Parliament House, South Australia

South Australia's Parliament House is landmark number 23 on the Rundle Mall Discovery Trail.

The Parliament of South Australia consists of two Houses - the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. They govern South Australia according to the traditions of the Westminster System of Parliament. Every Member of Parliament must take an oath, or make an affirmation, of allegiance to the Queen of England. There must be a session of Parliament at least once in every year, and the maximum life of a Parliament is four years.

Although it appears to be one imposing building, South Australia's Parliament House was built in two sections. In 1873, Edmund Wright, ex-Mayor of the city and architect of the Adelaide Town Hall and GPO, won a competition with his Melbourne-based colleague to design a new Parliament House. Issues with the site and costs meant the first section was only completed in 1889, a year after Wright’s death. It carries the faces of leading parliamentarians and Governors of that era in the keystones of the upstairs windows.

The second section was finally completed fifty years later with the help of a £100,000 donation from Sir John Langdon Bonython, son of Langdon (see Bonython Hall).

Further information is available from Adelaide City Council’s Heritage Department – SA History Trust.

Discovery Trail Landmarks

1. Historic corner - Beehive Corner
2. Adelaide Visitor Information Centre
3. 'A Day Out' - Rundle Mall's bronze pigs
4. 'Progress' by Lyndon Dadswell
5. 'Girl on a Slide' by John Dowie
6. The Magic Cave
7. 'Spheres' by Bert Flugelman - the 'Mall's Balls'
8. The Regent Arcade
9. Adelaide Arcade and Gays Arcade
10. The Rundle Mall Fountain
11. Ruthven Mansions
12. Scots Church
13. Bonython Hall, University of Adelaide
14. The Art Gallery of South Australia
15. The South Australian Museum
16. His Majesty King Edward VII
17. South Australian Migraton Museum
18. South Australian National War Memorial and South Australian Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen Memorial
19. Statue of Venus
20. Walk of Fame (SA's Greats)
21. South African Soldiers Memorial
22. Government House
23. Parliament House
24. Adelaide Club and Queen Adelaide Club
25. The Rundle Lantern