File:Lord Kintore's expedition to the Northern Territory, 1891(GN02911).jpg

This image shows the Governor of South Australia Lord Kintore (right) and the Director of the South Australian Museum Dr E C Stirling (left0 in the Northern Territory in 1891. Lord Kintore had been sent there by the British Secretary of State on Northern Territory Affairs to inspect the state of settlement and development. They travelled overland to Brisbane and by ship to Port Darwin, arriving on 31 March 1891. While there Kintore and Stirling spent several days on the Adelaide River region in the ss Victoria, shown in the image. Kintore was particularly interested in the potential of the land adjacent to the river for agriculture. 'I saw thousands of acres of rich land similar to that I have seen in China,' he wrote in his report. He believed it was 'admirably suited' to growing rice, coffee, cotton and other tropical products. (Express and Telegraph, 5 August 1891, p6.). While Kintore believed the Adelaide River 'may be taken as a sample of several others in the Northern Territory', he does not appear to have visited the Daly River which was 100 kilometres away. The expedition then travelled to Pine Creek, from there overland to Oodnadatta and on to Adelaide by rail. There are many copies of this image, some describing it as the Daly River but Kintore's itinerary makes it almost certainly the Adelaide River. The photograph was probably taken by Paul Foelsche, Superintendent of the Northern Territory Police and photographer, who accompanied Lord Kintore and Dr Stirling on part of their travel (Adelaide Observer, 23 May 1891, p36).