Former VCs take their rightful place

Portraits of the University of Adelaide's early Vice-Chancellors are now displayed along with the more contemporary Vice-Chancellors in the University's heritage-listed Mitchell Building.

A lucky find in the Barr Smith Library of original historic photographs of four Vice-Chancellors from the 1800s has enabled them to take their place on the Mitchell Building walls.

Reproduced images of the last two missing Vice-Chancellors, sourced from The Advertiser and University Archives, have completed the line-up.

Since the 1950s, Vice-Chancellor portraits have been exhibited in the central stairway of the Mitchell Building. Before then, only those Vice-Chancellors that went on to become Chancellors had their portraits commissioned, and displayed in Bonython Hall.

"For many years the University's early Vice-Chancellors were unrepresented among this visual history," said Mirna Heruc, Manager of the University's Art and Heritage Collections.

"This exhibition and associated research will add significantly to our understanding of the University's early years."

The new portraits are of: The Reverend Professor William Roby Fletcher (Vice-Chancellor from 1883-1887 - the third Vice-Chancellor); The Venerable George Henry Farr (from 1887-1893); John Anderson Hartley (from 1893-1896); Dr William Barlow (from 1896-1915); The Honourable Sir Herbert Angas Parsons (from 1942-1945); and Professor John McKellar Stewart (from 1945-1948).

The University of Adelaide's first two Vice-Chancellors, The Right Reverend Augustus Short (Vice-Chancellor from 1874-1876) and The Right Honourable Sir Samuel James Way (from 1876-1883) are represented in Bonython Hall.

Story by Robyn Mills