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Foundation Stone

This foundation stone comes from the Old Queens Theatre building, located at the corner of Gilles Arcade and Playhouse Lane. The theatre held nearly 1,000 people and cost around 10 thousand pounds to build. It opened in January 1841 but closed in November 1842 due to economic problems in the colony. The building was used as a Supreme Court for some time before it became the Royal Victoria Theatre in 1850. It remained a theatre until 1868 after which it was used for a variety of purposes.

Engraved on the foundation stone are the initials V & ES, which stand for Vaiben and Emanual Solomon, the builders of the Queens Theatre. The Solomons were sent to Sydney as convicts in 1818. They built the theatre after coming to South Australia in the late 1830s and establishing themselves as merchants. Both went on to play important roles in South Australian society, contributing to politics and to the founding of the Adelaide Hebrew congregation.