Champagne fountains, rooftop roller coasters and pop stars on bridges — the stories behind Adelaide’s most famous strip are stranger than you think.
Fifty years ago, then Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan (the man who famously wore hot pink short shorts on the steps of Parliament House in honour of democracy) banned cars from a stretch of Rundle Street, filled a fountain with champagne, and invited everyone to flock to the new mall and celebrate. 10,000 people turned up.
What happened in the years to come – the Mall’s Balls, the haunted dry cleaner, the figure-eight roller coaster on top of Myer, Boy George performing from the bridge – is a history as whacky as it is important.
This week, Rundle Mall will celebrate 50 years at the heart of Adelaide with a week-long program of entertainment, surprises and experiences for all ages.
Here, we reminisce with Flamboyance Tours owner Katina Vangopoulos about some of the quirkier moments in the famous strip’s history.
A place to socialise and shop
Before 1976, Rundle Street was already one of Adelaide’s great social stages. “You would go in your Sunday finest, your best dress, and be seen,” Katina says. “It was where you went to meet, dine and socialise.”
Dunstan’s decision to pedestrianise it – inspired by European piazzas and designed at human scale – was an evolution of that.
When it opened on 1 September 1976, someone in the crowd used a motorbike helmet to scoop champagne from the Rundle Mall fountain while the SA Police Marching Band played The Night They Invented Champagne.
“It changed how people socialised as much as it did how they shop,” Katina says. “It [became] a lot more than just a place to go and buy some clothes.”
At 520m, it’s the longest outdoor mall in the southern hemisphere, and today welcomes around 54 million visitors a year across more than 1000 retailers and 15 arcades.
The controversial arrival of the Mall’s Balls
The Mall’s Balls arrived a year later, but Adelaide wasn’t immediately sold.
Bert Flugelman’s two stacked steel Spheres were unlike anything the city had seen outside a gallery. “Most outdoor sculptures up to that point were classical – men on horses, modest figures on plinths,” Katina says. “You didn’t see something like two shiny balls stacked on top of each other in a public area.” Channel Seven filmed people calling them “hideous”.
Almost half a century later, they’re a beloved icon. “They’ve really endured as arguably the symbol of the city,” Katina says.
More public art followed. The girl on The Slide arrived the same year. The bronze pigs – Horatio, Truffles, Oliver and Augusta – followed in 1999. The big pigeon, widely criticised when it arrived in 2020, has followed the same arc as the Mall’s Balls – controversy first, affection later.
The Rundle Mall Bridge
In the 80s and 90s a pedestrian bridge linking the Richmond Hotel to the Renaissance Centre, complete with a glass elevator, ran over the Mall.
For many Adelaideans, the overpass – reached by a pair of escalators from the Mall – is best remembered for one moment in 1984. Culture Club were touring Australia, but Adelaide wasn’t on the itinerary. Fans petitioned, and the band turned up to wave from the bridge – before Boy George surprised everyone by launching into two songs, including Karma Chameleon, sung a cappella to 25,000 people below.
Shania Twain made a similar appearance from the same spot in 1998. The overpass came down around 2000, along with the escalators, but the stories aren’t going anywhere.
Adelaide Arcade’s resident ghost
Did you know Adelaide Arcade has a resident ghost? Francis Cluney was the arcade’s caretaker until 1887, when he went into the generator room and didn’t come out. Historians believe his clothing caught in the machinery.
When he was found, “skull fragments were strewn across the room,” Katina says. “Broken bones everywhere.”
The dry cleaner that now occupies the spot still has receipts coming out of the register without anyone touching a button, and has told Katina it’s the ghost who’s responsible.
Dazzeland
In the 1990s, the top floors of the Myer Centre were home to a two-storey indoor theme park, Dazzeland – roller coaster, dodgems, carousel and miniature train – with the screams from the roller coaster audible from every level. It closed in 1998, but a whole generation of Adelaideans grew up shopping underneath it.
“Everyone’s like, oh my god, we used to have a roller coaster in the Myer Centre,” Katina says.
Celebrating 50 years
Rundle Mall’s 50th birthday celebrations will run from Tuesday 1 September to Sunday 6 September, culminating in a spectacular parade through the city centre.
Across the week visitors can enjoy live music and DJs, a free carousel, a visual interactive display inviting people to stroll through Rundle Mall’s 50-year history, free old-school photobooth photos, pop-up moments and surprise performances, birthday treats and giveaways, and the Prosecco Piazza bar by the fountain.
The celebrations are designed to bring people into the city, encourage them to spend time in Rundle Mall and be part of this major milestone.
On Friday 4 September from 5pm, a spectacular 50th Birthday Parade will take over the heart of Rundle Mall, transforming the precinct into an immersive moving celebration.
Led by artistic director Jo Cassan, the parade will travel through the Mall celebrating through music, movement and colour.
Andrew White, Executive Manager, Rundle Mall at Adelaide Economic Development Agency, said the 50th anniversary was a celebration of the people who have made the Mall what it is today.
“Over the past 50 years, Rundle Mall has welcomed millions of visitors, from South Australia, interstate and overseas, but what makes it special is the individual stories behind those numbers,” Mr White said.
“It might be a first job, a family tradition, a memorable shopping trip, meeting friends at the Balls or simply spending an afternoon in the city. These are the everyday moments that have given Rundle Mall its character and made it such a familiar part of South Australian life.
“Our 50th birthday is a chance to bring everyone together and celebrate those memories, while creating plenty of new ones.”
Find out more about Rundle Mall’s 50th birthday celebrations here.
