Mount Pleasant Institute

The South Australian Institute was formed to promote the arts, science and education. In 1856 the South Australian government was encouraged to provide funding for the establishment which became a support and guide for the institutes "with guidelines and advice on organising a library, procedures, trustees, and regulations, on purchasing books and magazines. Also, through affiliating with the SA Institute, each institute gained access to government subsidies for books, lecturers, lists of books and magazines, and circulating boxes of books."

Mount Pleasant became a part of this organisation. Further detail regarding the establishment of the South Australia Institute can be found here

FORMATION OF THE INSTITUTE…

On 3rd July 1863 eighteen gentlemen met at Miss Freeman’s schoolroom (this is the now Mount Pleasant Primary School) to draw up the constitution and find suitable premises for a proposed library. Messrs. George Melrose, John Bennett, James Maitland, Thomas Roberts and Rev. Joseph Boake accepted this task. The first committee meeting was held in the house of Mr. T. Roberts who provided room for the library and was the first Secretary and Librarian, before the committee was able to rent two rooms from Mr. James Hall. The library had been stored on shelves at the public school, and in 1867 a room then became available at Robert Wylie’s General Store (opposite Mount Pleasant Hotel). October 1867 saw mention of the distribution of a grant from the South Australia Institute to Mount Pleasant, suggesting its affiliation with this group.

It was as a member of the Mount Pleasant Institute that newcomers to the district encompassed the society of the district. On 2nd July 1884 the Institute members decided to purchase the Wesleyan chapel (in Showground road), after it had been disbanded by the Church. A government grant had been obtained for the purchase of the building which was opened on 17 September 1875.

Regular events were held in these premises, and became so popular that the first additions were added in 1878. By 1898 the first caretaker-librarians were employed – the Webbs had retired from their Tungkillo General Store to Mount Pleasant.

A new piano was purchased with funds donated by artists, with encouragement from Robert Melrose. Concerts, dances, benefit concerts and regular meetings of community groups were held in the Institute. During 1886-1887 Henry Giles snr gifted the allotment between the Institute and the main street for a road (Memorial Road), enabling patrons easy access to the Institute and on Show Day.

The Institute building was used as the Exhibition Hall for the annual Show during the late 1800s until the Show Society purchased the building in the 1950s.

GAS ACETYLENE LIGHTING

Alfred Townsend arrived in Mount Pleasant in 1901 and organised skating competitions in the Institute to raise money for modernising the building and the main street lights. Gas acetylene lamps were installed in the main street, the first country town to do so, and powered by a generator under the control of the Institute Committee. With the departure of Alfred Townsend in 1908, the enthusiasm for this system declined. The South Rhine District Council would not or could not continue the system and sold the generator in 1918, much to the disgust of Alfred Townsend who had been following the events of this saga, from his office as Clerk at Pinnaroo.

Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 9 August 1913, page 40

MOUNT PLEASANT INSTITUTE.

Mr. T. Roberts,. of Campbelltown, who is 80 years of age, has furnished the following interesting recollections with reference to a paragraph under "Early South Australia" in The Register of July 25:—"A reference to the Mount Pleasant Institute in The Register set me thinking. It is stated that 'a meeting was held at Mount Pleasant to establish an institute. Officers were elected, and 30 members enrolled:' I have tried, but cannot call to mind that meeting. I was most certainly one of the founders of the institute, and the first meeting was held in my house. There were present:—The Rev. Mr. Boake, Mr. G. Melrose, Mr. J. Hall, Mr. J. Maitland, and myself. Mr. Maitland is the only other one of us alive. I gave one of my rooms for reading, library, meetings, and so on. I was the first Secretary and librarian and held those offices until I left the neighbourhood—over 15 years. They were honorary offices the whole time. After leaving my house, we rented for several years two .rooms of a slab hut which belonged to Mr. James Hall. After that we purchased the Wesleyan Church, which is still in use for an institute, and a host of other purposes. I might mention many other interesting facts, but as I have to trust entirely to memory, I don't think I will venture.