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The statue of Captain Charles Sturt in Adelaide's Victoria Square was described as "the most alive" statue in Adelaide when it arrived in 1916, and looking at it today, you can see why.

Unlike the formal, upright postures of most monuments, Sturt is dressed in working clothes: worn knee boots, an open-necked shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbow, and a broad-brimmed hat. He leans forward, shielding his eyes from the sun with his right hand, peering into the distance as if he's still out there scanning the horizon. In his left hand he holds a telescope and a crumpled map. A compass hangs from his belt, and a water bottle is slung over his shoulder. It's a portrait of a man at work, not a man posing for posterity.

Captain Charles Napier Sturt (1795-1869) was a soldier, explorer, and public servant, but he's best remembered as the first person to chart the Murray River. His expeditions opened up vast stretches of inland Australia, and he played a significant role in the founding of South Australia.

The statue was designed by English sculptor Captain Adrian Jones (also a career soldier, veterinarian, and painter) and shipped to Adelaide free of charge by P&O Co., arriving in July 1916. Governor Sir Henry Galway unveiled it in December 1916 in the northwest of Victoria Square, where it still stands today.

If you're passing through Victoria Square on a Questo quest, the details on this statue are worth studying up close. Sturt's gear might hold the answer to a challenge.

Charles Sturt Statue

The statue of Queen Victoria in Adelaide's Victoria Square has been gazing imperiously over the city since 1894, and she hasn't budged much since, apart from one notable relocation in 2014.

The story of how she got there is wonderfully Adelaide. Sir Edwin Thomas Smith, a local brewer, parliamentarian, and philanthropist, spotted the statue during a trip to England in 1893 and offered it to the Adelaide City Council. It's a copy of a statue originally made by sculptor Charles Bell Birch for Udaipur, India, later amended for the Imperial Institute in London. Smith specified that the bronze be made from Australian materials: copper from the Wallaroo Mine on the Yorke Peninsula and Australian tin.

The unveiling was a community event, carefully timed by Smith for a Saturday at 4pm so the general public could attend without clashing with the football or the horse racing (Smith was a fan of both). Lady Smith did the honours on August 11, 1894.

For over a century, Queen Victoria stood at the centre of Victoria Square. Despite shifts in public attitudes towards the monarchy and the British Empire, she held her ground. It wasn't until 2013, when another Victoria Square redevelopment succeeded where previous attempts had failed, that the statue was finally moved to a new position on the north side of the square in 2014.

If you're exploring Adelaide's Victoria Square on a Questo quest, the Queen's statue is hard to miss. Look closely at the bronze and think about the copper that came all the way from South Australia's mines to cast a British queen.

Statue of Queen Victoria

The Trades Hall Lane Mural in Adelaide pays tribute to a building that no longer stands but whose legacy shaped the rights of workers across South Australia.

The original Trades Hall was built on the north side of Grote Street near Victoria Square in 1895-1896, funded entirely by the Trades and Labor Council using self-raised funds. The site was purchased for £1,000, and construction moved fast, with the building opening to the public on March 14, 1896. For decades, it served as the hub of South Australia's trade union movement, the place where workers organised, strategised, and fought for better conditions.

By the 1960s, the movement had outgrown the building. On September 23, 1972, Premier Don Dunstan opened a much larger Trades Hall on South Terrace. The original Grote Street building was eventually demolished, but its story lives on through the mural.

The mural itself, created by artist Tristan Kerr in 2019, is painted on the side of the Eynesbury Senior College Building on Trades Hall Lane. It's part of Adelaide's thriving street art scene, which has become increasingly supported and celebrated through public art initiatives.

If you're on a Questo quest through Adelaide's centre, Trades Hall Lane is the kind of spot that rewards curiosity. The mural connects you to a piece of the city's history that you won't find in most guidebooks.

Trades Hall Lane Mural

The Three Rivers Fountain in Victoria Square tells the story of where Adelaide's water comes from, and it does so with three striking bronze and marble figures rising from the spray.

Designed by South Australian artist John Dowie, the fountain represents the three main rivers that supply the city: the Torrens, the Onkaparinga, and the Murray. The Torrens is depicted as a woman holding a swan, the Onkaparinga as a woman with a heron, and the Murray as an Aboriginal man holding an ibis. The two female figures represent the European cultivation of the land along each river, while the male figure symbolises the historical and continuing Indigenous presence along the Murray.

The fountain was commissioned to commemorate the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to Adelaide in 1968, and it was the Duke of Edinburgh himself who switched it on during the visit on May 28, 1968. The idea had been floating around since 1962, when architect and alderman James Irwin first proposed a commemorative fountain for Victoria Square.

In 2012, the Three Rivers Fountain was placed on the South Australian Heritage Register. When Victoria Square was redeveloped starting in 2013, the fountain was carefully relocated to the southern side of the square, where it stands today.

If you're exploring Adelaide on a Questo quest, Victoria Square is a natural landmark on the route. The fountain's three figures might hold a clue worth examining up close.

Three Rivers Fountain

Adelaide's Chinatown on Moonta Street is one of the city's most vibrant pockets, but its roots go much deeper than the pagoda-style roofs and red lanterns you see today.

The Chinese connection to South Australia began in 1847, when the first dozen Chinese labourers arrived from Singapore to work as indentured shepherds. Many more followed in the 1850s, disembarking at South Australian ports before travelling overland to the Victorian goldfields, because Victoria had imposed immigration restrictions that South Australia hadn't.

The Chinatown you see now, centred on Moonta Street near the Central Market, grew primarily in the 1970s and 1980s with waves of migrants from Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Chinese market gardeners had long sold their produce at the Central Market, and this gradually sparked the growth of Asian food shops, grocery stores, and restaurants in the surrounding streets.

Today, Moonta Street is marked by paifang (traditional Chinese archways) at each entrance, guarded by Chinese lion statues donated jointly by the Adelaide City Council and the Chinese government. Since 2003, Chinatown has hosted Adelaide's official Lunar New Year celebrations, which expanded in 2013 to include Gouger Street as well.

Whether you're after dumplings, groceries, or just a colourful walk, Chinatown delivers. And if you're on a Questo quest through Adelaide, the cultural details here, from the lion statues to the archways, might feature in one of your challenges.

Chinatown

The Norman Street Murals near Wright Street are part of Adelaide's thriving street art scene, which has quietly become one of the best in Australia. The city's laneways and side streets are covered with large-scale works, from detailed portraits to abstract pieces, supported by both local government and events like the Oi You! Urban Art Festival.

Adelaide has been called the best place in Australia to find stunning street art portraits, and the murals around this part of the CBD are a prime example. Artists including Jimmy C and Order 55 (Seb Humphreys) have created collaborations in this area, bringing colour and narrative to walls that might otherwise go unnoticed.

What makes Adelaide's street art special is how embedded it is in the city's culture. Unlike in cities where murals appear and disappear, many of Adelaide's works are actively cultivated through supportive council policies and dedicated art festivals. The result is an ever-evolving outdoor gallery that gives the city a creative energy you can feel while walking its streets.

If you're following a Questo quest through Adelaide's centre, keep your eyes on the walls. The murals aren't just decoration; they often carry stories, symbols, and details that might turn up as part of a challenge.

Norman Street Murals

Hindmarsh Square is one of the five public squares designed into Adelaide's original city plan by Colonel William Light in 1837, and each one tells a different story about the young colony.

This one was named after Sir John Hindmarsh, South Australia's first Governor, who arrived in Holdfast Bay aboard the Buffalo on December 28, 1836. The naming happened quickly, on May 23, 1837, when the street naming committee was dividing up the brand-new city. In 2003, the square received a second name, Mukata, in the Kaurna language of the area's original inhabitants, as part of the Adelaide City Council's dual naming initiative.

The square sits at the intersection of Grenfell and Pulteney streets, near the eastern end of Rundle Mall, making it a natural resting point for anyone exploring the city centre. It's a green, open space in the middle of the grid, exactly as Light intended when he designed Adelaide with an unusual amount of public parkland.

Colonel Light's plan for Adelaide was controversial at the time, and he was criticised for choosing the site and laying out a city with so much open space. History proved him right. The squares and parklands are now considered one of Adelaide's greatest assets.

If you're on a Questo quest through Adelaide, Hindmarsh Square might be one of your stops. The stories built into Adelaide's grid are hiding in plain sight.

Adelaide Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society!

Explore Hindmarsh Square in Adelaide, one of five original squares designed by Colonel William Light in 1837. Learn about its dual name, Mukata, and its history.

Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

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Adelaide Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society!

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Charles Sturt Statue

Charles Sturt Statue

Charles Sturt Statue

Charles Sturt Statue

Charles Sturt Statue

Statue of Queen Victoria

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