Joelie Hancock (Oakbank and other Institutes)
Lectures were popular in South Australia’s early Institutes and included topics such as Fruit growing, Federation and Night life in London. One of the speakers who was in demand was my great-great-grandfather, Walter Paterson. He arrived in Adelaide at the age of 28 in 1839 and lived most of his life (to 1894) near Mount Barker.
In the 1860s he was in demand to speak at Institutes, as well as at other public meetings. His topic was Phrenology, the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental and personality traits. Each bump and hollow of the skull indicated a strength or a weakness, which could be increased or overcome with exercise. Audience members volunteered to have ‘their heads read’.
His talks, which were interrupted by ‘hearty bursts of applause and merriment’ were reported as ‘both instructive and amusing’. Through TROVE I have found that his lectures were held at Charleston, Kanmantoo, Lake Plains, Meadows, Morphett Vale, Mount Barker, Mount Lofty, Nairne, Noarlunga, North Gumeracha, Stockport, Strathalbyn, and even at Wallaroo and Mount Gambier. His most enthusiastic audience appears to have been at the Oakbank Institute. After his second lecture in February 1863 the meeting hoped for a return visit for the Young Men’s Philosophical Association.
I can’t work out how seriously Walter and his listeners took his interpretations.