Adelaide City Of Churches

My recent visit to Adelaide which is the capital city of South Australia and is also know as the City Of Churches. Adelaide is the only city in Australia that can lay claim that it was founded entirely by free settlers. Adelaide was named in honour of Queen Adelaide who was born in Germany, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely-settled British province in Australia.

Adelaide city's oldest buildings are churches, in particular Holy Trinity Anglican Church on North Terrace built in 1838, and the Quaker Meeting House in Pennington Terrace, built in 1840. The spires and towers of such churches as St Peter's Cathedral, Brougham Place Uniting Church and Scots' Church are still prominent on the city skyline today.

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Some of the best examples of Gothic architecture today are Adelaide's two cathedrals - St Peter's Anglican Cathedral at North Adelaide and St Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Victoria Square.

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But Adelaide to me is the birth place of my mother and her family. The Ryles family ancestors emigrated from England and for many generations the Ryles family members have lived in and around Adelaide. In 1998 I started to trace my mothers family, hoping against hope that there may be a family member still alive in South Australia. From what little mum had told us as children I was under the assumption that mum was one of two children. But after some very good research skills of DH and many hours spent in libraries and genealogy centres, it came as some what of a surprise to find that mum was infact one of ten children. Six of her siblings were still alive and living in South Australia, most in the Adelaide area. The first meeting of mum's siblings taking place in Adelaide in February1999 was a very emotional time for me. Since that time we have made regular visits to Adelaide spend time with my Uncles and Aunties all of whom are now in their seventies and eighties. It came as quite a shock to me this trip to find that an auntie and an uncle were now in quite bad health and I feared when saying my goodbyes that it may be the last time that I will see either of them. Why my mum kept her family a secret and took that secret with her to the grave, I don't think I will never know.