Kidman Exhibition

We recently had the launch of the Kidman Exhibition in the Thomson Building (home to the Kapunda Library and Visitor Information Centre). The event was well attended by members from various community groups and organisations from around the region, including local historian Ross Vogt who was living in Kapunda during the time of Kidman.

The exhibition was officially launched by Mayor Bill O’Brien who incorporated snippets of Kidman’s connection with Kapunda. Christo Reid, the great grandson of Sir Sidney Kidman and curator of the exhibition, was also in attendance and spoke about how pleased he was the collection had ‘come home’ to Kapunda.

The Kidman Exhibition, which includes various prints, artefacts and film recordings, is available on the first floor of the Thomson Building, with access via either stairs or lift. We encourage you to come in and spend some time looking at the historic display. There is unlikely to ever be another like Sir Sidney Kidman and his spectacular empire. The exhibition is open to the public during normal library opening hours.

An interesting link between the Thomson Building and Sir Sidney is that Andrew Thomson (the person responsible for the building where the exhibition is housed) was also the uncle of Kidman’s wife, Isabel Wright. After retiring from his role as store owner, Thomson went on to work in an accountancy role for Kidman at ‘Eringa’. It is fitting to have the exhibition in the Thomson Building to continue the connection between Thomson and his uncle, Sir Sidney Kidman.