2 May 1904   East End Markets

On 2 May 1904 the Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange on East Terrace opened for business. On 30 October 1903 a Bill which provided for the Exchange to be established was passed in the South Australian Parliament. This enabled William Charlick, proprietor of Charlick Brothers fruit and grocery business, to form a company, with a capital of £40 000, to build a new market on land which had been purchased between Rundle and Grenfell Streets.

Richard Vaughan established the original East End Market in the 1860s. By the 1890s this area was not large enough to cope with the increasing trade forcing some traders out on to the street. This situation prompted William Charlick to decide to act.

The memorial stone for the new market was laid by the Governor, Sir George Le Hunte, on 24 April 1904. Further extensions were made over the years to cover the four acres allowed under the Act. The ornate facade on Grenfell Street, with its cantilevered gabled canopies and symbolic cornucopia with the inscription 'The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness (sic) thereof', has come under attention again, since the closure of the markets, with plans for the re-development of the site.

The markets themselves have been re-located at Pooraka. Thus this colourful city institution came to an end on 30 September 1988.

Susan Marsden, Paul Stark, Patricia Sumerling (eds), Heritage of the City of Adelaide, Corporation of the City of Adelaide, 1990, pp. 139-140.