The year 2004 saw the publication of a Centennial Review of academic geography in South Australia (Harvey and Gale, 2004). Most of the information in this section is drawn from Gale's essay in that volume. The first teacher of geography in the University of Adelaide was John Miller Clucas, who died in 1930. He had been appointed as Librarian at the University in 1900, but undertook teaching geography in 1904, initially for the Diploma of Commerce course. By 1921, geography appeared to be established as a mainstream course, as Economic Geography I and II, still taught by Clucas. In 1928, however, it looked as though it was going to be scrapped. When Sir Grenfell Price heard of geography's possible demise he blew along to the Director of Education, who said 'You can

tell the Vice-Chancellor that if he abolishes geography he will lose the whole £5,000 from the Government for his night classes' (Kerr, 1983). As a result, the Vice-Chancellor, Sir William Mitchell, sent for the distinguished geographer Charles Fenner and put him in charge of a one-year scientific course. Helped by his friends in the Royal Geographical Society, Fenner did much to restore geography and set it on a permanent course. He remained in charge of geography at the University until the latter part of 1951, but was initially assisted, while he was abroad in 1931 and 1937, by F. C. (Clarrie) Martin, who was a teacher at Thebarton Technical High School. Martin was appointed lecturer in geography on a part-time basis when Fenner became Director of Education in 1939, with Fenner nominally in charge until 1951, when Graham Lawton was appointed reader in geography.

In 1960, a Charles Fenner Prize was established in the Department of Geography of the University of Adelaide, for the student with top marks in second year geography. It was first awarded in 1961, and has been maintained annually since then. I donated $5,000 to the University of Adelaide in 2003 to ensure that it would provide a reasonable value in perpetuity.