and shrubs, landscaped streets, provision of open space (27% of land was set aside for this purpose) and the network of hiking and walking trails.

 

Housing styles

A variety of housing styles proved attractive to first home owners, families and retirees in the Golden Grove development. Photo taken from Golden Grove, the Creation of a Special Place, A highly successful new community for 30,000 people, Delphin.

Advertising focused on the concept of building a new community made up of a series of garden villages surrounding a central nucleus, where residents could access a variety of services. When constructed, the Golden Grove Village shopping centre would be an impressive retail facility. In conjunction with the Golden Grove Recreation & Arts Centre it would also have a community focus. People could meet and get together in the ‘Town Centre’. A transport hub was planned to link commuters with neighbouring suburbs, Tea Tree Plaza and Adelaide City.

 

Garden Villages

The logo used on promotional materials to sell land at Golden Grove

 

Golden Grove could offer parents the promise of primary school close to home. An essential feature of the Golden Grove development was the construction of a unique joint-use educational facility with three secondary schools sharing facilities: Golden Grove State High School, Gleeson Catholic College and Pedare Anglican and Uniting Church College. In total, 16 schools were originally proposed for the Golden Grove area. (Golden Grove, the Creation of a Special Place, A highly successful new community for 30,000 people, Delphin).

The population of Golden Grove has grown substantially since the time of the Messenger article. The last vacant block of land in Golden Grove was sold in 2002. The 2016 Census recorded 10,235 people living in Golden Grove and there were 4095 private dwellings in the suburb with an average of 2.6 people per household. Of course, people who moved into the new housing estates and still live there have got older too. The median age of residents is now 42. There are now 2955 families living in Golden Grove – with the average number of children per family recorded as 1.6 (http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC40511?opendocument).

The Golden Grove housing estate copies the name of the original small postal village of Golden Grove. However, there was never officially a township named Golden Grove. Local people called the settlement Golden Grove because it had been established in the vicinity of the Golden Grove Farm which was owned by Captain Adam Robertson.

 

Captain Robertson

Captain Adam Robertson

 

Captain Adam Robertson accompanied by his wife Elizabeth and his son and daughter had emmigrated from Britain in 1853. In 1842 Captain Robertson purchased a section of land from the South Australian Company on one of the headwaters of Cobbler’s Creek. By 1853 he owned nearly 1000 acres of land and he had built Golden Grove House for his family. We are told from his wife’s obituary in the Advertiser in 1888 that Captain Robertson named his property Golden Grove after the last ship that he commanded.

 

PH05246 Golden Grove House 1930

Golden Grove House in 1930

 

Captain Robertson did not approve of people referring to the country surrounding his property as Golden Grove. However Robertson had donated 4000m2 of his land for the construction of a local school in 1853 and he allowed it to be named Golden Grove Area School. In 1959, the Postmaster General designated the local general store and post office as the Golden Grove Post Office. So there was not a lot that the Captain could object to (Ian Auhl, Settlement to City, A History of the District of Tea Tree Gully 1836-1976, 1976-1993).

After Captain Robertson died at the age of 59 in 1864, his son John inherited the Golden Grove property. John continued to farm the land but he also grew grapevines. John is known for having served as a councillor and in the position of Chairman on the Tea Tree Gully Council and as a President of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society. Golden Grove remained in the family until it was sold to Mr and Mrs A.J. Strachan in 1930. In 1972 Boral bought the majority of the estate for sand mining.

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Way back when, Wednesdays

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Look who’s talking

Page 13 of the Leader Messenger dated 30 November, 1983 featured an interview with talented young ventriloquist Linda Jane and her friend Charlie.  Does anybody remember watching Linda Jane and Charlie on Channel 9’s talent show New Faces?  The article focused on Linda’s emerging career in ventriloquism and on her childhood experiences.  Linda Jane and other artists were to appear in a series of concerts to entertain inmates and staff in Adelaide’s gaols.  A brave girl!  Prisoners at Yatala Labour prison had been rioting and lighting fires.

A ventriloquist can change their voice and make it seem like the words they are speaking are coming from a puppet or dummy, which is commonly referred to as having the ability to ‘throw your voice’.  The technical term for a ventriloquist’s dummy is a ventriloquial figure.

In the 1940s and 1950s ventriloquism was incredibly popular in Australia. Hundreds of people performed the art of ventriloquism on stage.  Ventriloquism became a novelty, when electronics used in modern film made it easy to convey the illusion of a non-living character having a voice.  Less people visited the theatre to watch comedy and musical acts.  Fortunately technology and the Internet have created new opportunities for ventriloquists to build new audiences and connect with fellow performers.  Carrying on the tradition, Darren Carr and David Strassman are two ventriloquists who are popular with Australian audiences.

If you find ventriloquist dummies creepy, you are not alone. Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies is known as Automatonophobia.  People who suffer from this phobia feel stressed in the presence of ventriloquilist dummies.  They may also dislike animatronic creatures, dolls or wax statues.  Anything that resembles a sentient being.  Symptoms range from feeling uneasy when looking into their glass eyes, to experiencing panic attacks, an irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath or nausea!

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Jailhouse dummy

About Time: SA’s History Festival

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It’s almost here… There’s only 3 weeks left until May, which means History Month in SA!
About time: South Australia’s History Festival runs from Thursday 1 May until Saturday 31 May with almost 500 events occurring across the state.

The Library is holding three key events during this time, starting with Kidstory History on 1 May. You can join David our Local Historian, for an interactive story time designed especially for kids aged 3-5. Theses sessions will take you back in time to three key eras in Tea Tree Gully’s history through stories and objects from our Local History collection.

roller dicso BWDay-Glo, Go-Go and Roller Disco: TTG in the 1980s, is a feature event looking  at the growth in the Tea Tree Gully area during the 1980s from the development of the O-Bahn to the expansion of Golden Grove, but does it in the form of a roller disco! Immerse yourself in the 80s, the music, the images and the history! Roller skates provided. WARNING! Event may contain traces of Duran Duran!

highercombe BWOur final and  largest event is the Community Archaeological Dig at the Highercombe Hotel Museum starting the week Monday 19 May. The Local History Service, Highercombe Museum, TTG Historical Society and Flinders Archaeological Society are joining forces to conduct an archaeological dig and the public are invited to help! If you can dig, photograph or help us catalogue-we want you. What will we find?

All events require bookings and all details can be found on our website.

You can check out the huge range of events across the state on the About Time website!