State Tourist Bureau (GA67)

An office with the title of the State Tourist Bureau was opened in Adelaide on 17 August 1908, headed by a Director responsible to the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration (1).

The chief functions of the Bureau were 'the popularising of [South Australia's] health and holiday resorts among the local and visiting public, and advertising abroad the scenic and commercial attractions of the State' (2). To this end, the Bureau was empowered to embark on an ambitious publicity and promotional campaign through the production and distribution of a considerable amount of literary and pictorial advertising material.

The first director of the Bureau was Alfred W. Day, formerly Secretary to the South Australian Railway Commissioner (3).

In July 1910, the work of the Tourist Bureau was amalgamated with that of the Intelligence Department (previously carried out in the Office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration), the new agency being known as the Intelligence and Tourist Bureau Department (4).

REFERENCES:

(1) 'Intelligence and tourist Bureau - Report of the director', Parliamentary Papers no.74 of 1915 (Adelaide, Government Printer), p.1.
(2) ibid.
(3) H.T. Burgess, The Cyclopedia of South Australia (Adelaide, 1907) vol.1, p.380. (4) Parliamentary Papers no.74 p.1.