16 December 1979     Carols by Candlelight

Heavy rain on 16 December 1979 washed out the annual Carols by Candlelight held in Elder Park and for the first time in thirty-six years the event was cancelled. On the previous Thursday night a runaway truck caused damage to the steel-scaffolding stage, but by using additional workers and working until 10 pm the stage had been rebuilt in time. Then the rains came. Carols by Candlelight began in the dark days of the war when some 50,000 people attended the first festival on Christmas Eve 1944, held in aid of the Adelaide Children’s Hospital and the Somerton Sick and Crippled Children’s Home, and arranged by the Commercial Travellers Association and 5AD. Since that the concert has become an integral part of Adelaide’s Christmas observance and many of Australia’s best singers have appeared there. In 1950 the guest artist was Joan Sutherland and record crowd of 70,000 heard her sing.

125 Years of The Advertiser, Advertiser Newspaper, 1983, 140,156, 203.