Three Decades of The Adelaide Review

This month, The Adelaide Review celebrates 30 years of delivering the finest free political, social, cultural, design, architecture, planning, arts and food and wine writing to the streets of Adelaide. Our having survived three decades during a time of great upheaval in the media industry is testament to the quality of our contributors, staff and clients and, of course, our loyal readers. We have always been, and continue to be, fiercely proud of our independence and our intimate engagement at so many levels with the city of Adelaide and the broader state of South Australia. The first issue dropped on the streets in March, 1984. Then edited by Mark Jamieson, the redoubtable Christopher Pearson took over the editorial reins soon after. We’ve undergone many changes in those three decades but still deliver on the principal values of the very first issue – to provide an alternative voice within the Adelaide media landscape, a voice which values quality of writing and independence of thought above all other considerations. Looking back, The Adelaide Review has hosted in its pages a litany of leading figures from Australia’s cultural and political landscapes of the past 30 years. From Les Murray to Tony Abbott, from Guy Rundle to Shirley Stott Despoja, from Peter Goldsworthy to daughter Anna, from Frank Moorhouse to Margaret Simons, Don Dunstan to Alex Buzo, Angela Carter to Michael Duffy, Geoffrey Lehmann to Valmai Hankel, Alexander Downer to Mike Ladd, Cheong Liew to Howard Twelftree – the list is endless, and makes for an impressive archive bearing witness not only to the cultural life of Adelaide, but of independent publishing ;and its champions. For the last two-and-a-half years, our media group has also expanded into the ;competitive Melbourne market with the establishment of The Melbourne Review, a publication that, like its Adelaide elder sister, seeks to champion the best of thought, innovation and creativity while still celebrating the lifestyle for which both cities are justifiably famous. We seek to combine intelligence with style, and believe both are vital to any quality publication. We are also in the process of considerably enhancing our online platforms to bring this content more directly and regularly to readers here, interstate and overseas. To mark this occasion, we enlisted street artist Ankles to design the anniversary cover. Using our very first issue in March 1984 as a rough guide, Ankles painted a mural on a brick wall using icons to represent Adelaide. The anniversary cover honours our past while representing the lesser-known icons of contemporary Adelaide. Thanks to all of you for reading, wherever you are and whatever device you may be using. Here’s to the next 30 years. Celebrating Thirty Years: Designing our cover