Quaker (Society of Friends) Meeting House

The Society of Friends (Quaker) Meeting House is extremely important to an understanding of the types of buildings imported during the earliest years of South Australia and the part played by prefabrication as a tool of colonisation. Manufactured by the noted prefabricator of 'portable colonial cottages', Henry Manning of London, the Meeting House arrived at Port Adelaide on 6 February 1840 aboard the ship 'Rajasthan'. It is one of the most sophisticated examples of prefabrication from this period and is of international importance to the development of this most important building technique. The building is testimony to Manning's high quality workmanship and his remarkable perception of climatic control (especially the use of verandahs, not supported, but tied down by the iron 'pillars'). The interior is remarkable for its originality; the pews are also by Manning, and are the only pieces of furniture made by him known to have survived. (Condensed from City of Adelaide Heritage Survey, 1984).

Listing Information

• Date of Listing: 28 May 1981

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