Valleys of Stone : The Archaeology and History of Adelaide's Hill's Face

Valleys of Stone is a very accessible write up of the Hills Face Zone Cultural Heritage Project, an archaeological and historical survey of the Adelaide Hills undertaken by Flinders University. It is nicely presented and features color reproductions of early paintings of the Hills and photos drawn from the State Library database. It may also inspire you to attempt the Yurrebilla Trail, a heritage and nature trail stretching from Athelstone to Belair developed as part of the project.

Botanical Illustrations

An exhibition drawn from The Barr Smith Library's Special Collections to coincide with the Botanical Riches exhibitions is on display in the Barr Smith foyer until the end of January.

Flora's Jewels : The Art of the Botanical Book

This exhibition traces the development of the illustrated botanical book from the Renaissance herbal with woodcuts, through the copperplate engravings of the Eighteenth Century to lithography in the Nineteenth Century.

This is a companion to the Temple of Flora exhibition (see below) and is being held at Carrick Hill. The exhibitions are jointly promoted under the title Botanical Riches and are being run in conjunction with the release of the book Botanical Riches : stories of botanical exploration by Richard Aitken, published by Miegunyah Press

Entry to Carrick Hill House is $8:50.

While at Carrick Hill you can walk the Children's Literary Trail which features a Hobbit hole and a Jungle Book safari. Entry to the grounds and the trail is free.

Temple of Flora

Currently showing at The Museum of Economic Botany in the Adelaide Botanic until 25th February 2007, Temple of Flora : stories of botanical exploration is an exhibition of illustrated herbals and Botanical books dating from the 16th Century to the present with an emphasis on books from the 18th and 19th centuries. Highlights include Leonhard Fuchs De historia stirpium commentarrii insignes, published in 1542 which features 'the earliest picture of a maize plant to appear in print', Robert Thornton's Temple of Flora, (which you can view online at the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture) and John Gerard's Herball or Generall Historie of Plants edited by Thomas Johnson. Guided tours of the gardens to view some of the plants illustrated in the exhibition can be booked through the Friends of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide. This is also a chance to view the garden's recently completed Schomburgk Pavillion.

Temple of Flora is open 10am-4pm daily and entry is free.

Monster Blood Tattoo

As part of the One Book One Salisbury promotion Adelaide writer and illustrator D.M. Cornish, author of the fantasy book Monster Blood Tattoo, was interviewed by Dyan Blacklock in front of an appreciative audience of young fans and excited library officers at the Mawson Lakes Library on October 31st. David and Dyan talked about the striking design features of the book and some of the things that influenced the creation of the Tutin language and the geography of the Half-Continent. Especial treats were a peek into one of the journals in which David jotted down his initial ideas and sketches for the Half-Continent and a look at some of the stunning pictures to be included in Lamplighter the second book of the series. In promoting this event the library service ran a competition in which young readers were asked to design a cruorpunxis based on their favourite description of a monster taken from the novel. David presented the winners with signed promotional artwork and a signed copy of the book. Winning entries and photos of the winners can be found at the Salisbury Library service's website.

D.M. Cornish's blog can be found at Monster Blood Tattoo.blogspot.com
The official website for the book is: monsterbloodtattoo.com