SA School of Arts and Crafts

The South Australian School of Design was an art school in the earliest days of the City of Adelaide, the progenitor of the South Australian School of Arts, a department of the University of South Australia.

In 1856 Charles Hill started a private School of Art in Pulteney Street, where, in that same year, the South Australian Society of Arts was formed.

In 1861 the South Australian School of Design was founded under the management of the Society of Arts and connected with the South Australian Institute, with Charles Hill in charge. In 1862 enrolments were low and decreasing, rising slightly to 21 students in 1863. From the beginning, students were encouraged to show their work at Society exhibitions, and special prizes were offered for members of the School. This led to much mediocre work being shown, but acted as an impetus to native talent. By 1868 there were three classes: girls, boys, and young men, with an average attendance of 25. The school moved into a larger hall at the Institute previously reserved as exhibition space, and the small schoolroom handed over to F. G. Waterhouse, curator of the Museum. A large consignment of busts and statues had been donated by the Royal Society to add to the plaster models already in use for drawing "in the round".

Charles Hill retired in 1881 and the Board of Governors decided to re-form the School into a School of Design and a School of Painting, and after recruitment for a replacement in England fell through, it was decided to appoint only one master in the first instance, and Eugene von Guerard of Melbourne recommended Louis Tannert, who started in October 1881, as head of the School of Design, later head of the School of Painting. H. P. Gill was appointed in London in 1882 as head of the School of Design. In 1887 G. A. Reynolds was brought in as first assistant; in 1891 he transferred to the Education Department.

Tannert retired in 1892 and the two schools were reunited as the School of Design and Painting with Gill in charge. The syllabus was broadened with additional subjects, including china painting, under Rosa C. Fiveash.

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