University of Adelaide in the context of "Dawkins Revolution"

Bonython Hall is the "great hall" of the University of Adelaide, located in the university grounds and facing North Terrace, Adelaide. The building is on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate and the South Australian Heritage Register. It is primarily used for University graduation ceremonies, examinations, expositions and public lectures and meetings likely to draw large audiences.

The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are adjacent to the Australian Space Agency in Lot Fourteen and forms part of the Adelaide BioMed City research precinct. It also has a presence in the Adelaide Technology Park in Mawson Lakes. In mid-2023, it agreed to merge with the neighbouring University of Adelaide to form Adelaide University. The merger has been under way since 2024, with the merged university formally opening in January 2026, with the closure of the exisiting institutions planned for 31 March 2026 when the University of Adelaide Act 1971 and University of South Australia Act 1990 are repealed.

Its earliest antecedent institutions were both founded in the Jubilee Exhibition Building of the former Royal South Australian Society of Arts. The South Australian Institute of Technology was founded in 1889 as the School of Mines and Industries and the South Australian College of Advanced Education dates back to the School of Art in 1856. The institute later gained university status during the Dawkins Revolution following their merger in 1991. Its expansion over three decades, including to sites on the west end of North Terrace, and broadening fields of studies later contributed to its status as the state's largest university with 34,878 students in 2023.

Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister from 2007 to 2010. She is the first and only woman to hold either office.

Born in Barry, Wales, Gillard migrated with her family to Adelaide in South Australia in 1966. She attended Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. Gillard went on to study at the University of Adelaide, but switched to the University of Melbourne in 1982, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1986 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1989. During this time, she was president of the Australian Union of Students from 1983 to 1984. In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon, eventually becoming a partner in 1990, specialising in industrial law. In 1996, she became chief of staff to John Brumby, the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria. Gillard was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 election for the Victorian division of Lalor. Following the 2001 election, she was appointed to the shadow cabinet. In December 2006, Gillard became the running mate of Kevin Rudd in a successful leadership challenge to Kim Beazley, becoming deputy leader of the opposition. After Labor's victory at the 2007 election, she was appointed as deputy prime minister, and was also given the roles of Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Social Inclusion.

Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, commonly known as Mark Oliphant (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000), was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapons.

Born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia, Oliphant graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1922. He was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship in 1927 on the strength of the research he had done on mercury, and went to England where he studied under Sir Ernest Rutherford at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory. There, he discovered the respective nuclei of helium-3 (helions) and of tritium (tritons). He also discovered that when they reacted with each other, the particles that were released had far more energy than they started with. Energy had been liberated from inside the nucleus, and he realised that this was a result of nuclear fusion.

Adelaide University (Kaurna: Tirkangkaku) is a planned public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 2024, it will combine the University of Adelaide, the third-oldest university in Australia, and the University of South Australia (UniSA) which has an antecedent history dating back to 1856. It is expected to operate concurrently with the two neighbouring universities during a transition period with the merged university formally opening on 5 January 2026.

The two antecedent universities' histories date back to the former Royal South Australian Society of Arts. The University of Adelaide was founded in 1874 by the Union College with studies initially conducted at its Institute Building. The society was also the birthplace of the South Australian Institute of Technology founded in 1889 as the School of Mines and Industries. The institute later became the University of South Australia during the Dawkins Revolution following a merger with amalgamated colleges dating back to the School of Art, also founded at the society. The two universities, which account for approximately three-quarters of the state's public university population, agreed to merge as Adelaide University in mid-2023. The existing institutions are planned for closure on 31 March 2026 when the University of Adelaide Act 1971 and University of South Australia Act 1990 are repealed.

The Jubilee Exhibition Building in Adelaide, South Australia, was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne on 20 June 1837. The jubilees of her Coronation on 28 June 1838, and of the Proclamation of South Australia on 28 December 1836, were also invoked on occasion.

The building, increasingly referred to as the Exhibition Building, was located opposite the corner of North Terrace and Pulteney Street. on what is now the University of Adelaide's North Terrace campus, between Bonython Hall and the old School of Mines building (now University of South Australia's City East campus) on the Frome Road corner. It was opened on 20 June 1887 and was used until the mid 1920s. In 1929 the land and building were transferred to the University, and the building was demolished in 1962 to make way for the Napier building. There were two fountains in front of the building. One is now located in front of the Rundle Mall entrance to the Adelaide Arcade, the other in the Creswell Gardens.

Formal hall or formal meal is a meal held at some of the oldest universities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (as well as some other Commonwealth countries) at which students usually dress in formal attire and often gowns to dine. These are held commonly in the colleges of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, at Trinity College Dublin (where they are known as commons), and in some halls and colleges at St Andrews, and the Australian sandstone universities (Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland, Sydney, Tasmania, Western Australia), and at Trinity College, Toronto.

In a number of redbrick universities, such as Manchester, Bristol, Leeds and Exeter, some halls practise similar traditions in order to increase interaction between academics and students, and to enrich the students' overall learning experience. Colleges of some Australian redbrick universities, including the Australian National University, Monash University, the University of New England, the University of New South Wales and the University of Southern Queensland, also hold gowned formal dinners.