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A HISTORY of PORT ADELAIDE

Front cover of "The History of a Commodious Harbour"

PORT ADELAIDE: The History of a Commodious Harbour by JOHN COUPER-SMARTT. Published by Wakefield Press in 2021, ISBN: 9781743057803.

If you are thinking about gifts for friends who love the buildings, the people and the history of Port Adelaide – John Couper-Smartt’s book would be worthy of your consideration.

This hefty hardback (26.5 cm x 21.8 cm and weighing 2.83 Kg) contains 652 pages crammed with images and fascinating stories about Port Adelaide and its surrounding townships. Painstakingly researched, it covers the history of the area from its value as a food site for thousands of years of Indigenous occupation, to its development as the site of South Australia’s major harbour from the time of European settlement in 1836. Along the way, the book details the maritime, industrial, educational, religious, sport and community history that has made Port Adelaide and Lefevre Peninsula such an unique area.

Copies, signed by the author, are available through the Ovenden Lodge Publications website at https://ovendenbooks.com/shop/ The price of $95 includes FREE DELIVERY WITHIN ADELAIDE METROPOLITAN AREA. Contact us for delivery costs to other locations – or for any messages you would like the author to write on the inside cover..

BreakAway

Our latest short film, BreakAway was a prize winner in the Comedy Short category at Calcutta International Cult Film Festival last month – and has now been awarded a prize in the same category at Virgin Spring Cinefest! The film has also been re-edited and now has a running time of just over 10 minutes.

Ovenden Guest House

It’s official, our new venture – renting out the fully-equiped unit adjacent to our home as a GUEST HOUSE – is ready to go! The new “pool fence” around the hot tub is being fitted in accordance with State Regulations and our first “paying guest” is due at the beginning of December. All of you who have experienced “The Lodge” as informal visitors will agree that it is an ideal place to stay and we are looking forward to meeting lots of new visitors. Further details are on our website at ovendenbooks.com/ovenden-guest-house-2/

Pick Me! wins prizes

The latest production from Ovenden Lodge – the six-minute short film Pick Me! – continues to win selection and awards at international film festivals! Last week it won an award at Gangtok International Film Festival. Today we learnt that it is also an award winner in the Romantic Short category at the  40th monthly season of L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival (LIAFF).

Featuring SAARA LAMBERG and MIST LEONG as two flatmates looking for True Love – and directed by JANET WATSON KRUSE – the story seems to have struck quite a chord with festival critics. Furthermore, Pick Me! (2022) now has a listing in IMDb.

Further details about the film can be found at the Ovenden Lodge web page.

Pick Me selected for Festivals

Our short film PICK ME, directed by JANET WATSON KRUSE and featuring SAARA LAMBERG and MIST LEONG, has been selected for its first festival showings! It is still early days but it has already been accepted by Mountain View IFF, Virgin Spring Cinefest and World Film Carnival, Singapore! It is hoped to show it at Filmonik Melbourne in July … and then…

“Pick Me”, a new short film

Ovenden Lodge has been editing a new short film, based on a script by John Couper-Smartt but directed by Janet Watson Kruze at Filmonik Melbourne Kabaret during April 2022. John was unable to travel to Melbourne for Kabaret this year so Janet undertook to cast and direct the film.

Janet will be supervising an official edit of the film later in 2022 but, meanwhile, here is a link to the Ovenden Lodge cut based upon John’s script: https://vimeo.com/709791689/d86da6fdf6

“Port Adelaide: The History of a Commodious Harbour”

Thank you to all who have given such lovely feed back after reviewing your copies of my book. The late Liz Nicholson’s stunning design work has resulted in a beautiful addition to Wakefield Press’s already impressive tributes to South Australia’s art, literature and history .

(And, yes, I still have a handful of signed copies available for sale. Details are on the Ovenden Lodge website at: https://ovendenbooks.com/shop/)

Kitty’s Progress

Kitty got her first acting role in SAARA LAMBERG’S short film, Hey Doll! that was premiered late September at the delightful Soul Punch Festival In Semaphore, South Australia. She has already won selection and awards at several other festivals this year including CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL CULT FILM FESTIVAL, GANGTOK IFF, CULT CRITIC MOVIE AWARDS, TAGORE IFF, VIRGIN SPRINGS CINEFEST and DRUK IFF. And the latest news! We have just heard that Hey Doll! with Italian subtitles (Ehi Bambola !) has been selected for HEART INTERNATIONAL ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL this year.

Congratulations to all the team that made the film possible!

Port Adelaide: The History of a ‘Commodious Harbour’.

Yes! It is finally here! And it looks even better than I could have ever hoped. Liz Nicholson, book designer at Wakefield Press, has performed her magic yet again. At a retail price of just $95 (including free delivery within the Adelaide metropolitan area) I wouldn’t be surprised if this second, revised edition doesn’t sell out even faster than the first.

Copies can be ordered through out Book Shop page.